Auto leveling is like digital zoom: it's not mechanically driving the bed level, it's measuring the bed shape, and applying a transform to the gcode points to level the print. This will also compensate for small amounts of curvature of the plate, since it takes a matrix of points. (Edited, thanks roflcopter)
This is mostly correct, but this should still translate to moment in the z-axis screws. The only way the printer has to change the relationship between the nozzle and bed is the z-axis screws. If it was properly applying a bed-mesh it would drive the build plate down if there is a high spot, and up for a low. IMO it looks like this printer only uses the meshing to check if the bed is too out of tram and trowing an error if it is over a certain threshold.
Been running this printer for over 8 months now and it is absolutely fantastic. The QIDI stuff is just well built and reliable, no messing around needed. I don't even bother checking the first layer like you said in your vid - that's about the highest praise you can give a 3d printer really. I got rid of all my Creality/FLSUN/etc as frankly they were junk and the constant fiddling required did my nut in. I now have a X-CF and old X-Maker (still prints like a champ, I use it for ABS) and 2 x Voron.
There is a difference between level and flat. The manual adjustment gets the bed level (equal distance to the nozzle), but if the bed isn't flat, the probing will compensate for any uneven spots. You can clearly see at 6:58 that the bed has an overall variation of over 0.2mm. If printing something large, you would likely have poor initial layer adhesion in some spots. You might not have noticed the screws moving because you didn't print something big enough and there was no need to compensate.
Been looking to get a 3d printer for a long time, and because of this i bought one of these.... All thanks to your video. Will get it on tuesday. cant wait.
On my machines I manually level and then use a bltouch with a grid map to account for any temp warping or other fluctuations in the plate. Then I use the bltouch to set z every print without relevelling which is nice so you can slap tape or a different bed surface down without having to recalibrate z.
Wow I'm super impressed, can't believe that prop was basically perfectly balanced right off the machine!! Wish I had 2k blow I would totally get one of these and start making my own drone & r/c parts. Enjoyed the video as always James!👍👍
Check out the Bambulab X1C if like this. Even better when it comes to ease of use as it calibrates flow automatically as well as Z offset and is wicked fast.
@@ChriFux If you are talking about the XCF then youd choose it because its enclosed, has a chamber fan and filter and is out. If you are talking about the Bambulab X1C, it has a full enclosure, chamber fan, automatic calibration of flow and z offset and prints voron fast, also again, the prusa xl is not out. So basically each of these has reasons to buy them vs the XL. The XL also costs a lot more.
I’ve had my X cf pro as my first 3D printer and it works very well. Asa, cfnylon, pla+ and abs has printed well . The ribbon cable was getting damaged in the top left corner rail , I glued the lil cube I printed in that corner to stop the ribbon from getting caught up on the big wide prints .
Give some PPET-CF15 and PABS-CF15, and even for lower heat applications try PPLA-CF15, all of these print really nicely on the X-CF-Pro but In regards to the Nylon CF, most brands do shrink, I usually scale between 1 to 3% in both directions, and you can apply around 20% part cooling which also helps keep the scaling correct, and if you want to heat treat nylon, add another 1 to 2% scaling to compensate, with my in house UPAHT-CF15 (Nylon11 Blend) I print with 5% increase scaling and I heat treat at 140° C for 6 to 8hrs.
Love my i-fast, and I would buy another qidi if I need another printer. I'm done working on printers, I want machines that just work. My qidi has been exactly that. Just works
This. When I built my first CNC mill, someone posed the question: Do you want to spend your time making a CNC mill, or making parts with a CNC mill? I spent many years making and tinkering with 3D printers. I've been running my own extruder design for years. But now I want to work on other things and use the printer as a tool.
Darn you anyway!! I have some products that I have been 3d printing for 4 years now. I had 2 x-max and 6 x plus printers and I have just finished replacing them all with the lastest versions. I also use them for prototyping some of my machine shop work. I have a small cnc mill and cnc lathe. Yesterday I got to looking at the X CF Pro. I have been on the FB pages and this eve on youtube. After watching a lot of videos and finishing with your I just ordered the x-CF Pro.
The BL touch map stuff is done on the fly with the G-code interpreter on the machine. As you saw, the ranges are small, so it's fine tuning of stuff. Questionable as to if it does anything practically for most prints, but it's a nice to have. Sometimes the machine would also have a general z-offset that will bump up things ever-so-slightly while at the machine level. I've got a creality cr6se that only has a sensor/probe to set bed leveling, and it's ok enough. It was fine as a beginner machine
That flash mount would probably be great as a 2-piece part. Sheet metal screwed into the top to replace that overhang. That overhang is so thin I am certain that's what broke on your friend.
I was going to buy the X-CF but it went out of stock and so I bought the i-fast instead and found it does CFPA just fine and I'm glad I didn't bother with the smaller build space.
Automatic bed leveling isn't so much to compensate for an out of level (actually out of square) bed, and more to compensate for a warped bed. If the center or one edge has a bit of warp, no amount of leveling can fix that, and you risk crashing the nozzle into the bed, or departing from it so much that your adhesion fails. (speaking as an Ender 3 owner, so this is of course based on the assumption that whatever they're using works similar to Marlin)
I'm a bit confused by this printer, I have the QIDI I-MAX, which is a large printer built like the X-CF Pro, that comes with a brass nozzle for non abrasives, and a hardened nozzle for CF nylon etc. The X-CF Pro is a printer that comes with the hardened nozzle fitted, and a spare brass nozzle .... etc etc. I have had some very good results with PA12-CF filament In the I-Max. So apart from the (useless) leveling probe, what makes the X-CF Pro any different to the I-MAX? they both have a brass nozzle and a hardened nozzle and both print CF well.
I have been using two of these for 3~ months, very very good, only a few minor issues. The BLtouch i find good for dealing with build plate warping and for warping springsteel, but not for general bed leveling. I get incredibly good print quality at even very fast print speeds. The extruder/hotend setup is very easy to maintain. I swapped out the leveling shim for some brass shimstock because i level when the bed and nozzle are hot, like when i print. Only minor issues are the bed is only supported in the middle so it can rock back and forth a bit giving a bit of slop front-back and the extruder plastics and packaging aren't as compact as they could be so its hard to see the first few layers or anything on a small print. Customer support for firmware updates etc are great. I don't use their slicer, can't stand cura, but that means i know it doesn't have any issues with 3rd party slicers. Would have liked a spare springsteel sheet with the PEI only on one side for the ability to quick switch, but a minor thing.
