Qidi x-max / x-plus filament runout sensor

[TheRedRedViper]

Hello there, currently in the process of getting either an x-max or an x-plus printer from Qidi, but ive seen in multiple reviews that one of the cons is that there isn't a filament runout sensor. I verified with Qidi support if they had an in-house option and they said they don't. As anyone ever came up with a solution for these printers? I feel like there should be a way.Thanks alot!

[globules]

Are you talking about running out of filament from the spool or that it somehow breaks from the spool to the print head and then runs out?

[TheRedRedViper]

Are you talking about running out of filament from the spool or that it somehow breaks from the spool to the print head and then runs out?

Well I don't know if I should let the extruder consume all the filament or leave a bit hanging out then have the printer pause and I manually remove the extra and insert the next filament?

I just want to prevent the printer running out of filament and continuing the print without filament or stopping there and burning the top layer. Qidi says you can't add stuff to their mobo or modify the code, so I guess il have to either have a wifi sensor send me a warning or I mount a wifi cam to monitor the print and spot when the spool is about to empty and manually pause the print.

I'm new to 3d printing so help is appreciated

[globules]

I wouldn't worry too much about filament runnout unless you are using scraps. A full roll will last you many prints and if for some reason you are doing extraordinarily large prints most slicer software will give you not only the time it will take to print but how many meters of filament the print will use.

Given that you have asked qidi about the modifying the motherboard and/or code, I would gather you have some knowledge with electronics. In this case, if you still need this feature, it would not be very difficult to set up a small limit switch that is activated by the presence of the filament at the entry to the extruder. When the filament runs out the limit switch will change state sounding an alarm or stop the print.

Either way I believe it's a none issue. I've had a QIDI xmax for about 3 months and have yet to use a whole role of filament

[TheRedRedViper]

I wouldn't worry too much about filament runnout unless you are using scraps. A full roll will last you many prints and if for some reason you are doing extraordinarily large prints most slicer software will give you not only the time it will take to print but how many meters of filament the print will use.

Given that you have asked qidi about the modifying the motherboard and/or code, I would gather you have some knowledge with electronics. In this case, if you still need this feature, it would not be very difficult to set up a small limit switch that is activated by the presence of the filament at the entry to the extruder. When the filament runs out the limit switch will change state sounding an alarm or stop the print.

Either way I believe it's a none issue. I've had a QIDI xmax for about 3 months and have yet to use a whole role of filament

What's the best way to manage end of rolls though? Is there an option in the panel to manually advance the last feet or so of filament through the extruder to consume it so it doesn't clog, or is it better to pause the printer and pull on the filament (or reverse the motor it if there's such option)?

[globules]

What's the best way to manage end of rolls though? Is there an option in the panel to manually advance the last feet or so of filament through the extruder to consume it so it doesn't clog, or is it better to pause the printer and pull on the filament (or reverse the motor it if there's such option)?

Speaking for the xmax only but it's safe to assume all printers are the same, there's an option to remove or change filaments. It heats the extruder up to your desired temperature and then you select if you want it to feed or retract. You can even pause a print and change filament half way through a print.

The instruction manual for whichever printer you want should be downloadable so you can see how it's done. To extract wait for the head to heat up, hit retract while pulling on the filament and it whips right out

[globules]

I am satisfied with the X-Max but as it's my first and only printer my opinions shouldn't be given much weight.

I have had a few issues but they are issues which seem to be encountered by most printer owners

Give me a little while and I'll write up some more specific thoughts

[Dave Vogel]

I understand what you need. I want to use the entire spool of filament and don't want to trash out the end of the partial spool. I sell my prints and that cuts straight to the bottom line. If you google filament detection switch you will see several choices. I don't want to give a sales link but they are easy to find. I used one of those switches to control a 10 amp relay. This 10 amp relay gets power for the wall plug and then has a receptacle to plug the qidi x-max into. If the filament ends/breaks, it cuts power to the unit as though there was a power failure in the middle of the night. On startup simply preheat everything for about 30 minutes and then restart the print from the "failure" point. The only downside is that killing the power also kills the cooling fan and the heat can soak up into the extruder. It's easy to rectify should it cause problems. I wish Qidi would give us access to the source code, I'd add the code to interrupt it without power down. Would most likely take at most 5 lines of Python. Hope this helps.

[jamcultur]

I've had the power go out while printing on my X-Plus, and was able to resume the print without a problem. Deliberately cutting the power seems rather drastic. A simpler approach is just to feed new filament into the extruder as the old filament runs out. I've done it. It's easy and it works.

[Dave Vogel]

I've had the power go out while printing on my X-Plus, and was able to resume the print without a problem. Deliberately cutting the power seems rather drastic. A simpler approach is just to feed new filament into the extruder as the old filament runs out. I've done it. It's easy and it works.

I don't know if I would call it "drastic" but it allows me to use the end of spools, without the fear of having to trash a nearly complete part that needs to be delivered the next day. My printers all run 20 plus hours per day (hopefully it continues) and I don't want to have an employee (or myself) training the filament at 2:00 or 3:00 AM. I try to make sure there is enough material present to run the project but sometimes I'm wrong in my calculations. Having it shut down at 95% with the ability to restart it is preferable to having to reprint the entire piece part from the beginning. I'm probably not alone in this thinking or there wouldn't be numerous filament sensors made by many different companies. The demand must be fairly high as the prices a between 3$ and $20 for a production made unit. I'm not saying I use the switch instead of my brain, but it's nice to have that "spare tire" in the trunk if I'm running and "get a flat". Again, I am a production user, printing Acetal, CF Nylon, CF PC, and TPU's, (I've even printed 6061 Aluminum and 316 Stainless steel filaments), so some of my filaments are pricey, plus I'm making parts for customers, I'm not a hobbyist. If the few dollars worth of filament doesn't matter, or if time doesn't matter, then the item is unnecessary for you.

P.S. I tried the "filament welders" to fuse multiple spools together and they sort of work some of the time. Fusing filament is like trying fix a broken pot metal part, about the time its prefect it all melts!

I don't mean to invalidate yours or anyone else's statements, but there are people who need this feature. Many other printers include it automatically. I bypassed them because, in my opinion, Qidi makes an extremely robust unit and the proof of that is I've been running the early trial models 24/7 for over a year now. I just routinely clean and lubricate everything. They've been an awesome investment.

Dave