It seems like QIDI Tech has been sitting at the back of the room, taking notes whereas we focus on different 3D printer’s flaws. The Q1 Professional fixes most of the little issues I’ve had with different machines. It eliminates leveling guesswork by setting its personal Z top, the spool holder is aspect mounted the place it’s truly reachable, and it connects simply to your own home Wi-Fi with out having to play Mom Could I with a overseas server. It additionally makes use of inventory Klipper firmware – a refreshing alternative, as too many corporations slap a buggy facade on Open Supply firmware and attempt to go it off as their very own.
However it has one controversial function: a wall powered heater for the construct chamber.
The Q1 Professional makes use of an energetic heater tucked within the again nook of the enclosure to warmth the air as excessive as 60 C, which is beneficial for printing ABS, ASA, Nylon and different superior filaments. The heater is managed from each the slicer and the printer interface. It’s not used for PLA, PETG or different interest sort filaments.
The heater shouldn’t be marked as sizzling or hazardous, and for those who go poking across the inside with a hex key whereas the heater is switched on, you possibly can obtain {an electrical} shock. There’s a security grid over the heater, and also you’re unlikely to by accident jam a finger and even the nook of the construct plate previous the grate (a couple of Youtubers have tried). There’s actually no purpose to poke the heater with a device whereas it’s on, if something as a result of it will be too sizzling to the touch whereas in operation. QIDI has been made conscious of the difficulty and acknowledged that whereas their printer is FCC and CE licensed, they’ll implement a extra “contact proof” enclosure for future items and make a printable half out there to anybody who at present owns a Q1 Professional.
The QIDI Q1 Professional retails for $599, however is at present on sale for $469, which contemplating its capabilities and 245 x 245mm construct plate is kind of a deal. It’s not fairly one of many greatest 3D printers you should purchase, but it surely’s shut.
Specs: QIDI Q1 Professional
| Construct Quantity | 245 x 245 x 240 mm (9.64×9.64×9.44 in) |
| Materials | PLA/PETG/TPU/ABS (as much as 350 levels) |
| Extruder Sort | Direct drive |
| Nozzle | .4mm (twin steel excessive circulation) |
| Construct Platform | Coated metal flex plate, heated |
| Mattress Leveling | Computerized |
| Filament Runout Sensor | Sure |
| Connectivity | LAN, WiFi, USB Flash Drive |
| Interface | 4.3 inch Colour contact display screen |
| Machine Footprint | 477 x 467 x 489 mm (18.7 x 18.3 x 19.2 in) |
| Machine Weight | 17 KG (37.48 lbs) |
QIDI Q1 Professional : Included within the Field
The QIDI Q1 Professional comes with all the pieces you’ll want to get your printer arrange. You get instruments to keep up the printer, a scraper, and a USB stick. There’s additionally a small pattern coil of black PLA to start out your printing journey.
The printer comes with a PDF copy of the handbook, a duplicate of QIDI Slicer and presliced pattern mannequin.
Design of the QIDI Q1 Professional
The QIDI Q1 Professional is a contemporary trying, fully-enclosed Core XY printer. It has a metal body encased in a plastic shell, which makes the printer really feel a bit larger than it truly is. The door and high panel are made from clear acrylic, which is vulnerable to static electrical energy and tough to maintain clear, particularly in case you have pets that shed. The door lacks a deal with, and as a substitute has a graspable decrease nook.
It has a detachable purge collector within the again, together with a brush for wiping the nozzle, which appears odd on a single shade printer. It is likely to be an indicator that QIDI is engaged on a shade improve for the Q1 Professional, or it may simply be a solution to maintain the nozzle pristine for extra correct mattress probing.
Its construct plate is 245x245mm with 240mm construct top, a dimension barely bigger than each the Creality K1 and Bambu Lab’s core XY machines. It additionally has an ordinary, double-sided textured PEI plate, which doesn’t want glue for abnormal supplies like PLA.
The lid is totally detachable to supply air circulation for PLA, PETG and TPU. The chamber thermometer averaged 35 levels whereas printing with lid off and door closed. Opening the door dropped the temperature one other 5 levels. I ought to notice that the door opens an entire 180 levels and has hinges that keep put, which retains the door out of your means ought to you’ll want to run it huge open.
As beforehand talked about, the Q1 Professional has a separate heater for the chamber, situated within the backside left nook. It might probably enhance the inside temperature to 60 C when the lid and door are closed. The heater is powered immediately by the wall outlet and shouldn’t be touched whereas operating. As with all 3D printers, you must maintain your palms away from the machine’s innards whereas it’s operating. As a result of this can be a high-speed printer, it’s vulnerable to sudden, unpredictable motion. The construct plate can’t be jammed previous the protection grid (I attempted).
The hotend seems to be impressed by Bambu Lab, however contained in the heater cartridge is an abnormal replaceable nozzle. It’s not fairly a Volcano, however QIDI makes use of this dimension on a number of printers, which implies replacements are available on each the QIDI web site and Amazon.
A high-flow, put on resistant nozzle, with a copper plated throat and hardened metal tip is put in on the printer. It’s good to see a 3D printer include a sturdy, skilled grade nozzle as a substitute of low-cost brass. Replacements are reasonably priced, and begin at a pair {dollars} every. They’re additionally a lot simpler to swap out than Bambu-style nozzles.
One other perk included with the Q1 Professional is a built-in 1080p digicam for monitoring prints and even doing timelapses. The digicam feed pops up instantly whenever you entry the Klipper interface. The chamber is brightly lit with LED lights.