@@Clough42 On my 3D printer (not a QIDI) I also can hardly see movement of the Z screws unless the deviation is massive, but I can hear and feel the Z steppers. If it's possible to print with the door open, you could just put a finger on one of the Z lead screws and might be able to feel if it is stepping.
They must have changed the design of the top cover at some point. The model I received last week doesn't have a magnetic cover. Mine has tabs in the four corners that fit into slots in the top of the machine.
I'm a newbie to 3d printing. I want to experiment and print small parts to help me build camper vans and overland vehicles. I need them to be strong... so the carbon fiber appeals to me. I'm a buy once and cry once kind of guy. What would you recommend? Is the X-CF Pro the winner? I'm also looking at the Bambu X1 Carbon when its available. Thanks!
I'm astonished by how good this 3D printing is now. It's not something I have really been bothered about, but as retirement beckons, I'm starting to think its something to get going with. I'm sure this printer is too much to start with, what printer and package would you recommend to start out with? I have always thought it best to start with what you will probably end with though.
At the low end, most people go for the Creality Ender. You will have to fiddle and tinker to get decent results. If you want to spend more and have a better out-of-box printing experience, the Prusa is the standard by which others are measured.
Prusa (especially the Prusa mini) is probably the cheapest "this can be a tool, not a hobby" out there, they have an excellent reputation. If you don't mind a hobby, the Ender 3 series is very popular, but Creality has too darn many versions so I can't remember the name of the new one that's like $250 but has all the upgrades you'd do to the $100 Microcenter deal on a V2 and is actually a good value even in that context. CHEP filament Friday is the best source for up to date Creality info.
(it's also completely valid to do the "buy the cheapest reasonable thing, then when you wear it out or outgrow it and know you actually will use it, buy the best you can afford" in which case the Microcenter coupon is probably a solid choice
@@rpavlik1 this is exactly how I started (with an inexpensive, but probably reasonably good MakerFarm kit). Then I bought the parts to improve it, and later built a bigger one. Now I'm pretty confident in my ability to design and print what I imagine in my head, and I just want a machine that can reliably make the bracket or fixture or 300 of them without a bunch of tinkering.
Hi James, I watched your video and assumed the x-cf was newer than the i-fast. But according to a timeline image on Qidis website the i-fast was released a year later in 2021. Can you confirm if that's correct?
Sounds like an impressive machine! Thanks for showing it to us. On your video, I'm not sure if it's my settings or not but I'm noticing a sync problem between sound and vision. The sound is behind by just a tiny amount. Just mentioning in case it's not my settings! 🙂
Interesting. The original looks fine to me, and it plays back correctly for me on RUclips in Chrome. That said, I shot this entire video with a different camera than what I normally use, in a room without the light levels I have in the shop, and I'm really unhappy with how it looks. It's possible there's some other difference somewhere that's causing issues on some devices.
You can use the support blocker feature to stop supports being printed for the vertical holes, or what I do is set my support angle to 59° so nothing under that will get supports
I've never flown a RC plane. The closest I've ever been to one was in a hobby shop. And yet I've used a prop balancer very similar to the one in this video. Back in the 80's I did a paper on RC tech, development and culture from the start. I don't remember why but as I was talking to people about their hobby I got to play with a prop balancer. However it wasn't for a RC plane but for a control line racer, which kind of was the predecessor of the RC airplanes. Still the precision of this printer is pretty impressive. Bought propellers back then was about as well balanced out of the box, if you were lucky...
how does this compare tot the X-max3? I like the larger build area of the Max3 and the heated chamber, the only reason i'm looking at the X-CF pro is the linear guides
That du-bro balancer is a dead give away, you fly RC, and I don't think you made a prop for nothing.... what are you flying these days? I used to fly electric helis but picked up a foam timber to fly with the neighbor kid. It's fun to just far around and relax.
Your input would help me with a decision. For the most part I would be using PLA for printing components required in quantity. As this printer is geared to the 'difficult' filaments would it still be worth (monetary is not the issue) purchasing the extra 'capacity' beyond ABS? Cheers.
Looks cool. My printer does not have an adjustment that's manual it just goes around four corners and checks the height on metal pads and then it's ready to go.
2:30 The purpose of the probe is to mesh level. So that is to compensate for a non-flat bed and/or gantry. Though honestly they shouldn't use the BLTouch in a hot environment like that because if your chamber is upwards of 50c it will fail.
Nice video. Been looking at building a voron, but might go this route instead. Also this may be a dumb question but why can’t you just run ABS through your hardened nozzle? (In the case you wanted to run ABS on the CF Pro)
No reason you can't print ABS, or any non-abrasive material, with a hardened steel nozzle. I keep a hardened steel 0.6mm NozzleX on my printer all the time and it prints everything fine.
You can't put fasteners in CF Nylon. It creeps away and the part becomes lose. Nylon is good for shock strains but not fixed loads. That being said. Commercial nylon fasteners don't seem to creep. I am not sure what is different about 3d printing filaments. Neat material but very limited practical uses.
there are several polymers that get called "nylon" - most common is pa6 or sometimes pa66, while the 3d printer filament is pa12. And presumably there are also additives involved that make a difference but don't show up in the name.
Thank you for the video; it is very well done. I like the Qidi X-CF Pro, but I want to print other materials at temperatures ranging from 370-400C. Do you know if it is possible to exchange the current extruder for a higher-temperature one, and would it be possible to adjust the temperature settings in the slicer accordingly? I appreciate your help. Thank you for everything.
The new probe they sent me, comes with a cover.. its was getting heated too much from the head and not working at all.. Even more i dremmeled the fan which is only 40-45mm, and it wasnt able to cool dont the aluminum heatsink, and i had clogging issues all the time.
These are a great printer, I've sold quite a few, but those on a tighter budget, the QIDI X-Max upgraded with an Icarus Extruder will perform just as good and will allow it to support the same filament types.
@@cgln8760 Yes it does, but the .4 nozzle will jam with most PA12-CF's, if yours hasn't, then the compound in your filament must have a fine CF powder, also heat creep can be an issue on the stock X-Max extruder, the main filament I print on my X-Max's is UPAHT-CF15 which requires 320° C to print it, and prints better with a regulated chamber as well, all can be done on the X-Max with a few mods and upgrades, at the end of the day, the QIDI TECH printers are a great option for semi professional to commercial use, their all well built machines.
