Qidi Tech X-Plus 3 3d Printer Review - Success Through Perseverance

[@Neo7CNC]

Timestamps for video sections. 0:10 Explanation 2:04 Reason for the two printers 5:15 Specifications of the printer 11:26 Differences between the two versions of the printer 15:55 What caused the first printer to fail often 20:08 What's included with the printer 22:32 What was printed and an interesting situation with the filament run out sensor 34:03 Pros, cons, and wishes (footage of the printer printing in actual speed) 40:53 Closing

[@dougfleming8327]

Even though Qidi sent an extra hotend with a hardened nozzle - there is really no reason to swap the hotend to use the hardened nozzle. Just remove it from the spare hotend and swap with the nozzle on the installed hotend. This is advantage over the Bambu which does require a hotend swap. I have asked the question on Facebook and was informed that the Qidi X-Plus3 hotends are identical other than nozzle.

[@hamps856]

Fantastic Review. David you should be a professional reviewer. Everything you review I want to go out and buy Great job.

[@Neo7CNC]

Thanks Hamp!

[@philiptaylor3262]

Thanks for the fantastic review. I'm in the market for my first machine and this really helped. So many many decisions but I think this one is near the top of the list.

[@stew675]

Great review. You should know that you can plug any web cam into the printer in either the USB slot on top, or into the motherboard directly in one of the USB slots there, enable it in the Fluidd Web Interface, or in the Device tab of QidiSlice4, and then you can watch your prints remotely. Basically they don't lock you into a camera of their choice. You choose your own. Additionally the hot end units are identical. It's just the nozzles that are different. You don't have to change the full hotends themselves. You can just change the nozzle only instead.

[@Neo7CNC]

Thank you for this information! I'm going to give a camera a try.

[@NaughtyGoatFarm]

At 29:05 you mentioned recalibration of the z axis. Do you use the paper calibration for this or are you using some other method?

[@Neo7CNC]

Great question and thanks for asking it. I used the plastic calibration sheet to recalibrate.

[@DaveDarin]

Yes, there is a lot of hype regarding the Bambu Labs and a little hype on this machine as well. I run a Voron 2.4 which is approximately 2 times the price of the machine you are talking about here. Additionally the Bambu printers, which I do not have one, I believe is an out of the box fully assembled machine. The Qidi is fully assembled. You do get a fairly substantially larger build volume on the Voron 2.4 for that extra cash at 350mm x 350mm x 350mm (13.8" x 13.8" x 13.8"). The Voron is a significant build challenge and even sourcing parts is a challenge. Some people source the machine build part by part, some buy kits. And most kits require the builder to 3D Print a decent amount of parts which complicates things if the builder does not have another printer PLUS the parts should be printed with ABS filament. Add to that the cost of filament and the requirement to have a machine that can build quality ABS parts without warping. However, the end result is that the builder is now very VERY capable of maintaining the machine and probably any other machine. The builder also has to install the firmware, Klipper and the UI to run the machine, moonraker and mainsail or fluidd. And, on top of that the builder needs to know information on the stepper motors, amps, rotational distance, etc. So engineering skills or at least an ability to read installation instructions is very much required. So, it's not for the average person wanting to 3D Print with limited or zero issues. I do not have a Bambu but my next door neighbor does and we compared printed models and the Voron delivers better quality. Now, to get that better quality required a careful build and a configuration as it is NOT an out of the box and print machine. So, the honest review I have is that the Bambu, out of the box is superior to a Voron built by a guy building his first Voron and not sure how to configure. An experienced or capable Voron builder will have a better machine than the Bambu products. The Voron is also very flexible in toolheads that can be adapted. I probably get better prints as my toolhead is expensive, I run a Bondtech LGX and a Mosquito hot end. But is the difference in quality I get with my Voron vs. the Bambu worth it. Probably not as I had a 1 week build and double the cost, however my build volume is larger. Anyway, great review. I am a very satisfied Voron owners who is getting incredible prints but at the cost of a higher price, a time commitment, patience, and due diligence.

[@Neo7CNC]

Great information Dave. I haven't built any 3d printers and can only imagine how much tweaking has to be done to get it running well. Hats off to you for sure! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@nazzom3893]

Great content. Thank you for sharing

[@mikeydakchabot]

Thanks for your comparison and explained support value problems and fixing issues am trying to make my first purchase decisions and am getting close to taking the plunge. Nice channel will continuie to follow GOOD JOB!

[@jonathanbarger2493]

I have an X-Max 3. It's an amazing printer and for functional prints it is irreplaceable in the current market.

[@Neo7CNC]

The X-Plus 3 has ruined me in a good way. I use it all the time for day job and side projects and it just works. Fan noise is my biggest gripe. If it died tomorrow I'd gladly get another one.

[@saddle1940]

I wonder if the filament run out sensor could be changed to a movement sensor, not a presence sensor. One that requires more than just a quadrature edge toggle to stop it triggering on tugging at the filament, tripping the output. A true one that requires the two quadrature inputs to fire successively to continue.

[@drpainsjourney]

Sorry for late respons sir, but yes, it's working!!!!! So happy, many many thank you!

[@drpainsjourney]

Sir .... PLEASE allow subtitle I am not a native English person, but enjoying all your great people out there, that do speak English, and are doing GREAT content for us users here on KZbin. (Also, I am 95% deaf....) Keep up the awesome, nice work!

[@Neo7CNC]

See if it works now. Thanks for telling me.

[@hamps856]

David, on the dry box--could you cut a slot in the translucent plate and hot glue a piece of plexiglass on it??

