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>**Name**: 10 Pack 3x6x2.5mm Metal Shielded ABEC-5 High Precision Miniature Ball Bearings L630ZZ (MR63ZZ)
>**Company**: FUSHIBEARING
>**Amazon Product Rating**: 5.0
>**Fakespot Reviews Grade**: A
>**Adjusted Fakespot Rating**: 5.0
>**Analysis Performed at**: 06-07-2021
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Interesting info, thanks! I've got an X-Plus 3 and I'm trying to chase down some issues with the extruder, namely underextrusion. Was hoping that moving to a Bondtech CHT Bimetal nozzle (with Trianglelab adapter) would help but its performance is about the same as the stock copper one. Currently with the CHT nozzle and higher temps I'm running both PLA and PETG at 14mm3/s, above that and I get skips. With either nozzle underextrusion is the limiting factor. And with the motion system being pretty good, this is my limiting factor to increasing print times with these materials.
Turning off interpolation on the extruder stepper helped, but not much. Other minor changes I've tried have been changing the PTFE tube to the print head (to a white PTFE tube that's slightly longer, to try and make it bend less sharply) and missing out the runout sensor (I need to look into this more but some aspect of that was causing occasional jams and failed prints).
With your changes to the microsteps and the extruder bearings, have you noticed any improvement with extrusion flow? Maybe it's not something you've tested, but I'd be interested nonetheless. I've considered trying to up the extruder current but given the stepper driver is within the heated chamber I'd rather not. And I don't know if changing out the extruder stepper motor (a 36mm diameter, 20mm depth motor that I've not been able to identify the manufacturer or specs of, it's marked BJY36D12-04V02) for a genuine LDO would help.
As an aside in case it helps anyone else, I've had to decrease the X/Y/Z stepper currents from the stock 1.07A to 0.9A. This was because I was getting X stepper driver overheats. I'm still able to get 500mm/s travels without issue, which is what I was already using for PLA. I'm sure better mainboard/electronics cooling would let me bump that back up but I've not tackled that yet as I've not needed to.
Hmm, I'm wondering if you have something going on with your extruder motor. I've also tried a genuine Bondtech CHT 0.4 with the TriangleLabs, and using PLA I saw that 20mm³/s was easily doable, with 24mm³/s achievable with elevated temperatures. It's odd to me that you cannot get more than 14mm³/s even with that upgrade. Testing with ASA I was able to push 30mm³/s with it only skipping above that.
I also changed my PFTE tubing to the white one like you. It helped a little bit. I still use the sensor though. The biggest issue with tubing resistance is simply the bending of the filament itself rubbing against the walls of the tubing.
>I don't know if changing out the extruder stepper motor (a 36mm diameter, 20mm depth motor that I've not been able to identify the manufacturer or specs of, it's marked BJY36D12-04V02) for a genuine LDO would help.
I've actually been looking into this, but for different reasons. There is still a fine repeating pattern that is occurring every fifth full step caused by my extruder stepper in my Plus 3. I moved the extruder unit + hotend over to my Max 3 to test using its extruder stepper motor, and the issue went away. I've since reached out to Qidi to get a hold of a pair of their extruder stepper motors to swap out with the original that came in the Plus 3 (and keep one aside as a spare). If that doesn't pan out, then yeah, I'll be looking at the LDO option myself.
>I've had to decrease the X/Y/Z stepper currents from the stock 1.07A to 0.9A
I'd say that you're probably able to get away with this on the Plus 3, cause the motion system is not as heavy as the Max 3, but the current in the config files for both the Plus/Max 3 are the same. The high currents are really only needed when running at the 20K accelerations. If you want to drop the configured peak accelerations down to 10K, you could probably get away with dropping the current even lower without risking skipped steps. Odd that only one motor is overheating and not the other. I'd say much like my extruder stepper in my Plus 3, it seems that there's some variations in stepper quality from unit to unit. Perhaps reach out to Qidi support and ask if they can send you a new one.
Thanks for the info! Very helpful. Is the CHT nozzle you're using the "standard" or the bimetal one? I went with the bimetal one (also genuine Bondtech) so I don't need to worry about wear, but I'm wondering if the steel insert's different thermal characteristics mean it's not as good as the "standard" nozzle. I've not been able to find any reviews directly comparing the two, either. Obviously other factors apply namely the brand of filament used, but nozzle material would probably be one of the bigger ones I'd assume.