I am in the usa where can I get the Icarus Extruder ? would the QIDI X-Max upgraded with an Icarus Extruder, be a better printer than the Bambulab X1C ?
@@motomatta1 You can purchase from my store, I deliver to the US, UK and EU, and to answer your question, no, the Bambu Labs printer, is excellent, and is getting better all the time, but its not a fair comparison, the X-Max is larger, and with the Icarus, can then take open source or off the shelf extruders, hotends, nozzles etc... the Bambu Labs is proprietary, if you own the X-Max, the the Icarus is a good upgrade, otherwise sell the machine and grab the X1C either way they will both be excellent printers.
Does your generated g-code have the command to enable (M420 S1) the use of the mesh? I had to add this to my slicer startup code. It seems it should be there if you used their version of a slicer but they could have missed it.
@@njspeer I just got my daughter the iMates so we can learn the process together. It is an amazing little printer for $400 for us to get our feet wet. It works great right out of the box and she took right to it. She is 11 and can pull things right off thingiverse and print them properly. She uses a program they have at school to design and export files in the stl format. I am teaching myself how to use fushion 360 and I will probably get the xMax next, or just go for the gold and get the iFast
@@unclematt7223 I actually just ordered the i Fast from the QIDI website (my first 3D printer). From what I can tell, it can do everything the X-CF Pro can do and then some (larger build area, actively heated chamber, dual nozzles). The only thing the X-CF Pro has that the i Fast does not have is the auto leveling. I need to make 72 small electronic enclosures for a project. I bought a 3 year subscription to Fusion 360 about a year ago, for the PCB/Eagle software, but then hated it and switch to KiCad (which is very good). Maybe now I can get some use out of it.
@@njspeer Thats awesome. I didn't mind doing the manual bed leveling, it was a pretty quick process and my daughter has been using it non stop and every print has come out perfect . Have fun with the printer and make some cool stuff !
Hi does the x-cf pro has resume printing if the power goes off ? I don't see that function, I had to start over on printing after power goes off ,didn't resume printing need some help on that thanks
Do you still run your old Makerfarm? I bought a dual extruder kit from you quite a few years back for mine, I still have it but have several other printers and haven't used the old makerfarm for at least a few years now
I have a couple. I keep one loaded with flexible filament. I used the other this week for something, but with the i-fast sitting next to it, it doesn't get much use.
I thought that my ABL was not working as I could not see it move, it turned out I had it trammed so well the movements were microscopic and to see it I would need a very high frame rate camera so I messed it up a little and then I saw the leadscrews turn, if you try this, only move the wheels slightly as the ABL has an operational window.
Have you ever done a dimensional layout study to determine how well the QIDI I-FAST holds designed dimensions vs printed dimensions? I am interesting in sharing data.
Have you considered building a Voron 2.4? It is built with a 350x350mm build plate and is controlled by a Raspberry Pi. My son built one over the summer. Rather impressive and there are many many mods for it, including auto bed leveling. He's working on a carrot multi filament feeder that will allow up to 8 different filaments that can be controlled in g-code.
I’ll say that my X-CF Pro is a bit tedious to get set up (especially when the BL touch doesn’t work), and the slicer settings don’t have much to offer in terms of nozzle profiles. But it definitely pushes out some extremely good quality prints.
This matches my experience with it. If you keep the PA-CF loaded, once it's set up, it requires very little interaction. If you swap filaments and nozzles on a regular basis, it's much less convenient--especially when comparing to something like the Bambu Lab X1-Carbon, where you can swap the nozzle in about five minutes and just send a print to it.
@@Clough42 exactly. One thing I do hate about it is the filament loading setup, and how far the runout sensor is from the extruder. It’s almost like it was a complete afterthought. BUT, As you said, once it’s up and running it will produce great results. Changing filaments after one’s exhausted has given me a bit of PTSD though 😂
@@Clough42 Yep! sadly I try and avoid placing anything on the print bed on the back corner for this reason. It's only happened a few times, but I've had the filament break in the tube, but between the extruder and filament sensor. So I've come back to the printer after a few hours only to see the extruder an inch above the print just humming away, but not laying down any filament because the filament sensor still thinks there's filament lol.
I have a bambu lab and it sucks printing high temp materials. The chamber temp is hard locked at 50 degrees. After that the fan turns on and keeps it at 50 deg. Doesn’t even let it get up to 60-70 degrees. This is the reason I’ve been looking at the Qidi I-Fast.
For small holes on most consumer printers, this is necessary to get good results. For holes over about 5mm, a well-tuned printer can produce holes pretty close to size.
If we talk about 'magic' boxes, it should be nowadays Bambulab printers. They all shout all over youtube balbulab this and babulab that = ) I do like Qidi approach though. They do not market insane speeds, which is really hard these days, just every 3d printer manufacturer had to write 100500mm/s amazing speed please buy! And they do not make their printer tremble like Bambulab (for faster wear out and marketing purposes obviously). Even bed leveling tool is used just to check if bed is alright and not to curve your print to match curved bed surface, for 'perfect' curved first layer. I still prefer my $100 Ender 3 though = )
Very interesting results....could also be the printer being used as to why ABS performed so poorly. Would be interesting to see the results of having the ABS printed on a home printer vs a $200,000 industrial Stratasys machine (or something comparable)
if the ifast lid is such a pain to remove that this one is a huge qol improvement, could you not just like... stick a little handle with some adhesive on it on the ifast? just like easy double sided tape? That seems like an exceptionally easy problem to fix
I would probably drill and mount a printed handle with screws. Anyone who has an i-fast will certainly recognize the struggle and appreciate the design on the x-cf pro.
If air can't get to the filament and it's in a box with desiccant, I don't see why it wouldn't work. I don't think it will dry filament that's already wet. That said, I live in the desert, and I have rolls of filament that have been sitting open on a shelf for six years that print like the day they were new.
@@Clough42 it would be an interesting case to test this moisture factor: I think it's mostly hoo-haa to be honest. I don't have the setup to do it right now otherwise I would. Out here in NM it's pretty dry too and, like you, I've had a spool of PLA sitting on my printer for years now and it prints fine. Nothing that is going to win any awards, of course. Once the print is done we don't keep the finished part hermetically sealed. I'm also not familiar with a dramatic push to seal finished parts... anywho, that marketing aspect aside it looks like a cool machine and your demo is informative and useful!