Assembling the QIDI Q1 Professional
The QIDI Q1 Professional is 98% assembled and solely must be unboxed and unpacked. You’ll must take away all of the packing foam, unscrew a couple of delivery screws, and pop on the filament holder.
Leveling the QIDI Q1 Professional
The QIDI Q1 Professional has a full auto leveling program that features setting the Z top, enter shaping and PID tuning with the assistance of built-in sensors. It runs a full calibration through the set part. Simply push the button and the machine does the remaining. The machine additionally runs by a leveling calibration earlier than every print to guarantee that it’s excellent.
Loading Filament on the QIDI Q1 Professional
Loading filament is an easy course of. Simply place the filament into the tube close to the spool holder and push it by till it bumps towards the nozzle. Press the “three strains” button on the underside of the display screen to get to the loading menu, after which press Load. It’ll heat up the printer and advance the filament.
Most filament will be pushed proper as much as the gears, the place the printer is ready to seize it. For TPU, you’ll must pop the Bowden tube off the extruder and gently hand feed it the previous few centimeters.
To take away the filament, you’ll must press “Substitute Filament” from the loading display screen. You may be instructed to take the Bowden tube off the highest of the extruder and minimize the previous filament off. It’ll then heat up the printer and advance the remaining filament ahead. Now you possibly can press the load button and add new filament.
It’s uncommon that QIDI doesn’t need to again the filament out of the hotend, but it surely might be that they’re making an attempt to keep away from clogs by reversing heat filament by the gears.
Getting ready Information / Software program for QIDI Q1 Professional
QIDI included a duplicate of QIDISlicer, a customized program that’s based mostly on Open Supply Slic3r. Since Slic3r is the muse for PrusaSlicer, Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer, this system will look very acquainted to anybody coming from these fan bases.
After QIDISlicer is put in, you’ll have entry to a web-based information, stuffed with tutorials on use the slicer and calibrate the printer. There’s additionally instructions on arrange the Wi-Fi, which is extraordinarily straightforward. Merely click on the gear icon on the contact display screen, click on Community, click on your Wi-Fi identify after which enter the password. The printer will make the connection after which present you the printer’s IP tackle. The tackle is entered into the printer settings of QIDISlicer, which lets you mechanically ship sliced information over your property community.
The Machine tab opens the Klipper interface (Fluidd), the place you possibly can see printer data like temperature and velocity, all of the information in reminiscence, the digicam and all of the Klipper console instructions. That is unhampered inventory Klipper, so you might be free to tinker with the settings as you want.
The one factor you CANNOT do is entry the Fluidd display screen immediately by your printer’s IP tackle. You might be compelled to open QIDISlicer first.
Printing on the QIDI Q1 Professional
The QIDI Q1 Professional comes with a small pattern coil of PLA. If you’d like extra colours and supplies like silks and multicolor filaments, you must try our information to the greatest filaments for 3D printing for ideas.
I ran a Benchy utilizing “velocity benchy” guidelines: 0.25mm layer top, 2 partitions, 3 high & backside layers, 10% infill. I additionally turned off combing and z hop, and let her rip utilizing the default velocity of 300 mm/s. I used Inland’s grey PLA – an on a regular basis filament that’s brutally sincere in pictures.
The Benchy is a bit stringy, however the layers are pretty even, the curves are good and there’s no ringing. This Benchy printed in a powerful 20 minutes and 18 secs, which isn’t sufficient to make our high ten quickest 3D printers, however is quicker than most. For comparability, an Ender 3 S1 operating at its high velocity of 100mm/s would take 55 minutes to print this utilizing comparable settings.
I ran a primary layer check by printing a one layer excessive sq. that took up all the buildable space with the Inland Gray PLA. The print was simply the tiniest bit excessive on the best entrance nook, however was in any other case clear and clean.
I’ve been utilizing the QIDI to make lots of dragons and eggs, which print with glorious velocity and crispness. Right here’s a pattern dragon egg that I printed with good 0.2 mm clean layers. The egg printed in two halves, each on the mattress on the similar time, and took 3 hours and 21 minutes utilizing QIDISlicer’s default settings. Printed in Polymaker’s Starlight Mercury PLA.
The Q1 Professional did a good job with TPU. I printed my favourite telephone case with no high layer to let the infill present. It wasn’t capable of bridge the holes for the buttons very nicely, however that’s common with TPU. I used QIDI Slicer’s default TPU settings, and a 0.2mm layer top. That is printed in Matterhackers Translucent Blue Construct Sequence TPU in an hour and three minutes.
I ran elements for an RC automobile we’re constructing in ABS, and the Q1 Professional was capable of print this materials nicely with none warping or cracking. I used a little bit of glue stick on the construct plate for insurance coverage. This was printed utilizing Polymaker Galaxy Orange ABS with a 0.2 layer top and QIDI Print’s default ABS settings. This printed in 23 hours and 4 minutes.
Backside Line
The QIDI Q1 Professional is an excellent printer that’s easy to arrange and straightforward to make use of. It makes printing with ABS and nylon fear free. The shortage of warning tags on the heater is regarding, so I’m reluctant to suggest it to freshmen who might deal with it as a family equipment fairly than the intense maker device that it’s.
At the moment on sale for $469, the Q1 Professional is a fairly priced, enclosed Core XY printer with many nice options. If you’d like a fair larger 300 x 300mm single shade printer Core XY, try the K1 Max. It’s at present on sale for $719. Our favourite throughout printer is the Bambu Lab P1S, which may additionally do 4 colours when purchased as a combo for $949.
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