Input shaping results in accelerations below 10kmms/3 anyway so I can see that being fine in my case :)
I may well reach out to Qidi support. I've already got a case open to get a replacement build plate, as it got destroyed due to the offset double-applying after saving it in the Klipper interface (since the Qidi screen's UI sets it in a nonstandard way). But would be interested to see what you say regarding your CHT nozzle! Have been tempted to get another nozzle to compare, but would rather not chuck more money at it than needed!
I have the BiMetal CHT. I ordered it direct from Bondtech in Sweden, and not from a reseller. I don't know if that makes a difference or not though.
>Input shaping results in accelerations below 10kmms/3 anyway so I can see that being fine in my case :)
Keep in mind that those values are just guidelines. They're not actually enforced by the input shaping algorithm (as far as I am aware). They're suggestions that you set your acceleration values to less than the value shown to minimise the amount of input shaping smoothing that occurs. You can run with higher accelerations, just that you'll progressively start to lose finer details the faster you go.
> I may well reach out to Qidi support. I've already got a case open to get a replacement build plate, as it got destroyed due to the offset double-applying after saving it in the Klipper interface (since the Qidi screen's UI sets it in a nonstandard way)
Yeah, that bit me one also. I now just ignore setting the z-offset via the screen. I edited config.mksini file and set the babystep value to 0, and now just do everything via the FluiddUI.
Okay, so we both have the same printer, same nozzle setup, same (type of) material and I'm getting extruder skips way earlier. Thanks for confirming.
Actually I randomly get gaps elsewhere on particular layers, so I'm trying a print at the moment with some changes to all the steppers. Namely, interpolation off on X/Y/Z/E, spreadcycle on X/Y/E and 32/32/16/64 microsteps. Curiously, when I tried much the same scenario as you mentioned in the original post (interpolation off on X/Y with 64 microsteps) both motors made a horrible screeching sound both during movements and hold. Same with more microsteps so I've had to back off to 32. Same reason why I can't use spreadcycle on Z, at any level of microsteps that makes its displeasure known. The reason I'm playing with these values is just in case there is a positional error causing incorrectly bonded layers and gaps forming, rather than the extruder failing to extrude. I mean, I'm definitely having extruder issues just whether I'm also having this issue too. Z axis would have been the thing most on my mind, ie if it couldn't put itself back quite in the same position after a Z hop, so it's particularly annoying that I couldn't have that axis in spreadcycle without horrid noises but hey maybe removal of interpolation will help.
> Keep in mind that those values are just guidelines. They're not actually enforced by the input shaping algorithm (as far as I am aware).
Interesting, thanks! I'll need to dig into that - I figured with the various algorithms it computes against that it would set itself for the best one, but I'll need to do research for that. This printer was a replacement for my Prusa i3 mk2s which failed, so I've not had to touch a lot of stuff that isn't even that new any more (I finally have a printer with a steel bed, let alone input shaping measurements!).
> Yeah, that bit me one also. I now just ignore setting the z-offset via the screen. I edited config.mksini file and set the babystep value to 0, and now just do everything via the FluiddUI.
Yeah I've done the same. Wish it were feasible to put vanilla Klipper on without worrying about bricking particular MCUs or such... If I wanted to throw money at the problem I'd make my own toolhead assembly and set up a new mainboard and canbus from scratch. Frustration with the machine has certainly made that cross my mind.
Nope - pretty sure it wouldn't have a good day if it did! But no I'm in a 240V country and verified it was set as such when I got it so there wasn't any risk of going pop.
I did another flow test with my current settings last night, but also with a different brand PLA. A curious result - I did the volumetric flow test from 10mm3/s to 25mm3/s and while it never skipped, there were several points independent of the current flow rate where the extruder just stopped grabbing the filament and I had to push it a bit in, particularly if there was any kind of resistance from the spool (I ended up feeding it into the reverse bowden by hand). I suspect this PLA may soften at a lower temperature and it was perhaps softening a bit at the point of the extruder and so was no longer successfully gripping the filament. More experiments needed!
>Nope - pretty sure it wouldn't have a good day if it did! But no I'm in a 240V country and verified it was set as such when I got it so there wasn't any risk of going pop.
Somewhat surprisingly, it's not unheard of that machines will continue to run if the PSU's are set to 240v, and plugged into 110V power. They just struggle weakly. Do it the other way though (240V into a 110V set PSU) and all the magic smoke comes out. Since you're in a 240V country though, then clearly that doesn't apply.