@@melgross that's a good point, and maybe for long-term storage perhaps it has the effect of increasing shelf life? I have a spool of PLA that has been sitting out for years (and traveled back and forth to Japan) on my cheapo monoprice and I've noticed it has become a little brittle; then again, I set it up to do an emergency print a month back for a 138mm diopter holder overnight and it printed just fine. Due to size, I had to print it out in quadrants, one of which pulled up from the build plate so I had to run that one again, but I don't attribute that to moisture, just my laziness of not laying down any surface treatment... and the heater for the build plate died long, long ago. I don't know about how much the quality of the print is effected by moisture but then my prints on this cheap printer have never won any awards, as it were. As for moisture being sealed out of this particular unit... I guess? I --suspect-- it doesn't do much because I --suspect-- water vapor translates from high-to-low humidity areas tenaciously and the desiccant, well, I'm not sure how long it lasts before it too is saturated. Now, you can rejuvenate the silica pellets by baking them and such, so there's that. I'm just questioning how much hoo-haa is in the enterprise of keeping filament dry and whether this feature of the printer is more marketing than practical, real-world results. Respectfully, my amateurish $.02.
Can you allow for a custom Patreon level that affords no 3D models or cad files? I enjoy your content very much, but have no interest in those items. My support is divided among many other providers and some dollars contributed are better than none. This was an excellent video and very compelling to buy me of these. The previous laser review and your candor is greatly appreciated.
@@Clough42 thanks. I do appreciate your super high quality videos. i’m a patron now. I’m supporting a bunch of people already or I’d give more. I don’t want anything in return except the high quality… oh hell, some more fusion360 for beginning idiots. Please.
I wonder if the autolevelling is just a software correction that drives the z-axis slightly further/less far than the commanded position while printing according to the alignment matrix it computes? not sure exactly how much benefit that would give though, especially if the bed levelling nuts are supposed to be actuated
That's exactly what auto bed leveling does. At least for the first couple of layers or the raft, after that you have a flat plane to work off. There are some printers that have drive screws or belts in each corner which can mechanically level the bed. Even so, the g-code modification is still useful to all types of printers to compensate for a non-flat bed (from manufacturing or thermal deformation). In fact, there is no reason you couldn't have an angled bed or one with multiple different heights to save on support material if you where making a large run of prints that had a weird shape.
This is exactly what it claims to be doing. The problem is I have never seen the Z screws move while printing a layer. On other printers with mesh bed leveling, I can see the Z screws rotating as it moves across the bed, making the adjustment.
@@Clough42 I wonder how much layer height is affected by travel velocity vs. extrusion velocity, especially with the first layer going down on such a textured surface. Since they are only correcting a very limited height difference, perhaps they raise the nozzle up to the highest point and increase the extrusion velocity as it travels over the low points. This would explain why is can only correct such a limited range. Of course, I can also see them just forgetting to call the function. Or forgetting a setting disables the Z axis while a layer is printing.
it seems much like the Ultimaker s3 and s5 but only a lot more affordable, even if one could get their hands on a used S3, it would still be around the same price point.
Auto leveling is like digital zoom: it's not mechanically driving the bed level, it's measuring the bed shape, and applying a transform to the gcode points to level the print. This will also compensate for small amounts of curvature of the plate, since it takes a matrix of points. (Edited, thanks roflcopter)
I think you mean digital zoom. Optical zoom does give you more resolving power.
Surely the only gcode it would adjust is the z height. And then you would see the z screws move while printing.
I still don't understand it.
This is mostly correct, but this should still translate to moment in the z-axis screws. The only way the printer has to change the relationship between the nozzle and bed is the z-axis screws.
If it was properly applying a bed-mesh it would drive the build plate down if there is a high spot, and up for a low. IMO it looks like this printer only uses the meshing to check if the bed is too out of tram and trowing an error if it is over a certain threshold.
Been running this printer for over 8 months now and it is absolutely fantastic. The QIDI stuff is just well built and reliable, no messing around needed. I don't even bother checking the first layer like you said in your vid - that's about the highest praise you can give a 3d printer really. I got rid of all my Creality/FLSUN/etc as frankly they were junk and the constant fiddling required did my nut in. I now have a X-CF and old X-Maker (still prints like a champ, I use it for ABS) and 2 x Voron.
Do you need any ventilation during printing with the carbon fiber fillament? Thanks
@@clevo12 Yes you should always have ventilation even with PLA - I have airflow through the room and a HEPA with carbon activated filter running too.
why can't you use abs on X-CF ?
What kind of cool shit do you make?
There is a difference between level and flat. The manual adjustment gets the bed level (equal distance to the nozzle), but if the bed isn't flat, the probing will compensate for any uneven spots. You can clearly see at 6:58 that the bed has an overall variation of over 0.2mm. If printing something large, you would likely have poor initial layer adhesion in some spots. You might not have noticed the screws moving because you didn't print something big enough and there was no need to compensate.
Been runnin the CF PRO for 2 months now, my first printer, its been incredible. I get compliments constantly on my prints running the Qidi PA12CF.
Been looking to get a 3d printer for a long time, and because of this i bought one of these.... All thanks to your video. Will get it on tuesday. cant wait.
That Makerfarm heater made me smile. My first machine was an Prusa i2 clone from Makerfarm.
On my machines I manually level and then use a bltouch with a grid map to account for any temp warping or other fluctuations in the plate. Then I use the bltouch to set z every print without relevelling which is nice so you can slap tape or a different bed surface down without having to recalibrate z.
What kind of machines do you have?
@@odinata home built corexy
I'm new to 3D printing thanks for posting this. A great help to better understand my X-Plus II. Many similarities between these two printers
I'd love to see more about the durability / destruction testing of these parts.
Wow I'm super impressed, can't believe that prop was basically perfectly balanced right off the machine!! Wish I had 2k blow I would totally get one of these and start making my own drone & r/c parts. Enjoyed the video as always James!👍👍
Check out the Bambulab X1C if like this. Even better when it comes to ease of use as it calibrates flow automatically as well as Z offset and is wicked fast.
why would you chose this over the prusa XL?
@@ChriFux If you are talking about the XCF then youd choose it because its enclosed, has a chamber fan and filter and is out.
