How I bought an advanced 3D printer and what came of it. Personal sad experience
Disclaimer! This post is a personal experience from a newbie. There will be no discussions from me about complex settings, features of plastic and cunning life hacks. This article is for the same beginners, as well as for pros – who want to share their experience, where I went wrong.
What kind of device is this
I take the bull by the horns and describe (briefly) its characteristics. The seller’s website told me that the QIDI TECH X-PLUS3 is a high-end 3D printer that is suitable not only for home needs, but also for small production tasks. I was interested in the first one. I planned to print the necessary things for the house – spare parts for robotic vacuum cleaners, various kinds of cups, toys for children, Fallout figures for myself, and stuff like that.
Here are the key characteristics of the device:
Supported materials: PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PET-CF, PA12-CF, PC, UltraPA.
Fiber diameter: 1.75 mm.
Printing technology: FDM/FFF.
Printer body: closed.
Thread diameter: 1.75 mm.
Extruder type: direct feed.
Number of printing nozzles: 1 pc.
Independent extruders: no.
Extruder temperature: ≤ 350 °C.
Table temperature: ≤ 120℃.
Print chamber temperature: 65 °C.
Printing area: 280 x 280 x 270 mm.
Calibration: automatic.
Printing speed: ≤ 600 mm/s.
XY axis accuracy: ±0.1mm.
Full color printing: no.
Number of colors: 1 color.
Heated table: yes.
Forced chamber heating: yes.
Plastic control: yes.
Print resume system: yes.
Nozzle diameter: 0.4 mm.
Compatible OS: Windows, Mac OS.
Software: QIDI Print, Ultimaker Cura, Simplify3D, PrusaSlicer.
Connection interfaces: USB (flash drive), USB (cable), Ethernet (LAN), Wi-Fi.
Device dimensions: 511 x 527 x 529 mm.
Packaging dimensions: 600 x 600 x 650 mm.
Net weight: 31 kg.
Gross weight: 23 kg.
Optionally, you can also purchase a camera for it, which is what I did.
Here are the characteristics:
Operating temperature: -20°C to 70°C.
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels.
Maximum image transfer rate: 1–30 frames per second.
It turns out this video surveillance:
The printer also has automatic bed leveling for each new task, so there is no need to adjust or adjust it manually. This miracle of technology costs 86,277 rubles on Ali, and $599 on the manufacturer’s website. A bit expensive, but what wouldn’t you do for your convenience?
Here are some other strengths of this printer:
High performance: Thanks to the advanced extruder and large print area, you can create objects of varying complexity.
Wide range of supported materials: Allows you to experiment with different types of plastic. I'm currently working with PLA.
Closed chamber: Prevents warping when printing temperature-sensitive materials such as ABS.
User-friendly interface: Touch screen and intuitive controls make printing setup easy, even if you're a beginner. Everything here is true, I confirm.
Wi-Fi support: Really convenient, especially when you need to upload assignments remotely.
The device can print both regular PLA and all sorts of high-temperature plastics, for which the kit includes a separate nozzle.
What's included:
The printer itself comes with the main components pre-installed, making the assembly process easy.
Two sets of extruders: one with a copper tip for standard materials and one with a hardened steel tip for more abrasive materials.
Flexible magnetic print platform with excellent adhesion and easy removal of finished models.
QIDI filament (1 kg PLA).
Cables and power cords.
Tools for maintenance and adjustment (trowels, wrenches and screwdrivers).
USB flash drive with test files for quick printing testing right out of the box.
User manual and quick setup instructions.
Automatic calibration system and sensors to facilitate the printing process.
In general, I looked at all this, thought it over again, decided, ordered and began to wait.
Unboxing and Setup
I received the printer in about a week. Of course, I expected it to be big, but the reality exceeded expectations: the box is huge (you can look at the dimensions in the specifications). Weight – 31 kg. No, it's really huge!
I unpacked the whole thing, here are some photos:
It has components inside it, screws, screwdrivers, fiber, lubricant and all that stuff.
That's all with unpacking, now the next stage.
Well, let's turn it on!
To the manufacturer's credit, there are instructions throughout the unpacking process on what to do and what not to do. When starting up, the printer tells you what needs to be removed: mounting bolts, plastic clamps, polystyrene foam, and so on. There were no problems at all, everything was very clear.
The screen showed where to insert the fiber – these are the directions in the pictures in the instructions, even on the packaging itself. Everything is done, you can start working.
The printer comes with the original black plastic, 1 kg, 1.75 mm. Everything is standard. There are several models in memory, right in the printer. There is a flash drive included in the kit on which you can carry models from your PC to the printer.
It connects to the PC both by wire and via Wi-Fi, the settings are clear, there were no problems either. I installed the native software with the native slicer. By the way, the software is good, not a single problem arose with it during the work. The program gives advice on printing, warns about model problems, if any: hanging elements without support, and so on.
Hurry up and print!
To be honest, I was expecting some kind of catch. An acquaintance spent a long time fiddling with the first settings of his printer – he managed to print something the fourth time. But here everything started up right away, started up, and went on and on. The fiber lay perfectly on the table, the first thing I did was print out a test cube.
These stripes on the left are not a defect, everything is smooth there. When I was taking pictures, the light was somehow strange. In general, the first pancake was not lumpy, it turned out well.
Then I decided to print a soldering iron stand. Photos again.
Compared to what I saw from a friend, the quality looks perfect.
Then I printed a bunch of things: for my wife, pots for flowers and sprouting onions, fixing refrigerator shelves to replace leaky ones. Then – a stand for a Pinecil soldering iron and a bunch of other things, I can’t remember. I will also say that there was not a single problem for a couple of days. I got up in the morning, put a new model on the printer – and that’s it, you can leave. A pleasure. The last thing I printed in a state of mild euphoria was a figurine of a Brotherhood of Steel knight from Fallout 4.