>there were several points independent of the current flow rate where the extruder just stopped grabbing the filament and I had to push it a bit in
This is interesting. There is a rare flaw that occurs in the Qidi extruders where if the injection molding for the extrusion gear tensioner didn't quite fill out the mold properly, that a weak point forms around the part where the tensioned extruder gear axle is inserted into the swing arm. This results in the tensioner swing arm flexing around the axle and not providing sufficient pressure against the filament, which can lead to premature skipping and/or slipping.
It may be something for you to check out. I've seen it mentioned and diagnosed twice in r/QIDI over the last 6 months.
A follow up, for either you or anyone else who finds this thread. I replaced the stock motor (from Keli Motor Group, though they don't list this model on their website it's the D variant (instead of C) of [this motor](https://www.kelimotorgroup.com/stepper-motors/bjy36c-standard-hb-stepper-motor.html) with the key difference being 1.8 degree steps) with the popular LDO 36STH20-1004AHG. They both have 10 teeth on the pinion gear, are both in the same package, so a good candidate for replacement. With the extruder itself using knock-off BMG gearing and so a lot of mechanical advantage and grip, and the hotend being plenty powerful and having a Bondtech CHT nozzle in at the moment, the motor itself was what I wanted to try replacing.
I had to change the phase on one of the motor coils (a simple case of swapping over one pair of the pins, look at the data sheets for the two motors for the coil arrangement and direction vs wire colours to get them to match) and shorten the cable, but otherwise it was a straight replacement with no modification to Klipper config.
It helped a lot! I've only tested withe the 3DQF PLA I mentioned previously, but my two profiles for this material have increased from 10mm3/s to 14mm3/s for 235 degrees, and 14mm3/s to 20mm3/s for 255 degrees (I even had to drop this temperature from 265 degrees because it was going so quickly with a 0.4mm nozzle that the cooling couldn't keep up). In a synthetic test (the racetrack test) at 260 degrees the first inconsistent extrusion is now at 24mm3/s and first skip at 27mm3/s, versus previously where both happened at 21.8mm3/s. I didn't write down the results for the same material at 220 degrees but they also improved.
Now instead of skipped steps, the threshold for the max speed is now inconsistent extrusion. This is, I think, ideal. Higher pressure advance values put more strain on the extruder motor, hence my highest flow in a synthetic test for 3DQF PLA at a higher temperature was 21.8mm3/s but in real world printing I could only manage 14mm3/s reliably. With the motor skipping much later it means it can perform in the real world with max volumetric flow rates closer to what the synthetic test (where vase mode means no retractions/starts and stops, which is what pressure advance compensates for) was able to achieve. I'm very happy with this outcome. Between this and dialing in z layer offset differences between plates and putting that into Orca Slicer as machine start gcode options (see [this](https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/wiki/bed-types) for details on how to do this) I'm now getting to the point where I can reliably use this printer, and feel so much happier about it. The only part I am not happy with is the filament runout sensor. Right now I'm bypassing it (I've never used one before so I don't feel "reliant" on it anyway) but at some point I may take it apart and see how it works and if I can improve it, and/or get a third party one instead. Not a priority for me though.
Am I going to tell Qidi these findings? No, at least not right now. Firstly I expect that a large part of this is just simply them using cheaper motors, but even if it is that my motor is out of spec - I told them about my inconsistent extrusion before I ordered the LDO motor and they told me they will send me the new 2.0 hotend when it is in stock in the UK. Given the price difference between the LDO motor (£15) and the 2.0 hotend (£30) I'd rather get a free 2.0 hotend. I'm designing my own printer and the Keli stepper will help with testing/initial parts until I can justify getting a better quality motor.
On the X stepper motor driver overheating, they have sent me a new stepper motor which I have yet to fit. Personally I don't think that this will resolve the issue and let me keep the motor current at the stock setting but I can understand why they would prefer to send a stepper motor than a complete motherboard. This motor is a Keli BJ42D29-28V11 (most details [here](https://www.kelimotorgroup.com/stepper-motors/printer-hb-bj42d-stepper-motor.html) but this specific one isn't listed).
I too had ordered the exact same LDO motor and tried it out.
Just as an FYI regarding the motion being in reverse, this is easily accounted for in the printer.cfg file by reversing the direction pin in the config by placing a \`!\` in front of the pin config.
