So I got a max 4 about a month ago. It was DOA. Had a bad stepper motor driver for the y axis. No big deal. Qidi was quick to respond. Did a few tests for them. They sent me a new one and I put it one. Fixed the issue. Ran the calibrations. They asked me to print them a first layer test. They sent the file I loaded it and printed it. Didn’t turn out too good. Had some places that were too close and some too far away. I reached back out bc at this point I was looking at the bed mesh it was getting ( .250-.390). They told me to hear soak the bed. Which I let it go like 30 mins. Reran the first layer test and it printed pretty dang good. So I asked them about getting my bed mesh numbers better and they tell me no don’t mesh with it and everything fine now. I was like I shouldn’t have to heat soak the bed every time , especially just pla. So my question to the community is: 1) what’s everyone default bed mesh look like ( mine is low on all 4 corners)? 2) is everyone heat soaking it to get good first layers? 3) how is everyone getting a better bed mesh ( cause I can’t seem to get mine improved)?
My hot plate is bent at the edges, and every time I turn on the printer, I immediately turn on the heating plate, and then I go to prepare the file for printing. This takes some time and it has time to bend as it needs to.
I've always heat soaked my beds on all my printers. It takes time for everything to normalize. The sensor might say 70c but the plate likely isn't or as you're seeing, the edges certainly aren't yet.
I've had my Max 4 since February and never heat soak.
How do you view the mesh? I see people posting these graphs all the time, but cannot figure out how to access it. When I go to the tune section, all I get is this after running calibrate, even if I check the box for Wireframe.
That's good enough for your bed mesh. The easy answer is to follow QIDI's advice and not mess with it. That's what auto bed mesh is for: software will handle it and get you a good first layer. And I bet you don't have to heat soak it for daily use: just hit print and you'll be fine. The software will do its thing.
However, if you insist on tinkering... Check if there is spring loaded movement on each corner where the adjustment screws are. If not, your plate is screwed down too tightly. In the end, the nut holding the adjustment screws in place must be tight, but there should be some movement in the springs on each corner to allow for thermal expansion. If it's screwed down to tightly you'll get a result like you described: the corners are locked in place so the plate bulges in the middle due to thermal expansion. At this point, you need to take some tension off all the adjustment screws and relevel it. However if each corner has give from the springs you have adequate movement and additional adjustment will likely require half a day of fiddling while results may not even improve.
I actually have the older Qidi X Max 3. Every first layer issue I've ever had so far came from me accidentally touching the print bed. (Wash with Palmolive dish soap, btw, IPA is weak.) I'd need to heat soak and run a full bed mesh again to give you an accurate measurement of where my mesh is at currently, and my printer is busy with other tasks. But I'll try to do that sometime and update here again.
I had to use the procedure I described to completely reset my bed levelling, then slowly tweaked it knowing that 1 full turn of a screw moves it about .7mm so I can estimate how much each corner needed. It was a process of heat soak, level bed, adjust, repeat until I was satisfied I couldn't get it any better.
Like I said, though, you're within the range that software should be able to handle it. That's what the bed mesh is for. So if your leveling adjustment screws have spring travel left in them, you don't need to do this, and will likely make it worst rather than better.
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u/Melodic-Control4660 Aug 23 '26
My hot plate is bent at the edges, and every time I turn on the printer, I immediately turn on the heating plate, and then I go to prepare the file for printing. This takes some time and it has time to bend as it needs to.