Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[DaveB]

I went through the first layers of the slicer but didn't see anything. I have printed several of these but that was before the crash and new extruders but also only one at a time.
Interesting thing is that this area is the exact outline of half the hole in the middle and is on both pieces. this is the same piece that is in yellow a few pages back.

The printer has no coherent "image" memory. It has mechanical linkages, hot and cold areas, differences in surface adhesion and alignment, but aside from resonance, inertia and whatever was left on the build surface it doesn't remember what it just did. It moves, it spits, it sucks, universe ends. No big picture.

If the build surface was uniformly prepped then it's got to be in the slicer.

[jfkansas]

I can only think it is left nozzle drag. He didn't say which nozzle was printing, but I would remove the left nozzle and see if that helps.

[wirlybird]

The printer has no coherent "image" memory. It has mechanical linkages, hot and cold areas, differences in surface adhesion and alignment, but aside from resonance, inertia and whatever was left on the build surface it doesn't remember what it just did. It moves, it spits, it sucks, universe ends. No big picture.

If the build surface was uniformly prepped then it's got to be in the slicer.

This was a clean unused glass I had prepped earlier.

[wirlybird]

I can only think it is left nozzle drag. He didn't say which nozzle was printing, but I would remove the left nozzle and see if that helps.

Interesting idea. On my original install of the new extruders the right one was a fraction lower and I shimmed it up. I did the same shim on this rebuild but maybe with the gantry and all having been completely out and reinstalled is now a tad lower than before. If printing with the left nozzle the right would be in a relative position for the actual opening in the part.

However I do not recall seeing any scarring on the part from nozzle drag and also, the part printing on the right (part on the left is in the pic) has the same formation and the right nozzle would be over empty bed.

Still an interesting theory. I will explore more tonight.

[DaveB]

I can only think it is left nozzle drag. He didn't say which nozzle was printing, but I would remove the left nozzle and see if that helps.

Thanks, I had that in the summary and edited it out after I posted. Didn't think it would show up as a depression on both pieces. Then wondered if it somehow might. LOL

[DaveB]

Interesting idea. On my original install of the new extruders the right one was a fraction lower and I shimmed it up. I did the same shim on this rebuild but maybe with the gantry and all having been completely out and reinstalled is now a tad lower than before. If printing with the left nozzle the right would be in a relative position for the actual opening in the part.

However I do not recall seeing any scarring on the part from nozzle drag and also, the part printing on the right (part on the left is in the pic) has the same formation and the right nozzle would be over empty bed.

Still an interesting theory. I will explore more tonight.

Wonder if this might have caused your belt problem? Any noises during that print preceding the crash?

[wirlybird]

Wonder if this might have caused your belt problem? Any noises during that print preceding the crash?

I don't know. I have not seen an issue like this before but I have only printed this part one at a time and this is the first time I have ever printed two together.

The machine was a little noisy, from bearings I suspect, reason I was asking about lube!

I am wondering with all of the moving and fiddling replacing the extruders if the belt didn't come loose or part way out of the holder. It moves very easily side to side where the ends attach to the carriage.

[suds]

Just going to throw this out there: has anyone looked into fitting a laser cutting toolhead to their QIDI? It seems simple enough and I'm starting to look into what it would take to make this happen. I've seen some some ready made retrofit options (e.g. something called "el cheapo") but ironically I feel like a diy would be much cheaper.
Off the top of my head I see these things being on the BOM:

The laser itself (and housing & lensing, which are sometimes separate - gotta look into laser sources)
Driver for the laser (and possibly a dedicated power supply)
Heatsink for the laser (and probably fan)


... I think the rest is fixtures and just figuring out the physical layout. Operation would be handled within the start/stop scripts.
The more I roll this around in my head the more do-able it seems.

[jfkansas]

Very dangerous, not recommended.

Just going to throw this out there: has anyone looked into fitting a laser cutting toolhead to their QIDI? It seems simple enough and I'm starting to look into what it would take to make this happen. I've seen some some ready made retrofit options (e.g. something called "el cheapo") but ironically I feel like a diy would be much cheaper.
Off the top of my head I see these things being on the BOM:

The laser itself (and housing & lensing, which are sometimes separate - gotta look into laser sources)
Driver for the laser (and possibly a dedicated power supply)
Heatsink for the laser (and probably fan)


... I think the rest is fixtures and just figuring out the physical layout. Operation would be handled within the start/stop scripts.
The more I roll this around in my head the more do-able it seems.

[DaveB]

Just going to throw this out there: has anyone looked into fitting a laser cutting toolhead to their QIDI? It seems simple enough and I'm starting to look into what it would take to make this happen. I've seen some some ready made retrofit options (e.g. something called "el cheapo") but ironically I feel like a diy would be much cheaper.
Off the top of my head I see these things being on the BOM:

The laser itself (and housing & lensing, which are sometimes separate - gotta look into laser sources)
Driver for the laser (and possibly a dedicated power supply)
Heatsink for the laser (and probably fan)


... I think the rest is fixtures and just figuring out the physical layout. Operation would be handled within the start/stop scripts.
The more I roll this around in my head the more do-able it seems.

I've seen some implementations of this, but they were for the FFCP or Makerbot I think. One of them that looked interesting to me shot the laser between the extruders. The SS lasers are around $200-$250 for the 2.5 to 5.5 Watt range with their housing, electronics and wall wart PS (if the optical power numbers can be believed). They can cut balsa wood if it's thin enough. Meh... I think I'd want to use one outside, or have a really strong exhaust system set up. Not an option for me right now.