I have just bought a QIDI Tech 2 printer and I have successfully printed simple cubes, hollow tubes etc in both ABS and PLA but I am have a problem printing anything more complex. I have attached a couple of pics, these are in PLA, any idea what I should do?
What filament brand are you using? Additionally, I’d try a couple of cold pulls. This looks like crappy filament though. Unless you’ve applied some stupid snapchat filter to this or something.
I am using the filament the printer came with, I have bought some Hatchbox Filament but have not tried that yet.
Cold Pulls?
Snapchat filter, no idea what that is.
@J_Seed your pictures look like they have some sort of software effect/filter on them.
?
I am just using Makerbot Desktop
No. Cameras do not naturally make the center of the picture brighter, with the edges of the picture fade to black like the pictures you posted. You have some sort of filter turned on in your camera. Makes it difficult to tell if that filament discoloration is natural, or a result of the stupid filter you’ve got turned on.
You don’t have anywhere near enough cooling to be printing PLA with overhangs like that. Point a box fan into your printer and find a nozzle blower mod to print and install.
@J_Seed He’s saying your photos are confusingly bad. Like you’re using Instagram or Snapchat with some sort of photo effect turned on. Makes it hard to identify the issue.
I adjusted the contrast etc as you couldnt see the crappy printing clearly in the originals.
“and dine a nozzle blower mod to print install.”
?
The printer already has a extra “Turbo” cooler for the nozzles which had been turned on. Should I direct a external fan into the build area too?
TBH the ABS prints have been better but not great.
@J_Seed I don’t know what kind of cooler your printer has, but I can tell by looking at the prints that you don’t have enough cooling for PLA. Make sure the turbo cooler is pointing to the overhang side of the print. You may also be printing too hot. (Is Makerbot Desktop still using 230C for PLA? Drop it to 210C and see what changes.)
I also see some signs of inconsistent extrusion or intermittent jamming type behavior, which could be caused by a lot of different things. Extruding too hot, PTFE liner damaged, crappy filament, Makerbot Desktop settings being messed up, etc. Can’t do much to figure that out while you aren’t getting heat out of the print fast enough.
Fix the cooling/temp issue and come back with more print photos and we’ll
Any recommendations rather than Makerbot then?
I will try extra cooling.
Find a copy of Makerware 2.4 – that’s the older version of Makerbot Desktop, before Makerbot started trying to screw up 3rd party printers who use their slicer. Absolutely nothing that came after 2.4 added anything of value for people using clones like Qidis and FlashForges. Should be easy enough to find a Makerware link by searching the FlashForge google group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/flashforge
If you’re willing to shell out some money for great software, Simplify3D has excellent support for your kind of printer. Most of the free options don’t do native x3g export for Sailfish printers. You CAN get Slic3r, Cura, etc to output x3g… but it’s enough of a pain to set up that I don’t recommend you do it until you can get good results with Makerware.
I was tempted to buy Simplyfy3D but wanted to get it working first, perhaps I should buy now if it makes that much of a difference. Besides they give a 14 day money back.
Thanks for all the help BTW
Haven’t heard the best stuff about the hatch box filament. I would have to agree with @ThantiK on this one. Try a different brand roll.
A cold pull would help if there is a clog.
Cold pull?
Simplify 3D is awesome if you have a machine that works really well. Get it tuned then make your decision. I don’t personally use it but I’ve used it in the past and loved it
https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/
Looks like temperature to me.
Mmmmm, took apart the “turbo” fan and found that it wasn’t actually working, fouled.
Cleared the fouling and my next print was MUCH better.
Thanks for that.