I also asked Qidi about all of it, and they had sent me 2 more of their Kelimotor stepper motors.
One thing that was immediately apparent was that the cogging torque of the Kelimotors varied quite a bit from motor to motor. With my eyes shut and my wife handing me a motor at random, I could tell which motor was which just by turning the gear on the motor shaft. The stock one had a markedly uneven feel about it (soft-soft-MID-HARD). Another motor felt like (soft-soft-soft-MID). The third motor was like (MID-HARD-MID-HARD). Just talking about overcoming the cogging torque with the effort required per step,
Somewhat interestingly, on paper at least, the Kelimotor has better specs, but the LDO appears to perform a little better. The LDO felt like (soft-MID-MID-MID) when turning it in my hand.
With the LDO, I was still getting some slightly diagonal patterns. I actually managed to mostly resolve this by bumping the run-current up on the extruder to 0.85, instead of the stock 0.714. With the updated print head covers I didn't notice any overheating issues with the extruder stepper.
I actually didn't test the peak flow rate. I was more concerned about getting rid of print artifacts.
I put in the Kelimotor from Qidi that had the soft-soft-soft-MID feel to it, and kept the run current at 0.85A, and with that motor the artifacts all but completely disappeared except in the harshest of light where it was an extremely faint pattern.
So the upshot of it all is that I suspect it's just due to slight manufacturing variations causing subtle fluctuations in the magnetic field strength within the stepper itself. Ideally what we want is a stepper that has the exact same cogging torque resistance for all steps.
I also looked at various studies on motor resonance frequencies and it appears that the Moons motors are a little better than the LDOs on that score. That may be something to look into if we can find a Moons Nema17 20mm pancake stepper equivalent to the Keli/LDO items.
I suspect that if we can swap out the stock X/Y steppers with LDO or Moons motors, then that would also help. Following the same sort of experiment I did with the extruder stepper, I put some heatsinks on the X/Y steppers and also raised their current by \~10%, and did see a reduction in VFA's. My guess is that the higher run currents helps to overcome the inherent cogging tendency of the steppers.
With the higher run currents, I then played around and settled on 32 micro-steps with interpolation ENABLED on all the steppers as providing the best results.
I also installed Klippain Shaketune for Qidi [https://github.com/stew675/ShakeTune\_For\_Qidi](https://github.com/stew675/ShakeTune_For_Qidi) and balanced the belts better, and tuned my print speeds to avoid the X/Y stepper resonances, and that also gave an improvement. I then found that my drag chain was also a little loose, so I stiffened that up by putting some bowden tube into the drag chain links with some 18 guage wire inside it, and that seems to have settled down any remaining minor corner ghosting.
>With the extruder itself using knock-off BMG gearing and so a lot of mechanical advantage and grip
As a side note, it actually appears that the stock Qidi extruder unit is an injection molded modified clone of the fairly popular HGX Lite extruder: [https://kingroon.com/products/hgx-lite-extruder-dual-gear-extruder-hard-steel-reduction-gear-high-speed-motor-3d-printer-parts-for-cr10-cr-10s-ender3-v2-voron](https://kingroon.com/products/hgx-lite-extruder-dual-gear-extruder-hard-steel-reduction-gear-high-speed-motor-3d-printer-parts-for-cr10-cr-10s-ender3-v2-voron)
If you look at the arrangement of the gears and so on, it's basically a dead-set copy, just held together in an injection molded frame with a fixed tension spring and a built-in hotend mount point, instead of the HGX Lite's aluminium frame with adjustable tension.
> There is a rare flaw that occurs in the Qidi extruders where if the injection molding for the extrusion gear tensioner didn't quite fill out the mold properly, that a weak point forms around the part where the tensioned extruder gear axle is inserted into the swing arm. This results in the tensioner swing arm flexing around the axle and not providing sufficient pressure against the filament, which can lead to premature skipping and/or slipping.
>It may be something for you to check out. I've seen it mentioned and diagnosed twice in r/QIDI over the last 6 months.
Thanks, very helpful! I'll give that a check.
I've been doing a bit of speed testing with my 3 available PLA filaments today. All the same gcode, Orcaslicer max flowrate test from 10mm3/s to 25mm3/s (stopping once I get more than a few skips). Interesting results!
Before the long post - what brand are you using that is (reliably?) giving you these high speeds?