If you are talking about the Bambulab X1C, it has a full enclosure, chamber fan, automatic calibration of flow and z offset and prints voron fast, also again, the prusa xl is not out.
So basically each of these has reasons to buy them vs the XL.
The XL also costs a lot more.
@@BeefIngot I was interested in that, but most reviewers seem to have problems with it. It seems more like a beta than a finished product.
@@melgross what reviewers? most I've seen are overwhelmingly positive including my experience. Modbot, cnc kitchen, 3dprintdoctor etf
I’ve had my X cf pro as my first 3D printer and it works very well. Asa, cfnylon, pla+ and abs has printed well . The ribbon cable was getting damaged in the top left corner rail , I glued the lil cube I printed in that corner to stop the ribbon from getting caught up on the big wide prints .
Give some PPET-CF15 and PABS-CF15, and even for lower heat applications try PPLA-CF15, all of these print really nicely on the X-CF-Pro but In regards to the Nylon CF, most brands do shrink, I usually scale between 1 to 3% in both directions, and you can apply around 20% part cooling which also helps keep the scaling correct, and if you want to heat treat nylon, add another 1 to 2% scaling to compensate, with my in house UPAHT-CF15 (Nylon11 Blend) I print with 5% increase scaling and I heat treat at 140° C for 6 to 8hrs.
Super upload, it answered all my questions about this unit.
Thanks you! This was a great help, as I am in the process of purchasing either the X-CF or the i-Fast.
Love my i-fast, and I would buy another qidi if I need another printer. I'm done working on printers, I want machines that just work. My qidi has been exactly that. Just works
This. When I built my first CNC mill, someone posed the question: Do you want to spend your time making a CNC mill, or making parts with a CNC mill? I spent many years making and tinkering with 3D printers. I've been running my own extruder design for years. But now I want to work on other things and use the printer as a tool.
I just discovered this channel and I'm really enjoying the content! Very informative!
Darn you anyway!! I have some products that I have been 3d printing for 4 years now. I had 2 x-max and 6 x plus printers and I have just finished replacing them all with the lastest versions. I also use them for prototyping some of my machine shop work. I have a small cnc mill and cnc lathe. Yesterday I got to looking at the X CF Pro. I have been on the FB pages and this eve on youtube. After watching a lot of videos and finishing with your I just ordered the x-CF Pro.
They do tend to multiply. :)
Hi James, would a beam deflection test print video comparing this with a standard filament and maybe nylon x be possible?
The BL touch map stuff is done on the fly with the G-code interpreter on the machine. As you saw, the ranges are small, so it's fine tuning of stuff. Questionable as to if it does anything practically for most prints, but it's a nice to have. Sometimes the machine would also have a general z-offset that will bump up things ever-so-slightly while at the machine level.
I've got a creality cr6se that only has a sensor/probe to set bed leveling, and it's ok enough. It was fine as a beginner machine
That flash mount would probably be great as a 2-piece part. Sheet metal screwed into the top to replace that overhang. That overhang is so thin I am certain that's what broke on your friend.
Right on... I've been waiting all day for this video.
Hi James, thanks for the great review. Would you think not having a actively heated chamber is a big downside compared to the i-fast?
I was going to buy the X-CF but it went out of stock and so I bought the i-fast instead and found it does CFPA just fine and I'm glad I didn't bother with the smaller build space.
Automatic bed leveling isn't so much to compensate for an out of level (actually out of square) bed, and more to compensate for a warped bed. If the center or one edge has a bit of warp, no amount of leveling can fix that, and you risk crashing the nozzle into the bed, or departing from it so much that your adhesion fails. (speaking as an Ender 3 owner, so this is of course based on the assumption that whatever they're using works similar to Marlin)
I was about to write something like this, but you did it much better than I could! 😁😁
I'm a bit confused by this printer, I have the QIDI I-MAX, which is a large printer built like the X-CF Pro, that comes with a brass nozzle for non abrasives, and a hardened nozzle for CF nylon etc.
The X-CF Pro is a printer that comes with the hardened nozzle fitted, and a spare brass nozzle .... etc etc.
I have had some very good results with PA12-CF filament In the I-Max. So apart from the (useless) leveling probe, what makes the X-CF Pro any different to the I-MAX? they both have a brass nozzle and a hardened nozzle and both print CF well.
I have been using two of these for 3~ months, very very good, only a few minor issues.
The BLtouch i find good for dealing with build plate warping and for warping springsteel, but not for general bed leveling.
I get incredibly good print quality at even very fast print speeds.
The extruder/hotend setup is very easy to maintain.
I swapped out the leveling shim for some brass shimstock because i level when the bed and nozzle are hot, like when i print.
Only minor issues are the bed is only supported in the middle so it can rock back and forth a bit giving a bit of slop front-back and the extruder plastics and packaging aren't as compact as they could be so its hard to see the first few layers or anything on a small print.
Customer support for firmware updates etc are great. I don't use their slicer, can't stand cura, but that means i know it doesn't have any issues with 3rd party slicers.
Would have liked a spare springsteel sheet with the PEI only on one side for the ability to quick switch, but a minor thing.
Have you observed the Z screws moving a little bit as it prints a single layer, compensating for the bed? I have yet to see that happen.
@@Clough42 On my 3D printer (not a QIDI) I also can hardly see movement of the Z screws unless the deviation is massive, but I can hear and feel the Z steppers. If it's possible to print with the door open, you could just put a finger on one of the Z lead screws and might be able to feel if it is stepping.
Just a great review, love the way you speak fast
Interesting. I don't think I've ever heard that feedback before. :)
@@Clough42 is that ironic ? :-)))) you speak fast , straight to the point , this is what makes a review good
They must have changed the design of the top cover at some point. The model I received last week doesn't have a magnetic cover. Mine has tabs in the four corners that fit into slots in the top of the machine.
This thing looks super RAD! Thanks for sharing with us.
I'm a newbie to 3d printing. I want to experiment and print small parts to help me build camper vans and overland vehicles. I need them to be strong... so the carbon fiber appeals to me. I'm a buy once and cry once kind of guy. What would you recommend? Is the X-CF Pro the winner? I'm also looking at the Bambu X1 Carbon when its available. Thanks!
Excellent review. A lot f useful info and experimentation. Thanks.
I'm astonished by how good this 3D printing is now. It's not something I have really been bothered about, but as retirement beckons, I'm starting to think its something to get going with. I'm sure this printer is too much to start with, what printer and package would you recommend to start out with? I have always thought it best to start with what you will probably end with though.