During the printing process, I ran out of the supplied plastic I used to print with, so I added the blue one I already had. It didn’t turn out as well as with the black one, but still – the photo shows the figure without any modifications, out of the heat, so to speak. My model has a plastic presence detector: if it runs out, the printing process ends. When you load a new plastic, everything starts from the moment where it all ended.
Not everything was smooth with the figure. For some reason, in the morning the desktop shifted along the Z axis, so I couldn’t print right away. I had to use manual setup, everything went well. The figure was printed without failures or problems until the very end.
Little did I know that this was the last day of trouble-free operation of this printer. In blissful ignorance, I ordered two spools of PLA plastic from different manufacturers and waited for delivery, wondering what else I would print that interesting.
QIDI, we have a problem
Problems arose immediately, on the third day of my ownership of the printer. So the plastic arrived, I loaded it, but the desktop moved again. Well, or the reason was something else, you can already tell me. I had to align the Z axis again. I even reset the printer to factory settings – it helped, but only once. Then it didn’t help anymore, I had to adjust it manually all the time.
The device began to print normally, and I made a small figurine of Link from the Zelda game – it had already been stolen and destroyed children, so no photos.
Then I tried to repeat the printing of a flower pot, and this is what I got. I went away for a while, and when I returned, chaos and disappointment awaited me:
The stripes on the side of the pot are the texture of the model itself; this is not a bug, but a feature. That is, this is not “snot” of plastic, but a printed pattern. But what is above is already a problem.
The print quality was initially perfect, the inside looked like it came from a factory that cast these same pots. But then the printer stopped feeding plastic, and the extruder mechanism began to knock. I read that the problem could be a clogged nozzle. By the way, this printer is collapsible. The nozzle can be unscrewed from the heating element and only it can be replaced. It’s inexpensive; on Ali, such modules are sold for 2–3 euros.
The printer came with a cleaning needle. I used it, it literally helped for the first half hour.
And after this, problems of a simply chronic nature began: the plastic stopped sticking to the desktop, and the axis displacement was constantly occurring. It took more time to prepare for printing than to print the models I talked about above. The knock of the extruder became a constant companion during the testing process.
I tried to print again with a different plastic: I ordered from different manufacturers, with thousands of positive reviews, photos, and so on. This is what happened. Changed printing modes, temperature. Nothing helped, the printer already refused to print anything normally.
And the extruder started knocking again; cleaning with a needle no longer helped. I tried installing the high-temperature nozzle from the kit. It started to print normally, and then the same problems started again. And the extruder, and the workbench, and heating – all the demons of 3D printing decided to visit my workshop, where instead of joy, despair and sadness now reigned. What's next?
How it all ended
And there are already two versions of the ending. At first I wrote the first one, but a day later the situation suddenly changed. So read the post to the end.
Version No. 1. Without a happy ending
My story without a happy ending. I spent hours trying to solve the problem. I studied the manufacturer's forum and surfed specialized resources. I tried to apply the advice of professionals from different forums and sites. Nothing helped – the printer does not print.
Out of desperation, I even updated the printer firmware to the newest one. The update went without a hitch, but the update did not solve my problems.
Now I ordered a new extruder – fortunately, it is not very expensive. I'm waiting for it to come so I can put it in place and try everything from scratch: reset the settings, take more expensive plastic and see what happens. If all else fails, I will return the printer to the manufacturer.
I would tinker more, but, as I said, I simply don’t have time for all this. Yes, and I looked at reviews of the printer from different owners – almost everyone did great. Another factor that prevents me from spending a lot of time on setup, purchasing parts, and so on is the cost of the device. From such a device you expect it to simply work.
Version No. 2. Good still won
Having written the previous ending, I decided to try one last time to get to the bottom of the problem. Neither the nozzle nor the positioning of the table have anything to do with it. I decided to also disassemble the plastic feeding mechanism – like the one in the image:
Inside there is a gear transmission with a clamping mechanism that grabs a thread of plastic and forcefully sends it into the nozzle. It melts and under pressure comes out as a thin thread, the diameter of which is equal to the diameter of the nozzle. And if the problem is in this very transmission (the teeth have ground down, debris has gotten in), then the supply of plastic stops – nothing pushes it or pushes it, but with less force than necessary. This is where the various glitches begin.
In short, it was not in vain that I took it apart. It turned out that the spring inside somehow did not fit into the groove correctly (I have no idea what affected this). And obviously at the very beginning everything was fine. In the image below, on the right side, this spring is peeking out of the groove. What happened to her and why it happened is a mystery.
I took everything apart, removed the gears, took out the spring, cleaned everything (even though there was no debris), put it back together – and voila, everything works. We are in our fourth hour of printing one large part. As long as there is no knocking, the plastic is fed as needed.
By the way, the plastic feeding mechanism is made of plastic itself. Why the developers don’t make it metal is a mystery. A friend had a problem with the extruder mechanism of another printer. This module is also plastic, and it simply fell apart. Fortunately, there was a way out: metal modules were sold on Ali, he ordered one, installed it – everything returned to normal.
There is no metal extruder for my printer yet, but there is a possibility that it will also fall apart. I found a couple of messages on reddit from foreign owners of printers from the same manufacturer that produced my model. Thus, for two owners, the extruder fell apart during the second week of operation of the printer. True, thousands of others are doing well.
Now that's all for sure Hope. The ending is positive. But if something happens to the extruder or something else again, I will send the printer back to the manufacturer. For now I still have two weeks to experiment.
To make the article useful for a wide range of readers, share the problems of your printers in the comments and tell us how you managed to solve them. Well, tell us about failures like mine too!