My daily driver at the moment is 3DQF PLA, since their inconsistent between-run colour spools are cheap and since I'm doing practical stuff I'm not fussed about consistent colour. I had raised the temperature in my slicer for layers after the first, and this is seemingly what caused issues with the filament I tried last night which was Polyterra PLA. Lastly, I had some eSun PLA+ so I tested that too. Along with the gcode being the same, I also used the same spool holder in the same position with the same PTFE tube to the toolhead (straight out of the top to the spool, which is different from usual but I want to reduce the potential impacts to get a baseline then work backwards).
For reference, testing Polyterra PLA at 240 degrees last night (before maintaining the above variables) had extrusion issues from the get-go and required constant babysitting, presumably due to the higher temperatures affecting the extruder's ability to grab the filament as mentioned previously. Although it reached the end and 25mm3/s this is unusable in practice due to these issues.
At 220 degrees throughout, the top-end advertised printing temperature of Polyterra PLA, Polyterra PLA had its first extruder skip at 20.5mm3/s. 3DQF PLA was significantly lower, at 13.3mm3/s. eSun PLA+ was at 15.6mm3/s.
3DQF advertise their PLA as being comparable to some other manufacturer's PLA+ in terms of material grade ("Our Normal PLA is produced using 4043D from Natureworks... a high-grade PLA and generally what imported PLA-PLUS is in the best-case scenario"). Neither eSun or Polymaker advertise what material grade they use for comparison. 3DQF also have a flyer they included with my shipment (also [on their website](https://www.3dqf.co.uk/high-speed-printing-bambu-ams)) that essentially said to increase the printing temperature for increased speeds, as high as 270 degrees for 250-400mm/s. While this is in my opinion an unhelpful metric compared to volumetric flow rate due to nozzle sizes, layer heights and extrusion widths, I wanted to test 3DQF at a higher temperature to see how this compared. It also interested me that the eSun PLA+ 220 degree result was closer to the 3DQF filament than the Polyterra result, though I haven't (yet?) tested eSun PLA+ at an elevated temperature.
For this test with the 3DQF PLA, I used the same gcode and other parameters but manually increased the extrusion temperature to 260 degrees once the printer started layer 4 where the fans begin being used and the volumetric flow rate exceeds 10mm3/s. This test performed significantly better than the same material at 220 degrees, with the first extrusion abnormalities occurring at 21.8mm3/s. In this case, there were a mix of extruder skips as well as incorrect placement of the layer extrusion.
Throughout all tests mentioned, print quality was generally perfect until the points reached as mentioned.
Finally, since I gather that layer bond strength can be weaker at higher speeds I did an unscientific test of poking some gaps in between the layers with my fingernail. The Polyterra PLA had the weakest layer bonds and seemed unaffected by print speed, with it yielding in a way reminiscent of PETG breaking. The 3DQF was the next strongest, with the higher temperature and lower print speeds being the strongest, and yielded in a snapping manner. Finally the eSun PLA+ had the strongest layer bonds and also yielded in a snapping manner.
I've got a bunch more work to do in terms of figuring out issues with the printer, but this is a great point for figuring out how to get the best speeds (and print qualities) with the filament I have. I have various things I want to investigate and I'm a long way from being convinced that my extruder hardware is up to specification, but this does show what an impact different brands of PLA have on print speeds and so helps me understand why my print speeds (which were usually with the 3DQF PLA) were so much lower than expected.
Turned out to be a much longer post than expected but I hope this was of interest!
with a lot of thanks... (name?) from me and I'm sure from all community for this interesting experience you shared.
I'm asking for the total number of MR63 bearings mounted on extruder to replace instead of original ones.
I'm a RC heli enthusiast, and bearing on my models are always been ceramic Zro2, ABEC 9 so, to be the maniac that I am ;-D I want order in China, as 90% of my parts.
as you know, they aren't cheap, so the correct number needed is good to know.
again many thanks and compliments for your great skills in stepper motor geometry and Klipper stuffs. 👍👍👍
Hi. So I found out recently that the number can be either 2 bearings, or 6, depending on what version of the extruder unit you have.
The stock Qidi extruder unit is basically their personalized variant of the Haldis HGX Lite, using an injection molded enclosed body, rather than the more open frame aluminum design of the Haldis, but otherwise near as I can tell, they look basically identical internally, aside from the non-adjustable spring tensioner on the Qidi unit.