I can recomend a Prusa if you have the budget.
More Budget friendly would be a creality Ender, still good but will need some tuning
At the low end, most people go for the Creality Ender. You will have to fiddle and tinker to get decent results. If you want to spend more and have a better out-of-box printing experience, the Prusa is the standard by which others are measured.
Prusa (especially the Prusa mini) is probably the cheapest "this can be a tool, not a hobby" out there, they have an excellent reputation. If you don't mind a hobby, the Ender 3 series is very popular, but Creality has too darn many versions so I can't remember the name of the new one that's like $250 but has all the upgrades you'd do to the $100 Microcenter deal on a V2 and is actually a good value even in that context. CHEP filament Friday is the best source for up to date Creality info.
(it's also completely valid to do the "buy the cheapest reasonable thing, then when you wear it out or outgrow it and know you actually will use it, buy the best you can afford" in which case the Microcenter coupon is probably a solid choice
@@rpavlik1 this is exactly how I started (with an inexpensive, but probably reasonably good MakerFarm kit). Then I bought the parts to improve it, and later built a bigger one. Now I'm pretty confident in my ability to design and print what I imagine in my head, and I just want a machine that can reliably make the bracket or fixture or 300 of them without a bunch of tinkering.
Great Review, I 100% agree it just works and does strong awesome prints. been a perfect printer for me!
Does this printer stop odors from coming out of the case like it's big brother. I have a small cottage with no way to send the odor outside.
Do you prefer the X-CF pro to the i-Fast?
Have you tried pa6-cf nylon? Seems to solve water in the filament and a few other issues.
Hi James, I watched your video and assumed the x-cf was newer than the i-fast. But according to a timeline image on Qidis website the i-fast was released a year later in 2021. Can you confirm if that's correct?
Sounds like an impressive machine! Thanks for showing it to us. On your video, I'm not sure if it's my settings or not but I'm noticing a sync problem between sound and vision. The sound is behind by just a tiny amount. Just mentioning in case it's not my settings! 🙂
Interesting. The original looks fine to me, and it plays back correctly for me on RUclips in Chrome. That said, I shot this entire video with a different camera than what I normally use, in a room without the light levels I have in the shop, and I'm really unhappy with how it looks. It's possible there's some other difference somewhere that's causing issues on some devices.
You can use the support blocker feature to stop supports being printed for the vertical holes, or what I do is set my support angle to 59° so nothing under that will get supports
very good video..well edited. looking at getting into 3D printing. mostly motorcycle accessories to start
I have this one. I only run PA12-CF in it on default settings and it does a fantastic job.
This has been my impression, and will be my plan.
Holy cow I need that hole mic
im more impressed that you have a prop balancer than the actual printer :) do you also fly RC planes ?
I've never flown a RC plane. The closest I've ever been to one was in a hobby shop. And yet I've used a prop balancer very similar to the one in this video. Back in the 80's I did a paper on RC tech, development and culture from the start. I don't remember why but as I was talking to people about their hobby I got to play with a prop balancer. However it wasn't for a RC plane but for a control line racer, which kind of was the predecessor of the RC airplanes. Still the precision of this printer is pretty impressive. Bought propellers back then was about as well balanced out of the box, if you were lucky...
Sweet 3D printer. On my list for next year.
Does it have a HEPA with carbon activated filter running after the included fan?
1
how does this compare tot the X-max3? I like the larger build area of the Max3 and the heated chamber, the only reason i'm looking at the X-CF pro is the linear guides
That du-bro balancer is a dead give away, you fly RC, and I don't think you made a prop for nothing.... what are you flying these days? I used to fly electric helis but picked up a foam timber to fly with the neighbor kid. It's fun to just far around and relax.
Manual leveling keeps the bed perpendicular to the z-axis. Automatic leveling adds another level of precision to this and compensates for warp.
I love my X-CF Pro the only issue I had was needing a .06mm nozzle for push plastic PA12-CF
Great review, thank you.
Your input would help me with a decision.
For the most part I would be using PLA for printing components required in quantity.
As this printer is geared to the 'difficult' filaments would it still be worth (monetary is not the issue) purchasing the extra 'capacity' beyond ABS?
Cheers.
Looks cool. My printer does not have an adjustment that's manual it just goes around four corners and checks the height on metal pads and then it's ready to go.
Take a look if tree support is available. It saves so much time during the print
2:30 The purpose of the probe is to mesh level. So that is to compensate for a non-flat bed and/or gantry. Though honestly they shouldn't use the BLTouch in a hot environment like that because if your chamber is upwards of 50c it will fail.
Nice video. Been looking at building a voron, but might go this route instead.
Also this may be a dumb question but why can’t you just run ABS through your hardened nozzle? (In the case you wanted to run ABS on the CF Pro)
No reason you can't print ABS, or any non-abrasive material, with a hardened steel nozzle. I keep a hardened steel 0.6mm NozzleX on my printer all the time and it prints everything fine.
What material was the coolant bottle holder material? Nice video
You can't put fasteners in CF Nylon. It creeps away and the part becomes lose. Nylon is good for shock strains but not fixed loads. That being said. Commercial nylon fasteners don't seem to creep. I am not sure what is different about 3d printing filaments. Neat material but very limited practical uses.
there are several polymers that get called "nylon" - most common is pa6 or sometimes pa66, while the 3d printer filament is pa12. And presumably there are also additives involved that make a difference but don't show up in the name.
Nice old school prop balancer.
Thank you for the video; it is very well done.
I like the Qidi X-CF Pro, but I want to print other materials at temperatures ranging from 370-400C.
Do you know if it is possible to exchange the current extruder for a higher-temperature one, and would it be possible to adjust the temperature settings in the slicer accordingly?
I appreciate your help. Thank you for everything.
Off topic, do you recommend a bench top CNBC mill that can machine aluminum?
I just started loking for a printer.
How does this compare to a Bambu p1s or a creality K1Max?
The new probe they sent me, comes with a cover.. its was getting heated too much from the head and not working at all.. Even more i dremmeled the fan which is only 40-45mm, and it wasnt able to cool dont the aluminum heatsink, and i had clogging issues all the time.
Parts does look great!
These are a great printer, I've sold quite a few, but those on a tighter budget, the QIDI X-Max upgraded with an Icarus Extruder will perform just as good and will allow it to support the same filament types.
