Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[Merijeek]

Hey guys -

Been out a bit and the printer has sat slightly idle.

While restarting things again I rediscovered one of my biggest annoyances - the initial mounting and feeding of a spool to the back, and then trying to feed it into the tube while it's mounted, etc etc.

Has anyone got a recommendation for a spool solution? I'm thinking something free-standing at this point, though obviously if someone has come up with something better that isn't i'd like to see that too.

[DaveB]

Hey guys -

Been out a bit and the printer has sat slightly idle.

While restarting things again I rediscovered one of my biggest annoyances - the initial mounting and feeding of a spool to the back, and then trying to feed it into the tube while it's mounted, etc etc.

Has anyone got a recommendation for a spool solution? I'm thinking something free-standing at this point, though obviously if someone has come up with something better that isn't i'd like to see that too.

How about a dry box?

[Merijeek]

Actually, I'm not looking for storage, I'm looking for feeding-without-contortion, which I find is my biggest complaint with the unit. Threading the spool holders on is a pain in the ass and the filament seems to do a fairly extreme bend to get into the feeder tube.

[ParaStatic]

Hey guys -

Been out a bit and the printer has sat slightly idle.

While restarting things again I rediscovered one of my biggest annoyances - the initial mounting and feeding of a spool to the back, and then trying to feed it into the tube while it's mounted, etc etc.

Has anyone got a recommendation for a spool solution? I'm thinking something free-standing at this point, though obviously if someone has come up with something better that isn't i'd like to see that too.

I recently moved my printer to a overhead feed. I simply hung a 1 inch pvc pipe over it and put the spools on. Works really really good and is so much easier as where the printer is located it was really hard to get to the back of the machine.

[cncartist]

Actually, I'm not looking for storage, I'm looking for feeding-without-contortion, which I find is my biggest complaint with the unit. Threading the spool holders on is a pain in the ass and the filament seems to do a fairly extreme bend to get into the feeder tube.

DaveB is correct and I think you are missing the point. The dry box can be smaller than the printer and decrease load times/spooling issues substantially when setup properly. The bend is easy to manipulate with a dry box as long as you route the feed tube properly, I enjoy mine as it takes me less than 5 minutes to swap to a new spool.

My dry box has the feed exits out of the top (http://www.thingiverse.com/make:215673) and it works great compared to the stock setup. You will need to print something similar to these (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:886002) in order to hold the spool centered on the dry box rod.

I do the filament unload to get the filament feed tube out of the extruder, move the box, change the filament, and reload. I do have to run the filament through the feed tube again before reloading, but it's really easy when on the spool.

Hope that provides some more information on why a drybox would be recommended for the problems you outlined.

[DaveB]

Actually, I'm not looking for storage, I'm looking for feeding-without-contortion, which I find is my biggest complaint with the unit. Threading the spool holders on is a pain in the ass and the filament seems to do a fairly extreme bend to get into the feeder tube.

If a dry box is not something you want to get into, there are a couple of other things that may help:

First, have you tried making and using one of the filament guide assemblies that are available for the QiDi? They do include a sort of "funnel" arrangement at the filament entry which can make threading the filament go more smoothly. Here is one that I initially used: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1463485

Secondly, you mention "a fairly extreme bend" in the filament path. The filament should always be fed from the bottom of each roll into the space between the two rolls, never from the top of the roll. This gives the filament the maximum distance to line up with the feed tube path. Depending upon your filament manufacturer, the filament roll may require some spindle size adapters or other spacers depending upon its size and orientation on the QiDi's spindles. There are an unlimited number of approaches to solving these size differentials. Here is a highly adaptable one that I have used the "scad" version of quite often: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:735213

Third, the QiDi currently ships with a set of metal filament spindles. Again, there are a number of ways they can be used; and this may also depend upon your selected filament manufacturer's roll dimensions. My current solution includes the addition of a few spacers between the rear plate of the QiDi body and the spindle cylinder. Some adjustment / shifting of the filament spindle's threaded rod position may be required in order to install these spacers. Here are the spacers that I use for that application: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1530944

Lastly, I leave the two filament spindle assemblies affixed to the QiDi printer body, and solely remove / re-attach the small conical retainer when replacing the filament roll. I find that task is significantly easier than blindly hunting for the mounting hole on the back of the printer with the filament roll weighing things down.

I hope these suggestions are of some help and I do apologize if these were approaches you were already aware of or had previously adopted / rejected.

[ParaStatic]

So maybe someone here can help me out, I am using MakerWare 2.4.0.14 That Qidi told me to use with it, and it is not bad at printing, but the very first layer seems under extruded. After it warms up and makes the initial line down the front, it retracts and moves to the build area, and the first few seconds barely anything comes out. And because of that it make slong strings that follow the extruder around until it starts feeding properly. So confused, otherwise I like the slicer, better than RepG I think. Tried a few others but got confused on the setup and quit, lol...

[Merijeek]

You'll eventually learn, as everyone does, that 90% of your problems can be fixed by leveling your bed. Yes, again. I know you think you did it like 5 times already, but if you're having a problem with adhesion do it again. Also, if you're using tape on your bed, you'll want to use the glue stick. Yes, it seems like a half-assed primitive solution, because it is, but it can help a whole lot.

9% of the other 10% can, IMO, be solved (particularly what you're describing) by using a raft or skirt. The raft can be a pain to get off the print after you're done, so I try not to do them. But do a 2-4 layer skirt and you'll find that it helps a lot. A lot of the "why isn't it printing yet, is it retracting too far?" issues you're talking about will be helped because the skirt may look like crap because you haven't extruded enough yet, but the skirt is just there to be disposable anyway.

[ParaStatic]

You'll eventually learn, as everyone does, that 90% of your problems can be fixed by leveling your bed. Yes, again. I know you think you did it like 5 times already, but if you're having a problem with adhesion do it again. Also, if you're using tape on your bed, you'll want to use the glue stick. Yes, it seems like a half-assed primitive solution, because it is, but it can help a whole lot.

9% of the other 10% can, IMO, be solved (particularly what you're describing) by using a raft or skirt. The raft can be a pain to get off the print after you're done, so I try not to do them. But do a 2-4 layer skirt and you'll find that it helps a lot. A lot of the "why isn't it printing yet, is it retracting too far?" issues you're talking about will be helped because the skirt may look like crap because you haven't extruded enough yet, but the skirt is just there to be disposable anyway.

I am using MakerWare and do not think there is an option for a skirt anywhere in it. Wont lie I tried other slicers and constantly ran into hiccups of setting them up correctly, so that has been a setback. used RepG until recently and never had issues, however the exactness pf RepG leave a lot to be wanted.

[Merijeek]

OK, for those who may or may not recall, I had some major jamming issues with my right head. I had to take it apart, etc etc.

I'm trying my first prints with it, since I'd just been using my left. And I'm getting...this.

I'm using my usual heat and such settings. I've leveled many times.

Any suggestions?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0a022wgs83...39.44.jpg?dl=0