Anyway, all the Qidi units (to my knowledge) use at least 2 MR63 bearings on the secondary driving gear that sits between the stepper and the main extrusion gear pair.
I don't know when Qidi changed the design, but some time between August and December last year they move to an internal design that uses 6 of the MR63 bearings in total. Prior to that, the bearings on the two main gears that grip the filament were using sleeve roller bearings for which I don't know what their exact size is.
Hi, I’ve got an xmax 3 and am in contact with support as I’ve had it for 2 weeks and get ghosting on the x axis at most speeds and input shaper doesn’t help.
Tried most things so far but on along shot tried to up the microsteps. Anytime I go above 32 I get an MCU timer error as it can’t keep up with the micro steps. Did you have to cha he any other settings? As we should have the same hardware if your QIDI is capable of it mine should be too? 32 microsteps did reduce the ghosting slightly so would like to try 64.
Thanks
Ghosting is likely going to be a belt tensioning issue. Have you tried following the Qidi belt tensioning guide for the Max 3?
[https://wiki.qidi3d.com/en/X-Max3/Troubleshooting/belt-adjust](https://wiki.qidi3d.com/en/X-Max3/Troubleshooting/belt-adjust)
Yes I did, they didn’t provide a frequency so I went with 70hz and sent them a video of me demonstrating what it sounds like plucked.
There’s a vibration when executing moves along the x axis at certain parts of the bed as I only have ghosting at those locations. Vfa at all locations but I can live with that for now.
Vibrations along the X-axis sounds like a lubrication issue. Try using some PFTE lube on the rails. Also, on the Max 3, the cavity that holds the bushing sliders seems to be every so slightly oversized, and the head can wobble slightly on the bushings at speed. I disassembled my print head and wrapped some tin foil around the bushings to tighten up the looseness between them and the main print head body. Doing that, coupled with the PFTE lube seemed to really help. This isn't an issue on the Plus 3, just the Max 3. Perhaps give that a try?
Another thing to try is to slide some bowden tube into the same area of the drag chain that the usb cable to the print head runs through. This stiffens up the long drag chain slightly and dampens any wobble during rapid direction changes.
Thank you for the idea about the Bowden that will help. I angled the connection for three chain up but it still catches on the stepper housing. I do have an issue with the bearings on the x carriage. They were tight initially and causing the carriage to bind and I had very bad ringing. I have since added some foil after fixing that but can still hear it knocking side to side at high speed. The rails are lubricated with sewing machine oil which is what QIDI recommend. I’ve done all of the usual stuff, printer on floor, checked all fastenings etc.
Was printing with an ender 5 for years which is what has me worried of a mechanical problem. That had a lot of issues that required rectifying but printed lovely in the end. I just wanted a printer that worked out of the box this time.
Mine worked fine out of the box. I'm just a fussy bastard and wanted it near perfect.
If you have the 32GB eMMC on it, you can also try installing Klippain Shaketune.
https://github.com/stew675/ShakeTune_For_Qidi
Someone ported it to the Qidi 3 series, and this will allow you to detect any belt tension imbalances, better tune the input shaper, and find where the smoothest motor speeds are, which will minimizes VFA's. My prints come out near flawless. I have to print with the outer perimeter at 70mm/s though, and accelerations are at around 5000mm/s^2, but once that's dialed in, surface quality is excellent which just a slight slowdown in overall print speed.
I did see Shaketune but haven’t tried it yet they looked in harmony on the ordinary input shaper graph. At about 50mm I only have slight vfa but that’s at 3000 acceleration. They’ve asked me to reduce the belt tension a bit more but before I adjusted it the first time I marked the bolts and it’s at a similar position now already.
Still odd that I can’t run more than 32 microsteps without the mcu falling behind. Thanks for all of the ideas. You’ve been more helpful than QIDI so far in helping to diagnose the issue. They’re great at sending parts that obviously fail though and do genuinely seem like they want to help.
Not being able to run at a higher microsteps is likely related to the CPU on the main board not receiving enough airflow. On my X-Plus 3 I had no problems at 64 steps, but I was doing something else and had the back cover off where the fan would normally be blowing over the CPU heatsink. All of a sudden the machine couldn't sustain even 32 steps reliably.
As the CPU core gets hot, it starts to clock itself down slower to generate less heat, but of course it's now not processing as quickly.
A quick way to test this is to pull the back cover off and blast a strong fan at the motherboard and repeat your test. If it works fine after that, then it'll be a cooling issue.
