Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[wirlybird]

Yes, that was with the red crystal straight out of the package. I am going to run a decreasing temp test to see where the stringing stops. That is what I did for the PLA and finally found 190 to be good. My concern is if I am getting a good bond at that temp.
The other thing I am questioning is if the extraction settings are even working on the left extruder. I can turn things way up and see no change in the print.

I am down to 190 for the Crystal Red print. Almost no stringing but a bit fragile compared to the same part in regular PLA. I wonder at what point adhesion or bonding starts to fail or not be good.
Pretty good looking print though. I'll post a pic on the next sample.

[wirlybird]

W, you ordered a Flexion dual extruder? WoW!

Yea buddy! Got to go for it! I figure I got into this printer for a good price compared to others and got all of the upgrades so let's upgrade a bit. Overall the printer is working great so this seems like a good mod. The cats ass would be auto level bed!!

[DarkAlchemist]

I am down to 190 for the Crystal Red print. Almost no stringing but a bit fragile compared to the same part in regular PLA. I wonder at what point adhesion or bonding starts to fail or not be good.
Pretty good looking print though. I'll post a pic on the next sample.

This has to be the printer's inability to freaking retract right. Seriously, wtf? A fan that is 100% or 0% and now this where it doesn't obey retraction rules? To be honest I am finding it hard to believe that it doesn't obey retraction settings as that is paramount to getting a print at all and even more so than a fan running at 100% but I believe it.

[wirlybird]

MG Crystal Red printed at 190. this is untouched straight off the printer.

[IMG][/IMG]

[DaveB]

Really cool! I took the plunge on the dual extruder. I may also build some of the other stuff over time.

That is awesome news W, I will be anxious to hear how well the Flexion works.

Regarding the other stuff in his Turbo version... I think the rear blower with a window onto the extruder is outrageous eye candy, and I am sorely tempted to do it for that feature alone, but I don't see where the air gets onto the parts near the nozzles for cooling (as on a PLA print). Does it blow down through the middle or not at all?

I am also trying to understand what the two blowers on the back wall underneath/attached to the two LED buttons are for. The Tunell filament sensors do support external switches, so the buttons certainly could be associated with them. In the video it does look like the buttons on the sensor circuit boards are active.

[DaveB]

MG Crystal Red printed at 190. this is untouched straight off the printer.

That's a good looking print W. Here is a pix of what I got at 230C/60C. It is a glass plate cooling rack, tweaked the size of the gaps a bit to support 1/4" glass w/ the Maghold steel sheet attached.

[wirlybird]

This has to be the printer's inability to freaking retract right. Seriously, wtf? A fan that is 100% or 0% and now this where it doesn't obey retraction rules? To be honest I am finding it hard to believe that it doesn't obey retraction settings as that is paramount to getting a print at all and even more so than a fan running at 100% but I believe it.

I think it is the left extruder and the software. I am having other issues that seem to be software related. I plan to put some PLA back in the right extruder and run both with the same settings and see what happens.

[DarkAlchemist]

I think it is the left extruder and the software. I am having other issues that seem to be software related. I plan to put some PLA back in the right extruder and run both with the same settings and see what happens.

Report your findings when you are done as I would love to know if the right obeys and the left doesn't though that would be beyond weird if it does.

[wirlybird]

That's a good looking print W. Here is a pix of what I got at 230C/60C. It is a glass plate cooling rack, tweaked the size of the gaps a bit to support 1/4" glass w/ the Maghold steel sheet attached.

Looks good.

[Syd_Khaos]

With a rough filament, like Carbon fiber and glow in the dark, etc... all of the YT video guys who tried didn't even get one print before the Brass nozzle was worn enough to be noticeable and one the nozzle's orifice became larger mid print due to the abrasive filament being used. For regular filament SS nozzles are just overkill.

The ONLY material I have tried so far that greatly affected nozzle wear-n-tear is sandstone filament. And was able to print for about 1hr 2min before catastrophic failure of the nozzle. This was starting with a fresh nozzle.

I tell you from experience (printed 2 full spools and about 200grams left on 3rd spool) that MakerGeeks glow in the dark ABS is no more abrasive than normal ABS. Its just a liquid chemical that makes it glow....one that is stable enough to be mixed with ABS mind you. Not sure if this fella on YT is printing garbage filament, or not running cleaners or what...but MG glow in the dark is very safe on brass nozzles.

For me SS is a waste of cash. The only time I use specialty filament that would require it is when I can find small bits of it for sale and wanna mess around. Like I said, the one SS nozzle I purchased only lasted 100hrs or so past what I put on the brass ones....was running just ABS, and about 6 hrs of PLA (really don't like the stuff) through the SS. And it was double the price of the brass.

To be honest I kinda feel the same way about PETG. Yea its good material, but I really don't see enough of a gain over ABS (for my purposes of course) to justify paying that much more per spool. I have only ever gotten 2 spools of PETG. The first I ordered before my printer ever got here....so I didn't know. The 2nd I got from MG in a grab bag, and paid ABS price for it lol.
I do try to not use the bit of PETG I have left though....just in case. From my understanding it very resilliant to lots of chemicals and cleaners. I just have no use of that in my normal workflow.

edit:
I have not yet tried carbon fiber filament. I really want to, want to make some RC parts with it, just havent got around to it yet lol. I would imagine that it is as harsh as some of the stone, wood, or metal based filament out there.