Qidi Tech 1 - Replicator 1 clone

[jfkansas]

Alright, I went through all 92 pages and found no kits but I did find KludgeGuru talking about his 12mm rod upgrade he was doing but no results yet. I doubt a true kit exists and 8mm is far too crappy (you hear this QIDI TECH ) to be used considering the knock off you copied uses 10mm and they used 10mm for a reason. Did your engineers not understand this or were they overridden?

When I can get 10mm and 8mm smooth rods for the same price from a quality company like Mitsumi I know you being in China, AND a manufacturer, could do even better so there is no excuse for the use of 8mm rods. Even on this thread it talks about Z wobble due to the 8mm rods whereas the 10mm rods used by the manufacturer you copied didn't have it. SMH.

Yep, PC is a nice one to use but very esoteric still.

Actually the PC that MicroCenter has is really easy to run. That is why I mentioned "blend" cause it might not be 100% PC, to make it print a little easier. It has the properties of PC though and is really strong extruded at 250C so I am happy with it.

[DarkAlchemist]

I will have a kit in like 2 days. I have the platform. I am getting rods and bearings tommorrow. It isn't gonna be cheap but not overly expensive. The Carbon platform costs $50 just in itself. I went to Misumi to get hardened 10mm rods and linear bearings. They were reasonable and similar rods on amazon with questionable quality were about the same.

I can hook you up with a test set for cost plus a little if you want. And you can print your own plastic also if I send files.

Yeah, Mitsumi is who I went to for my 8mm rods on my I3 and I really like that company. I have to say they shipped the rods like it was Fort Knox and in the end I felt like I was opening one of those Russian dolls that opens up into a smaller one that opened up into a smaller one, etc.. VERY well packaged I must say.

KludgeGuru went to 12mm so is there anything that needs to be done to use 12? If this was a single extruder printer I would say 10mm would be fine but with two heavy motors on the rods I would have to say no because there is still a tad bit of deflection with a single motor on 10mm on an i3 and almost none (might as well say none) with 12mm hardened Mitsumi g6 rods on the same i3 when using just one motor.

Is that Carbon fiber platform the one I saw earlier that was taking the place of the metal base holder?

[jfkansas]

There really isn't any extra weight on the platform with 2 extruders. I went with 10mm rods for now on the Z. It could be easily modified to do 12mm though. I think 12 is overkill on a 150mm travel. The X axis could definitely benefit from at least 10mm rods. I have some stuff designed for it but haven't had prototype aluminum bits made yet.

Yep that is 5mm solid carbon fiber plate. There is no bending it. lol

[KludgeGuru]

Yeah, Mitsumi is who I went to for my 8mm rods on my I3 and I really like that company. I have to say they shipped the rods like it was Fort Knox and in the end I felt like I was opening one of those Russian dolls that opens up into a smaller one that opened up into a smaller one, etc.. VERY well packaged I must say.

KludgeGuru went to 12mm so is there anything that needs to be done to use 12? If this was a single extruder printer I would say 10mm would be fine but with two heavy motors on the rods I would have to say no because there is still a tad bit of deflection with a single motor on 10mm on an i3 and almost none (might as well say none) with 12mm hardened Mitsumi g6 rods on the same i3 when using just one motor.

Is that Carbon fiber platform the one I saw earlier that was taking the place of the metal base holder?

My 12mm rods are only on the Z-Axis, they are better than the 8mm stock rods but I'm not that happy about the bearings. The bearings have some play in them, not side to side play but I can twist the platform vertically up on the right and down on the left and vise versa (if that makes sense). I printed the adapters using PLA which seems to be fine since it doesn't get too hot in the chamber to deform them. I'm going to look for better bearings and eventually reprint in ABS.

I've also started thinking about upgrading the X-Axis rods to 12mm, but haven't made any progress yet.

[KludgeGuru]

Yep that is 5mm solid carbon fiber plate. There is no bending it. lol

I might be interesting in one of your carbon fiber plates. The stock metal plate has too much flex in it.

[jfkansas]

If you reprint your top bracket and bottom bracket with the holes spaced .1mm (total or each side) wider than stock you might be able to preload some slack out of the bearings.

[jfkansas]

http://a360.co/1Q7xlPV

It's really built as a complete system so just the plate might not work. Note also some build plate modifications will need to be done also. I have been wanting to move the Leveling screws out to the far corners for a long time so took the opportunity to do it on this. Adds to the cost, but I think it will be worth it.

I might try to cut costs a little by going to a 4mm or 4.5mm plate which both I think will be just as effective.

[DarkAlchemist]

There really isn't any extra weight on the platform with 2 extruders. I went with 10mm rods for now on the Z. It could be easily modified to do 12mm though. I think 12 is overkill on a 150mm travel. The X axis could definitely benefit from at least 10mm rods. I have some stuff designed for it but haven't had prototype aluminum bits made yet.

Yep that is 5mm solid carbon fiber plate. There is no bending it. lol

X/Y really needs 12mm with those two direct drive extruders on them (which is what I was talking about) and I suspect 10mm would be enough for Z but not sure when you add the weight of boro glass on it (especially 1/4 or 5/16 in).

I really get this sense, a really sick feeling, Qidi isn't all that and a bag of chips because if they design this bigger printer I just feel it that they will use inferior rods in them to cut corners. 12mm is what it needs to be in anything larger. Can get away with 10mm if only 150mm long but at 300+ 12mm or stay home.

[jfkansas]

Yep definitely, and the plastics they use for for holding the Z axis rods is considerably more flemsy than Flashforge.

I would space the rods out further on the Z also, it will stabilize the rotation since the build plate would have less torque on the rods.

[DarkAlchemist]

Yep definitely, and the plastics they use for for holding the Z axis rods is considerably more flemsy than Flashforge.

I would space the rods out further on the Z also, it will stabilize the rotation since the build plate would have less torque on the rods.

Agreed. Honestly, I saw this printer originally and after all I have found out this is at most a 400 dollar machine delivered. The only thing it has going for it is the all metal housing. People will think otherwise but for the money this machine costs I could make one hell of a 3d printer myself in the fashion of a RepRap or wander over to OpenBuilds and make one of those and save a few pennies. basically this is really an over priced machine for what it is. I am not saying it is a horrible printer I am just saying their "Engineers" need to go back to school.