The QIDI X-Max works just fine with (in my case) PA12-CF with the standard hardened nozzle.
@@cgln8760 Yes it does, but the .4 nozzle will jam with most PA12-CF's, if yours hasn't, then the compound in your filament must have a fine CF powder, also heat creep can be an issue on the stock X-Max extruder, the main filament I print on my X-Max's is UPAHT-CF15 which requires 320° C to print it, and prints better with a regulated chamber as well, all can be done on the X-Max with a few mods and upgrades, at the end of the day, the QIDI TECH printers are a great option for semi professional to commercial use, their all well built machines.
I am in the usa where can I get the Icarus Extruder ? would the QIDI X-Max upgraded with an Icarus Extruder, be a better printer than the Bambulab X1C ?
@@motomatta1 You can purchase from my store, I deliver to the US, UK and EU, and to answer your question, no, the Bambu Labs printer, is excellent, and is getting better all the time, but its not a fair comparison, the X-Max is larger, and with the Icarus, can then take open source or off the shelf extruders, hotends, nozzles etc... the Bambu Labs is proprietary, if you own the X-Max, the the Icarus is a good upgrade, otherwise sell the machine and grab the X1C either way they will both be excellent printers.
@@NexGen-3D Thank you 😊
what dry box are you using in this video. Can't find any information about it.
I’ve been having a hell of a time with the software, just got the ifast last week and gave in to buy simply3d
Interesting. What kinds of issues?
Does your generated g-code have the command to enable (M420 S1) the use of the mesh? I had to add this to my slicer startup code. It seems it should be there if you used their version of a slicer but they could have missed it.
So if you were gonna recommend this one or the ifast, if it was gonna be your only printer, which would you choose ?
I am also trying to decide between these two printers.
@@njspeer I just got my daughter the iMates so we can learn the process together. It is an amazing little printer for $400 for us to get our feet wet. It works great right out of the box and she took right to it. She is 11 and can pull things right off thingiverse and print them properly. She uses a program they have at school to design and export files in the stl format. I am teaching myself how to use fushion 360 and I will probably get the xMax next, or just go for the gold and get the iFast
@@unclematt7223 I actually just ordered the i Fast from the QIDI website (my first 3D printer). From what I can tell, it can do everything the X-CF Pro can do and then some (larger build area, actively heated chamber, dual nozzles). The only thing the X-CF Pro has that the i Fast does not have is the auto leveling. I need to make 72 small electronic enclosures for a project. I bought a 3 year subscription to Fusion 360 about a year ago, for the PCB/Eagle software, but then hated it and switch to KiCad (which is very good). Maybe now I can get some use out of it.
@@njspeer Thats awesome. I didn't mind doing the manual bed leveling, it was a pretty quick process and my daughter has been using it non stop and every print has come out perfect . Have fun with the printer and make some cool stuff !
is it possible to replace I-Fast extruder with Extruder from CF Pro in order to get more useful printing area ?
Hi does the x-cf pro has resume printing if the power goes off ? I don't see that function, I had to start over on printing after power goes off ,didn't resume printing need some help on that thanks
Do you still run your old Makerfarm? I bought a dual extruder kit from you quite a few years back for mine, I still have it but have several other printers and haven't used the old makerfarm for at least a few years now
I have a couple. I keep one loaded with flexible filament. I used the other this week for something, but with the i-fast sitting next to it, it doesn't get much use.
I thought that my ABL was not working as I could not see it move, it turned out I had it trammed so well the movements were microscopic and to see it I would need a very high frame rate camera so I messed it up a little and then I saw the leadscrews turn, if you try this, only move the wheels slightly as the ABL has an operational window.
I’m having issues with this printer - cubes are off and cylinders are ovals. Any help is appreciated
Have you ever done a dimensional layout study to determine how well the QIDI I-FAST holds designed dimensions vs printed dimensions? I am interesting in sharing data.
Have you considered building a Voron 2.4? It is built with a 350x350mm build plate and is controlled by a Raspberry Pi. My son built one over the summer. Rather impressive and there are many many mods for it, including auto bed leveling. He's working on a carrot multi filament feeder that will allow up to 8 different filaments that can be controlled in g-code.
@clough42 do you have an updated mister bottle cap file? Thingiverse doesn’t have the bottle holder.
Are you printing inside out or outside in?
Nice printer, Great video!
I want this one!
I’ll say that my X-CF Pro is a bit tedious to get set up (especially when the BL touch doesn’t work), and the slicer settings don’t have much to offer in terms of nozzle profiles. But it definitely pushes out some extremely good quality prints.
This matches my experience with it. If you keep the PA-CF loaded, once it's set up, it requires very little interaction. If you swap filaments and nozzles on a regular basis, it's much less convenient--especially when comparing to something like the Bambu Lab X1-Carbon, where you can swap the nozzle in about five minutes and just send a print to it.
@@Clough42 exactly. One thing I do hate about it is the filament loading setup, and how far the runout sensor is from the extruder. It’s almost like it was a complete afterthought. BUT, As you said, once it’s up and running it will produce great results. Changing filaments after one’s exhausted has given me a bit of PTSD though 😂
@@Heiserton I've also seen the filament break in the tube, right after the runout sensor if the head travels to the extreme back corners.
@@Clough42 Yep! sadly I try and avoid placing anything on the print bed on the back corner for this reason. It's only happened a few times, but I've had the filament break in the tube, but between the extruder and filament sensor. So I've come back to the printer after a few hours only to see the extruder an inch above the print just humming away, but not laying down any filament because the filament sensor still thinks there's filament lol.
I do not interested in 3D printing but I think I just watched this thru without taking a breath :D
At $1,450, the Bambu X1 Carbon would be my choice, but this machine looks very impressive as well.
I have a bambu lab and it sucks printing high temp materials. The chamber temp is hard locked at 50 degrees. After that the fan turns on and keeps it at 50 deg. Doesn’t even let it get up to 60-70 degrees. This is the reason I’ve been looking at the Qidi I-Fast.
@@Theprofessor1212 Oh wow, that is a pretty big downside. Yeah for PC/Nylon you definitely want higher than 50C
I've noticed that the holes don't really matter with 3d printing as I'd usually have to drill and maybe ream the holes if I wanted real accuracy.
