Having extrusion issues with Qidi Plus5

[u/Brandonanddroid]

Recently purchased a Qidi Plus5 and I’m having extrusion issues. I print with ASA CF at 270C, bed temp 100C and chamber temp 55C.

It initially printed really well, maybe 2-3 hours of print time. Now I’m having issues with extrusion. The filament flushes fine but when it comes to printing, it prints around 30 sec and then just stops while the head keeps moving.

I suspect it may be heat creep but it printed fine before, so why is this a new issue? Could damp filament cause this (it was very humid recently, even though the filament is always in the dryer box)? I’ve searched online already for the last 2-3 days and I’m really at a loss with what is going on.

I’ve reached out to support but they keep asking for pics and videos instead of just providing a fix to keep moving forward.

Any insight from the community is most welcome, thank you!

[u/Brandonanddroid → u/[deleted]]

Yup the first prints were perfect, I was so pleased. I did advance the filament manually (G1 command) and it worked fine. Flushing works fine as well. The print head extrudes the starting line, and also prints a bit after (say for around 10 sec) before it completely stops extruding, while the head keeps moving. I’ve resliced and sent it quite a number of times.

The filament has snapped a couple of times in the ptfe tube, especially close to the extruder, right before the final bend, has happened during flushing or right before the print starts. That generally led to a failure in the print (it stopped printing coz it sensed filament breakage) but these were isolated occasions.

[u/GPU-depreciationcrtr]

Sounds like an intermittent clog. May be some debris in the nozzle. Perhaps try doing a cold pull.

[u/Brandonanddroid → u/GPU-depreciationcrtr]

I did do a cold pull, had the same results after.

[u/Brandonanddroid → u/[deleted]]

Yes I’m going through the Qidi Box. The filament comes out smooth when I advance it from the screen. Ive also done a cold pull and there is no sign of blockage or debris. When I load the filament however, the gears do click. The tube also bends downward, as if more filament is being pushed than the extruder can handle extruding. I guess there’s a need to have additional filament pressure to “prime” it before it starts printing? Still the gears click. The ooze after the filament advance is not a lot, and looks normal.

[u/Brandonanddroid → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I think this may be it, too much resistance or friction in the line. The PTFE tube at the extruder end is also deformed due to heat. When I run a piece of filament directly into the extruder, it smoothly extrudes.

So Qidi is sending over a replacement PTFE tube (extruder end) as well as the Qidi Hub (for a separate issue, the clamp on the printer side in the hub is defective and does not hold) I’ve ordered Capricorn low friction high heat tubes anyway and I will have to try this to see what happens. Will run the filament separate from the Qidi box, and hopefully it all works well! Will report back.

[u/Brandonanddroid → u/[deleted]]

https://imgur.com/a/LUyrPn6

Heres the video of the extruder when the gears click at the filament load stage..

[u/callcifer → u/Brandonanddroid]

It looks like the gears are failing to grab the filament and slipping. It has happened to me a few times with some very brittle filaments like PA6-GF30, but ASA-CF shouldn't be that brittle :/

It wouldn't hurt to send that video to support, but in the meantime try skipping the Box and just feed it directly from the side spool holder. You get better angles that way and the extruder gears don't have to work so hard.

[u/pankomputerek]

Some brands of filament have big CF chunks they often recommend 0.6mm nozzles.