Post
by philipy » Sun Jul 02, 2017 7:13 am
Thanks. A number of interesting points here.
First though, I actually bought the dual head Qidi, partly because it has a slightly bigger print bed and partly to allow for printing supports to overhangs, etc, in the future. So far however I'm only using one head, I haven't even got any dissolvable filament yet.
So, I tried to set it up with MatterControl, but got stuck with what parameters to use for the dual m/c since MC doesn't have native support for Qidi and I had no idea what the various boxes were for. I ended up going with the version of Makerware as supplied on the Qidi SD card and so far I've had no problems with that. I just use the "Replicator Dual" settings to start ( as per Qidi instructions) and then modify any bits that I want to customise. Before getting the Qidi I had previously downloaded and installed the latest Makerware to have a look at, so when the Qidi arrived I just tried to use that and got stuck, because it doesn't include "Replicator Dual" as one of its drop-down m/c options and I had no idea which Replicator model was the equivalent of the Qidi dual. In the end I uninstalled that version of Makerware and installed the older version from the SD card, which does list "Replicator Dual" and as I said, works fine. I may investigate Mattercontrol and/or updated Makerware now that I have some idea how things work, but then again, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
The Makerware default settings are 0.2 layer thickness, so that's what I've used for everything so far, together with 60mm/s extrude speed as recommended in the Qidi instructions.
Interesting comment about vertical vs horizontal extrusion. Now that you mention it, the test cubes had much smoother vertical surfaces than my prints, which is why I was thinking about settings to improve it, but hadn't considered the orientation. So far I've done everything flat on the bed, simply because its the obvious way to orientate a 20 x 200 stone slab, rather than building it vertically on a 4 x 200 edge. I'll give it a try and see what happens, although I wonder how it will get on with mortar course recesses?
Not sure about the timing. I have noticed that it doesn't seem to be very accurate, but never really checked the actual timings. I must investigate.
BTW, do you use a Raft when printing, or just do it flat on the bed? It's a huge waste of filament. On my 20 x 200 x 4mm prints I end up with a 30 x 220 x 1.5mm slab of waste! - I guess edge printing would significantly reduce that, which is another good reason to try it.
Philip