Comment on Qidi X-Max 3 - not performing as expected
Bluewing@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I don’t own a Qidi, but I do like them.
Some cheap and easy checks to try.
If you have a decent straight edge, (wood and plastic rulers need not apply), check to be sure your bed isn’t warped. The heat bed is only 6mm aluminum and it might be warped. It does happen with Qidi machines. That’s a warranty issue.
It can also be that one of the nuts on one corner of the bed isn’t clocked in unison with the other 3. Multi start screws can have this timing issue. And the only way to fix it is to figure out which is the offending, disassemble the machine just enough to remove the screw, and turn the nut to try a different start. Then test the machine to see if that fixed it. Again, it’s not common, but it does happen.
ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
Yeah warped bed was already checked (it’s reasonably straight at 60°C after 10min of heat soaking) and it’s straight enough, just slightly tilted along the X-axis so the front is higher than the back.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I suspect the stepper screws of not being properly timed then.
I’m not sure just how the bed homes top or bottom, but I would home the bed, shut the printer off so the steppers are off and not locked, then turn all the screws by hand to deadhead against a hard stop to even them out. The bed should be as level as it can be then.
Pro way: Use a test indicator solidly attached to the print head and move it around the bare heat bed by hand. Turn the screws until they are all zeroed out. I did that to my Prusa Mk3s when I first built it years ago.
Is that over kill? Yes, yes it is. But as an old toolmaker, I have the tools to do that kind of super fussy inspection. I also used a granite surface plate and precision squares to build the frame on to ensure prefect alignment of the frame. Ahhh the boredom of being quarantined.