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  1. #1

    Qidi x-max / x-plus filament runout sensor

    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!

  2. #2
    Student
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    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?

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by globules View Post
    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

  4. #4
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    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

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by globules View Post
    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)?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRedRedViper View Post
    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

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by globules View Post
    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
    Ok thats good to hear. I'm looking for either the X-mas or X-plus, so knowing what you just said I don't see the point of a runout sensor. A good planification will avoid this issue.

    Are you satisfied with your x-max? Iv'e heard plenty of good reviews but having another independent review would be nice. What are the cons that you've experienced so far with it if I may?

  8. #8
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    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

  9. #9
    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.

  10. #10
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    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.

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