[@Neo7CNC]

The clearance for the spool inside the box is tight but it might be possible.

[@stew675]

I just sit in on the bench to the left side of the printer, and pop off the lid now and then to check the amount of filament left.

[@oleurgast730]

Actually yesterday I saw a ferman vido comparing both versions, and there was another issue in the new version: Unloading PLA sometimes (often) fail and jam inside the feeder. Today my X-Max 3 was delivered - exactly the same issue (and yes, I pulled the filament while unloading as recommended). The new version also has no (manual) filamentcutter inside the print head. The german youtuber also had both versions and put the feeder of the old version into the new printers - and the issue was gone. Definitly I have to find a way to solve the problem. Actually I wish the integrated filament cutter back - it would solve every unloading problem. Als it shoudm't be hard to automate it. The automatic filament cutter bambu uses, actually is the main reason filament changes work so well (but produce so much waste). As the filament is cut between feeder and heatbreak, only unmolten filament with a perfect tip is unloaded. So no problems loadung and unloading, like you have with deformed nozzle tips. If Qidi still had the cutter inside (and you automate it), multi material wouldn't be a problem. As the printer uses klipper, you always could use the ERCF.

[@Neo7CNC]

Interesting information. Thankfully the removal of the filament cutter didn't cause me any issues. It would be a great add to have the cutter back but automating it would be interesting as I think it would negatively impact performance due to added weight.

[@oleurgast730]

@@Neo7CNC converting a manual filament cutter into an automatic cutter wouldn't add any weight at all. All you have to do is to bump the manual knop against someting. Two ways to do so: Variant a) sacrifice about 1cm² of printing area, maybe in the left rear corner of the bed. Mount something to the frame, so if the printhead is moved to the rear and then to the left, the button of the filament cutter is pushed. Variant b) same as a), but instead a fixed object to move the button of the cutter against use a servo. If the servo is active, the cutters button would be pressed against the lever of the servo. If the servo is off, the lever is out of the way, so you do not loose printing area. Bambulab oviously uses method a), but without loosing printing area, as the moving area of the printhead is bigger than the printbed (obviously, to reach the poo ejection slot and the nozzle whiper). So I am very very sad the manual filament cutter isn't there in the new version of the printer. It would be so easy to convert it to automatic and allowing a ercf flowlessly. As the old feeder and the new one are interchangable, you might swap them, so you could add automatic fillament cutting and therefore use the ercf reliable. My stuck on unload problem might be solved by software (macro). I print Silk-PLA at quite hight temperature (220°C) as layeradheason of Silk-PLA is quite bad. Yesterday (after my post) I reduced the temperature to 180°C, extracted 5cm of filament and started the unload. It did not jam. So I might simply solve my problem by writing a macro "unload-PLA". In the long term I plan to rework the extruder anyways. The motor used by qidi has the same gear attached like the LGX lite by bondtech. If I redesign the back plate of the LGX lite, it should be able to be mounted instead, using qidis motor. Also I found some designs for filament cutters, so I might merge one; also a holder for a voron revo coldend. Might be some work to do and take some time (I am not a skilled designer) but have some advantages: - on the LGX lite you can adjust tension, which is great for flexibles. - with standard revo nozzle you get a pefect filament tip unloading normal pla, so you do not need the filament cutter, fastening filament change and reducing waste a lot (esp. with wipe to infill). - still with the cutter, a reliable unload with problematic filaments (like Silk-PLA at 220°C) is possible - It is quite easy to change nozzles between standard flow (for multi colour PLA prints) High flow (for single coulour PLA prints) and ObXidian. - While a conversion might cost a fortune (>$550 for a revo High-Flow with 4 Nozzles, a complete set of standard nozzles, a set of ObXidian) I already use Revo on some other printers. So for converting the Qidi I would just need a High flow heater core and a voron coldend, everything else I can share with the other printers. But of course, best would be if qidi just share the design files for the old extruder with filament cutter. So anyone could simply print it and use the gears etc. (which are unchanged), use some heat inserts and a cutter knife. So anyone could add automatic filament cutting with method a) for a few bugs and therefore also add the ERCF.

[@Victor-ze3sd]

How does it compare to the Bambulab p1s?

[@smilertoo]

Is there a chamber light so you can see how its getting on?

[@ScottTate1AndOnly]

Yes, a very effective one. A little issue with it sticking to the inside lip (due to being a sticky strip of LEDs), but easy to stick back up and apply more adhesive if necessary.

[@pwn4hax]

first of all thanks for the review... but i don't get why no ones talking or even mentioning the extremely loud and annoying motherboard fan, even in standby the fan is blasting at 100% and cannot be controlled via klipper. Why is no one mentioning that the auxiliary fan is not covering the the spot on the far right? I noticed it while printing large pieces for my NZXT H1. At first i couldn't tell why this area of my print was so bad... This product is still not finished. i guess qidi did not give you guys enough time to test it properly.

[@memcrew1]

Were you printing PLA?

[@ToolsTime-o3z]

do these have a carbon filter ?

[@Neo7CNC]

Mine did not.

[@odinata]

Why are you pronouncing "Qidi" as "Chee dee"?

[@CB_agotchi]

Lol 'I heard there was a lot of hyper over these Ferraris so I got a Nissan'

[@PhilDurham]

And when my nissan doing 60 to the gallon ,does the same job , getting me to work, cost $100 to service and is still running after 10 years , I wish I had bought that Ferrari that looked better but cost me a fortune so I could show everyone how small my dick is