Those Black Replicator 2 / flashforge clones going on Ebay for $500-$599

[Geoff]

It seems I may have spoken too soon..

When I removed the blue tape on the bed that came with the machine, I found it was covering a massive gouge in the aluminum bed - a gigantic Z shape .. considering I want to print raftless shiny based ABS with this, that is a big problem for me - the Z will come out in the print base and that's actually the top of the print (I print upsidown alot, the base layer looks better than the top layers for me generally)

So have contacted them for a replacement heatbed, i'll see what their response is first.

First print... hmm not fantastic, a lot of layer splitting but I did print fast and had the air-con going, so this probably created the splits from cooling the ABS too fast. The bottom half, or first 5 cm of the print look really good, very tight layering and no splitting... it was only in the top half that started to occur so I need to tinker with it more.

Note also the 'z" shape on the bed thats etched in

1.5 hours, 2 shells, 10% infill ABS, 0.2mm, 80ms Feed, 120ms travel, 9cm high.

unnamed (2).jpg

[cjalas]

It seems I may have spoken too soon..

When I removed the blue tape on the bed that came with the machine, I found it was covering a massive gouge in the aluminum bed - a gigantic Z shape .. considering I want to print raftless shiny based ABS with this, that is a big problem for me - the Z will come out in the print base and that's actually the top of the print (I print upsidown alot, the base layer looks better than the top layers for me generally)

So have contacted them for a replacement heatbed, i'll see what their response is first.

First print... hmm not fantastic, a lot of layer splitting but I did print fast and had the air-con going, so this probably created the splits from cooling the ABS too fast. The bottom half, or first 5 cm of the print look really good, very tight layering and no splitting... it was only in the top half that started to occur so I need to tinker with it more.

Note also the 'z" shape on the bed thats etched in

1.5 hours, 2 shells, 10% infill ABS, 0.2mm, 80ms Feed, 120ms travel, 9cm high.

unnamed (2).jpg

I'd get a replacement aluminum bed, but honestly you don't need to replace it even with the scratches if you go with a 1/8" borosilicate glass bed.

[Geoff]

I'd get a replacement aluminum bed, but honestly you don't need to replace it even with the scratches if you go with a 1/8" borosilicate glass bed.

I could do with it as is, and already have about 5 glass beds spare, but I don't like buying something new and having it damaged when it arrives. All I asked for was a new aluminum plate, which will cost them practically nothing, so yeah we'll see.

[err404]

Build plate scratch aside, I think that print came out quite good for a test print at that speed. Especially considering that you have not dialed in extrusion multiplier or temps.
One thing I noticed with my CTC, is that the temp of of the hot end appears to be higher then is reported by the firmware. You may need to dial in the right working temps for that specific printer.

[Geoff]

Build plate scratch aside, I think that print came out quite good for a test print at that speed. Especially considering that you have not dialed in extrusion multiplier or temps.
One thing I noticed with my CTC, is that the temp of of the hot end appears to be higher then is reported by the firmware. You may need to dial in the right working temps for that specific printer.

The hotbed is getting a little too hot. I set it to 110, it gets to 115 before it starts to cool down... and same as the hotend so yeah I think you are definitely right, temps not being sent correctly or possibly slightly less quality thermistors. I am running the identical firmware to my flashforge - same hardware, the machines are for all purposes identical clones.

They agreed to refund me $53 (they started at $20) but the cheapest plate I can find is about $30 U.S with shipping ,so yeah that's nice of them.

I think I Will have to buy another one to be honest, I printed and installed an active cooling mount for it today and the PLA prints on it are pretty damn good, way better than my old flashforge is doing.

[Geoff]

Had to print a cooling duct for it, but so far it's printing OK.

Left extruder won't feed at all, not sure what's wrong there only using the right so far.. hopefully just holes not aligned for filament feeding.

Jet came out ok in PLA, but yeah cooling needed so get the blades printed.

Image-1.jpg

[jfkansas]

I got a couple Qidi's. Not too bad, just know that some of the extruder parts aren't compatible with Flashforge. The barrels of the thermal tubes are bigger in diameter. If you have to replace a thermocouple you can't use Flashforge ones. Qidi changed to a 5mm thread size on the thermowell mount into the hot block.

Qidi z axis isn't nearly as robust as Flashforge is. They still use 8mm guide rods and Flashforge changed to 10mm about a year and half ago. It makes a big difference in lateral stability especially when the build plate is in the middle of the up/down travel with the flex is most noticeable. The metal platform on the Qidi seems to be much more flexible than the Flashforge also. I have talked with Qidi support and they said next run they would look into upgrading the Zaxis. Funny once you say FlashForge does something they scurry and say we can do that too..lol

[Geoff]

I got a couple Qidi's. Not too bad, just know that some of the extruder parts aren't compatible with Flashforge. The barrels of the thermal tubes are bigger in diameter. If you have to replace a thermocouple you can't use Flashforge ones. Qidi changed to a 5mm thread size on the thermowell mount into the hot block.

Qidi z axis isn't nearly as robust as Flashforge is. They still use 8mm guide rods and Flashforge changed to 10mm about a year and half ago. It makes a big difference in lateral stability especially when the build plate is in the middle of the up/down travel with the flex is most noticeable. The metal platform on the Qidi seems to be much more flexible than the Flashforge also. I have talked with Qidi support and they said next run they would look into upgrading the Zaxis. Funny once you say FlashForge does something they scurry and say we can do that too..lol

hahahaha...

I laugh because you are so right... The steppers are compatible luckily, so that's all the problem was for me in the case of the left extruder not working, just a lazy ass stepper. I put an old flashforge in and bam, she's now dual colour printing just fine.

I also laugh because one of the first things I noticed was the Bed wobbling to the left and right... WTF? I see they use 8mm rods in the Z axis and they barely fit the guide holes, so they wobble around..

To fix this, I drilled holes either side of the rods at the top of the frame, and cable tied them to the back panel of the frame - just enough not to wobble freely, but not so tight it lifts the bed up.. problem appears to be solved and the lines I was getting in the layers seems to have gone.