Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[DarkAlchemist]

Yeah, I specifically ordered from them on ebay as that was my worry with ordering from Amazon. I printed the z axis rod braces and they wouldnt fit. Dug out my calipers and the braces were exactly 8mm so I measured the rod and it is 10mm.

Mine came from eBay and 8mm as I just measured them.

[JSensebe]

Interesting about this rod business. I got my printer last week, and I think it has the 8mm rods, but that's just from visual inspection as I still can't find my digital calipers. I'm not experienced at all at this stuff, so I may well be off by 2mm. My printer is still working like a champ. I had an issue this morning of some extra extruded filament hanging around my print, but I very carefully grabbed it with some needlenose pliers while the print head was elsewhere before it could ruin the print.

[electrichammer]

Interesting if yours has 10mm too as mine is only two weeks and it has 8mm.

Mines around the 2 week mark with the 10mm rods.

[JSensebe]

Mines around the 2 week mark with the 10mm rods.

Ah, but are they fancy new imported rods, or the Chinese rods QIDI claims are inferior? Their eBay printer pages claim that the imported 8mm rods are better than the 10mm rods they can get domestically.

[suds]

Who knows. I'll post photos on my rods after the kids go to school. Maybe I"ll email customer support and ask what the deal is.
They did mention their warehouse ran out of stock before I placed my (eBay) order. Mine shipped from China via dhl.

Ok, so here are the 10mm z axis rods:


And the 8mm x,y:


Plus some extra photos of the maiden prints (white ABS):

[suds]

These a re a couple things I initially got lost on as a new-b to 3d printing & the Qidi printer:
I loaded the Makerbot Replicator 1 Dual profile. All else follows.

1**Stock Simplify3d start code travels too far along x-axis and bangs the (left mounted) cooling fan on the left Y axis carrier.
The issue was gcode that moves the extruder to wait position before heating did not account for the added cooling fan. Specifically G1 X-120 needed to be reduced to 110 mm like so:
G1 X-110 Y-70 Z30 F9000 ; Move to wait position off table

2**For left extruder use (which has the stock cooling fan): after selecting "left extruder only" in the process settings, Stock S3d start code did not load left extruder offsets and heat settings resulting incorrect offset and preheat of the right extruder. I had to change references to T0 (tool 0, right extruder) to T1 like so:

...
M135 T1 ; Load left extruder offsets
...

M104 S[extruder1_temperature] T1 ; Heat left extruder
M133 T1 ; Stabilize left extruder temperature
...

Here is a full start script with corrected wait position, offset, and left extruder temp per above:


; **** Replicator 1 dual start.gcode ****
; **** Left Tool (T1): offsets, temp initial, temp stabilize ****
M73 P0 ; Enable build progress
G162 X Y F3000 ; Home XY maximum
G161 Z F1200 ; Home Z minimum
G92 Z-5 ; Set Z to -5
G1 Z0 ; Move Z to 0
G161 Z F100 ; Home Z slowly
M132 X Y Z A B ; Recall home offsets
M135 T1 ; Load left extruder offsets
G1 X-110 Y-70 Z30 F9000 ; Move to wait position off table
G130 X20 Y20 Z20 A20 B20 ; Lower stepper Vrefs while heating
M126 S[fan_speed_pwm] ; Set fan speed
M140 S[bed0_temperature] T0 ; Heat buildplate
M134 T0 ; Stabilize bed temperature
M104 S[extruder1_temperature] T1 ; Heat left extruder
M133 T1 ; Stabilize left extruder temperature
G130 X127 Y127 Z40 A127 B127 ; Default stepper Vrefs
G92 A0 B0 ; Zero extruders
M135 T1 ; Load left extruder offsets
G1 X-100 Y-68 F9000 ; Move to front left corner of bed
G1 Z0.3 F6000 ; Move down to purge
G1 X90 Y-68 E24 F2000 ; Extrude a line of filament across the front edge of the bed
G1 X100 Y-68 F180 ; Wait for ooze
G1 X110 Y-68 F5000 ; Fast wipe
G1 Z1 F100 ; Lift
G92 A0 B0 ; Zero extruders
M73 P1 ;@body (notify GPX body has started)
; **** end of start.gcode ****

Anyone have a good 40mm fan recommendation for dual filament cooling? The usual suspects on Amazon have hit or miss reviews if any at all.
Cheers

[DarkAlchemist]

Ah, but are they fancy new imported rods, or the Chinese rods QIDI claims are inferior? Their eBay printer pages claim that the imported 8mm rods are better than the 10mm rods they can get domestically.

LOL, yep, but who knows.

[suds]

I sent an ebay message asking about these 10mm rods vs the 8mm. Let's see what happens.

[JSensebe]

I've found my digital calipers... and the battery is dead. Will have a fresh battery later today and see what's what.

[JimHs1]

I sent an ebay message asking about these 10mm rods vs the 8mm. Let's see what happens.

I got mine roughly two weeks ago from ebay. All axis have 8 mm rods. ebay info claimed it had all of the latest mods, so it would seem that doesn't include the 10mm rods that some are receiving. Will be interesting to see what the response is.