For small holes on most consumer printers, this is necessary to get good results. For holes over about 5mm, a well-tuned printer can produce holes pretty close to size.
Wow, seems the filaments already sold out in US everywhere. Shame, wanted to snag some to test on my bambu labs x1c carbon!
I literally bought the last spool on Amazon.
Will you do similar for the ifast?
Would x-cf printer print a 1/64 slot car chassis?
If we talk about 'magic' boxes, it should be nowadays Bambulab printers. They all shout all over youtube balbulab this and babulab that = )
I do like Qidi approach though. They do not market insane speeds, which is really hard these days, just every 3d printer manufacturer had to write 100500mm/s amazing speed please buy! And they do not make their printer tremble like Bambulab (for faster wear out and marketing purposes obviously). Even bed leveling tool is used just to check if bed is alright and not to curve your print to match curved bed surface, for 'perfect' curved first layer.
I still prefer my $100 Ender 3 though = )
pretty impressive.
Very interesting results....could also be the printer being used as to why ABS performed so poorly. Would be interesting to see the results of having the ABS printed on a home printer vs a $200,000 industrial Stratasys machine (or something comparable)
if the ifast lid is such a pain to remove that this one is a huge qol improvement, could you not just like... stick a little handle with some adhesive on it on the ifast? just like easy double sided tape? That seems like an exceptionally easy problem to fix
I would probably drill and mount a printed handle with screws. Anyone who has an i-fast will certainly recognize the struggle and appreciate the design on the x-cf pro.
@@Clough42 Im not suggesting that it isnt an improvement, just that it is an incredibly easy thing to fix.
Wow you have a nice micrometer for the holemesurment, can yoh tell me wich brand it is and model?
Thanks 🙃
If you dont instantly recognise it then you dont need it.
That's a 3-point internal micrometer from Shars.
I'm curious how effective that anti-moisture system actually is. I have a feeling it's more show than function.
If air can't get to the filament and it's in a box with desiccant, I don't see why it wouldn't work. I don't think it will dry filament that's already wet.
That said, I live in the desert, and I have rolls of filament that have been sitting open on a shelf for six years that print like the day they were new.
@@Clough42 it would be an interesting case to test this moisture factor: I think it's mostly hoo-haa to be honest. I don't have the setup to do it right now otherwise I would. Out here in NM it's pretty dry too and, like you, I've had a spool of PLA sitting on my printer for years now and it prints fine. Nothing that is going to win any awards, of course. Once the print is done we don't keep the finished part hermetically sealed. I'm also not familiar with a dramatic push to seal finished parts... anywho, that marketing aspect aside it looks like a cool machine and your demo is informative and useful!
@@bruinflight desiccant works pretty well, and that’s a large package of it. As long as it’s sealed fairly well, it should work.
@@melgross that's a good point, and maybe for long-term storage perhaps it has the effect of increasing shelf life? I have a spool of PLA that has been sitting out for years (and traveled back and forth to Japan) on my cheapo monoprice and I've noticed it has become a little brittle; then again, I set it up to do an emergency print a month back for a 138mm diopter holder overnight and it printed just fine. Due to size, I had to print it out in quadrants, one of which pulled up from the build plate so I had to run that one again, but I don't attribute that to moisture, just my laziness of not laying down any surface treatment... and the heater for the build plate died long, long ago. I don't know about how much the quality of the print is effected by moisture but then my prints on this cheap printer have never won any awards, as it were. As for moisture being sealed out of this particular unit... I guess? I --suspect-- it doesn't do much because I --suspect-- water vapor translates from high-to-low humidity areas tenaciously and the desiccant, well, I'm not sure how long it lasts before it too is saturated. Now, you can rejuvenate the silica pellets by baking them and such, so there's that. I'm just questioning how much hoo-haa is in the enterprise of keeping filament dry and whether this feature of the printer is more marketing than practical, real-world results. Respectfully, my amateurish $.02.
Can you allow for a custom Patreon level that affords no 3D models or cad files?
I enjoy your content very much, but have no interest in those items. My support is divided among many other providers and some dollars contributed are better than none.
This was an excellent video and very compelling to buy me of these.
The previous laser review and your candor is greatly appreciated.
Patreon is goofy. If you go here, you can make a custom pledge: www.patreon.com/join/clough42
@@Clough42 thanks. I do appreciate your super high quality videos. i’m a patron now. I’m supporting a bunch of people already or I’d give more. I don’t want anything in return except the high quality… oh hell, some more fusion360 for beginning idiots. Please.
I really thought the video would show the actual speed...
Anyway, vorons and VZBots actually have this as print speed!
I wonder if the autolevelling is just a software correction that drives the z-axis slightly further/less far than the commanded position while printing according to the alignment matrix it computes? not sure exactly how much benefit that would give though, especially if the bed levelling nuts are supposed to be actuated
(and it looks like I'm not the first person to suggest this. heh)
That's exactly what auto bed leveling does. At least for the first couple of layers or the raft, after that you have a flat plane to work off. There are some printers that have drive screws or belts in each corner which can mechanically level the bed. Even so, the g-code modification is still useful to all types of printers to compensate for a non-flat bed (from manufacturing or thermal deformation).
In fact, there is no reason you couldn't have an angled bed or one with multiple different heights to save on support material if you where making a large run of prints that had a weird shape.
This is exactly what it claims to be doing. The problem is I have never seen the Z screws move while printing a layer. On other printers with mesh bed leveling, I can see the Z screws rotating as it moves across the bed, making the adjustment.
@@Clough42 I wonder how much layer height is affected by travel velocity vs. extrusion velocity, especially with the first layer going down on such a textured surface. Since they are only correcting a very limited height difference, perhaps they raise the nozzle up to the highest point and increase the extrusion velocity as it travels over the low points. This would explain why is can only correct such a limited range.
Of course, I can also see them just forgetting to call the function. Or forgetting a setting disables the Z axis while a layer is printing.
@@ElectricGears or shipping the printer before the firmware is finished.
it seems much like the Ultimaker s3 and s5 but only a lot more affordable, even if one could get their hands on a used S3, it would still be around the same price point.
link to the bore mic
It's in the description. Shars 3-Point Internal Micrometers (Amazon*): amzn.to/3RqkNuc
Does the new fillament drybox work witht he ifast also?
Yes, I just checked and it fits. It's tight on width, but it fits.
350? You could do some soldering with that!
stl for the 2l bottle holder?