3DPrinting

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3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

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Looking to get a new printer, Qidi Q1 Pro top of list? Also Polydryer? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello 3d printer fans and makers. I currently have an a1 mini and have been putting it through its paces over the last several months. Ive probably used 5kg of filament and have maybe a few hundred hours of prints on it. I love the little machine, its a work horse. But it cannot print most engineering materials and Im looking to branch into more exotic prints and get myself a bigger build volume.

My first thought was getting the a1 with ams for multifilament printing and then I would have an ams I could use with either printer, but upon ruminating on the subject multifilament printing this way really seems to be such a gimmick and if I really want to do it there's always stop code and manual filament switching. Plus its another bed slinger with the only real change being the larger build volume.

So that brings me to the Qidi Q1 Pro. All the reviews really talk it up, I like that its built on klipper and an open ecosystem (-1 for Bambu), the hotend max temp, the heated champer, the larger build plate, and the price? All seems like a big win to me.

My current plan is buying the printer along with a filament dryer, I dont really want to get their drybox attachment, a smooth build plate, some CF something filament, and 0.6mm nozzle as accessories.

Do you all have any thoughts on polydryer, if the 3 x-plus might be something to consider if I really want a bigger build plate than what the Q1 pro offers, or if there might be another printer for me to consider in the $500-700 range. Also, any recommendations on filaments I might want to try with a heated chamber, 100C build plate, and 350C capable hot end? Im leaning towards something nylon and/or carbon fiber... maybe PA-CF? lol.

Anyways, any input is appreciated. Thanks!

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[–] capably8341 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sounds like you've done your research.

A friend of mine has a Qidi X-Max 3, so I got to play around with it quite a bit. It is a beast! And apparently their support is top notch. I'm definitely going to look at Qidi next time I'm in the market.

All that said, the Q1 is not the same class of printer as the X-Max 3. It seems like it makes some compromises to hit the price it does. If you are looking for amazing build quality or extremely large prints, you probably want to save up for something like their Plus4. But if you don't care about those things, or don't want to spend more, the Q1 seems like a great choice.

As far as the polydrier goes, it seems good, but expensive. I've had a good experience just using my printer's heatbed to dry filament and using vacuum bags with redried dessicants. The bags are like $1-2 each, so even if 1/4 of them are leaky, it's still way cheaper than dry boxes. And I just collect the dessicants from my new filament spools and redry them in the microwave.

I haven't printed nylon, but I know you can get the cereal box dryboxes for like $7 each. If you plan to have tons of rolls of nylon, then it may be worth getting a full drying system, but for only a few rolls, I'd stick to cereal boxes.

If I were in your situation, I'd cheap out on the storage and put that extra ~$100 towards a Plus4 or some cool filament.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago

I've been wanting an active dry box box for a while because even though I live in a dry climate, it seems like some of the rolls of petg I've bought have come a little wet and I want to be able to run them through the dryer. I bought the dryer for $80 and I'm pretty happy with the cost vs effectiveness based on the reviews. We'll see when it gets there!

I did pull the trigger on getting the Q1 Pro. If I fall in love with qidi products there's a good chance I'll end up making my next buy the plus4. Thank you for you input!