Qidi - X-Plus 3 and X-Max 3 - The hidden champion

[branadic]

I've noticed that everyone talks about Bambu Lab printers and others, but noone talks about Qidi.
After watching a massive amount of review and unboxing videos over a complete weekend, I decided to buy an X-Plus 3 to print mechanical parts, electronic cases and similar things. My order was placed on a Tuesday evening, the printer arrived only two days later at Thursday, which was already nice. It comes with a heated chamber, something that is missing on other printers.

It won't win a price for best optics, honestly I'm waiting for the printer to stand up and transform into a robot like in a bad movie, but it worked right out of the box with the brass nozzle and the 500 g of PLA Rapido filament, that came with it.
Meanwhile I already switched to the high temperature hotend with the hardened steel nozzle and to ABS-GF, which again worked right away.
I found the Orca Slicer works best for me.

Overalls the print results are amazing, the chances of having a failed print are very small and are mostly due to me being new in this field and the slicer software. All my prints were done without touching any of the print parameters themselves and this is what I really like about it. I don't want to care about the printer, I just want to use it as a tool and not as a platform for modifications. I don't need multicolor options nor do I print creatures, figures or toys.

So if you want to print technical filaments you might want to consider this printer as well. The only sad point is, chamber, bed and hotend won't go high enough in temperature to also print PEEK, PEKK or PEI, but none of the printers in this price class can do that.

-branadic-

[branadic]

One of the very first prints I did with the 500 g spool of PLA filament that came with the printer was a case for my welder. See also.



Meanwhile I've changed to the more advanced materials (ABS-GF) and printed a transport shell for my ADR voltage reference.

-branadic-

[janoc]

Nice! I have X-Plus 3 myself and it is a decent machine, indeed. OTOH, it feels super plasticky in many places, so I am not confident it will last for long.

[Kosmic]

So if you want to print technical filaments you might want to consider this printer as well. The only sad point is, chamber, bed and hotend won't go high enough in temperature to also print PEEK, PEKK or PEI, but none of the printers in this price class can do that.
-branadic-

What was your solution in term of ventilation? A lot of technical filaments (ABS included) are emitting toxic fumes while heated. It's one of the reason why I normally stick to PLA and PETG.

[janoc]

What was your solution in term of ventilation? A lot of technical filaments (ABS included) are emitting toxic fumes while heated. It's one of the reason why I normally stick to PLA and PETG.

You ventilate the room. ABS is not particularly toxic when printed but you probably don't want the printer next to you during a long print - the emitted styrene fumes and the particulates (which, btw, PLA and PETG emit too) are not healthy. I.e. don't put the machine in your bedroom or living room where people are staying - if for nothing else then because it is quite noisy. OTOH, the enclosure helps a lot with keeping the fumes and particulates in, even without having an explicit filter like some Vorons do.

If you are printing really a lot you may want to consider some kind of "fume hood" arrangement with forced air evacuation outside. What you certainly shouldn't do is to add some sort of fan or ventilation directly to the enclosure, like one would do with a laser cutter - that guarantees all sorts of drafts inside and failed (warped and delaminating) prints even with ABS. Nylon, etc. would be completely impossible to print like that. However, if you really need forced ventilation then you are probably using the wrong tool for the job anyway - these are consumer machines for occasional use, not machines meant for industrial scale production.

[mikerj]

Anyone using the newer Qidi Q1 Pro?  Seems like excellent value for the specifications e.g. active heated chamber.

[janoc]

Anyone using the newer Qidi Q1 Pro?  Seems like excellent value for the specifications e.g. active heated chamber.

My X-Plus 3 has a heated chamber too - and I have yet to need it. Unless you are printing high temperature stuff like Nylon or polycarbonate, you don't need a heated chamber. The enclosure and the heat from the bed and extruder are plenty sufficient to keep the workspace sufficiently warm (around 40 degrees C) for things like ASA, ABS and similar, warping-prone filaments.

Moreover, given the construction of the Qidi machines, I would be super careful about turning that heater on - e.g. X-Plus 3 case is rather cheap plastic and the heater is bolted directly to the rear wall. It is very likely the Q1 Pro is built the same. So I wouldn't be surprised if the plastic starts to warp or even could catch fire in the worst case (there is a reason why the enclosure heater is software limited to 65 degrees C).

[mikerj]

Anyone using the newer Qidi Q1 Pro?  Seems like excellent value for the specifications e.g. active heated chamber.

My X-Plus 3 has a heated chamber too - and I have yet to need it. Unless you are printing high temperature stuff like Nylon or polycarbonate, you don't need a heated chamber.

The heater chamber is exactly why this printer is attractive i.e. the ability to print engineering materials on a low cost printer.  Seems pointless buying a printer with this feature and only printing e.g. PLA or PETG. 

[janoc]

The heater chamber is exactly why this printer is attractive i.e. the ability to print engineering materials on a low cost printer.  Seems pointless buying a printer with this feature and only printing e.g. PLA or PETG.

Qidi printers are very good high speed printers for normal materials too - for half the price & less locked down than the Bambulab ones.

The heated chamber is only a bonus. If you really really need to print those exotic materials, then investing in a more expensive and better built machine than the cheap and plasticky Qidi boxes would be a good idea. The X Plus 3 I have may do it once in a while but likely wouldn't last long doing that.