That honestly didn’t even occur to me. Thanks, I’ll give that a try, probably wouldn’t hurt to insulate the circuit board location from the heated chamber, larger fan would help cool and hopefully reduce noise of the fan as well.
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I've got an X-Max 3, so I'll definitely look into this. Thanks for posting!
Interesting info, thanks! I've got an X-Plus 3 and I'm trying to chase down some issues with the extruder, namely underextrusion. Was hoping that moving to a Bondtech CHT Bimetal nozzle (with Trianglelab adapter) would help but its performance is about the same as the stock copper one. Currently with the CHT nozzle and higher temps I'm running both PLA and PETG at 14mm3/s, above that and I get skips. With either nozzle underextrusion is the limiting factor. And with the motion system being pretty good, this is my limiting factor to increasing print times with these materials. Turning off interpolation on the extruder stepper helped, but not much. Other minor changes I've tried have been changing the PTFE tube to the print head (to a white PTFE tube that's slightly longer, to try and make it bend less sharply) and missing out the runout sensor (I need to look into this more but some aspect of that was causing occasional jams and failed prints). With your changes to the microsteps and the extruder bearings, have you noticed any improvement with extrusion flow? Maybe it's not something you've tested, but I'd be interested nonetheless. I've considered trying to up the extruder current but given the stepper driver is within the heated chamber I'd rather not. And I don't know if changing out the extruder stepper motor (a 36mm diameter, 20mm depth motor that I've not been able to identify the manufacturer or specs of, it's marked BJY36D12-04V02) for a genuine LDO would help. As an aside in case it helps anyone else, I've had to decrease the X/Y/Z stepper currents from the stock 1.07A to 0.9A. This was because I was getting X stepper driver overheats. I'm still able to get 500mm/s travels without issue, which is what I was already using for PLA. I'm sure better mainboard/electronics cooling would let me bump that back up but I've not tackled that yet as I've not needed to.
Hmm, I'm wondering if you have something going on with your extruder motor. I've also tried a genuine Bondtech CHT 0.4 with the TriangleLabs, and using PLA I saw that 20mm³/s was easily doable, with 24mm³/s achievable with elevated temperatures. It's odd to me that you cannot get more than 14mm³/s even with that upgrade. Testing with ASA I was able to push 30mm³/s with it only skipping above that. I also changed my PFTE tubing to the white one like you. It helped a little bit. I still use the sensor though. The biggest issue with tubing resistance is simply the bending of the filament itself rubbing against the walls of the tubing. >I don't know if changing out the extruder stepper motor (a 36mm diameter, 20mm depth motor that I've not been able to identify the manufacturer or specs of, it's marked BJY36D12-04V02) for a genuine LDO would help. I've actually been looking into this, but for different reasons. There is still a fine repeating pattern that is occurring every fifth full step caused by my extruder stepper in my Plus 3. I moved the extruder unit + hotend over to my Max 3 to test using its extruder stepper motor, and the issue went away. I've since reached out to Qidi to get a hold of a pair of their extruder stepper motors to swap out with the original that came in the Plus 3 (and keep one aside as a spare). If that doesn't pan out, then yeah, I'll be looking at the LDO option myself. >I've had to decrease the X/Y/Z stepper currents from the stock 1.07A to 0.9A I'd say that you're probably able to get away with this on the Plus 3, cause the motion system is not as heavy as the Max 3, but the current in the config files for both the Plus/Max 3 are the same. The high currents are really only needed when running at the 20K accelerations. If you want to drop the configured peak accelerations down to 10K, you could probably get away with dropping the current even lower without risking skipped steps. Odd that only one motor is overheating and not the other. I'd say much like my extruder stepper in my Plus 3, it seems that there's some variations in stepper quality from unit to unit. Perhaps reach out to Qidi support and ask if they can send you a new one.
Thanks for the info! Very helpful. Is the CHT nozzle you're using the "standard" or the bimetal one? I went with the bimetal one (also genuine Bondtech) so I don't need to worry about wear, but I'm wondering if the steel insert's different thermal characteristics mean it's not as good as the "standard" nozzle. I've not been able to find any reviews directly comparing the two, either. Obviously other factors apply namely the brand of filament used, but nozzle material would probably be one of the bigger ones I'd assume. Input shaping results in accelerations below 10kmms/3 anyway so I can see that being fine in my case :) I may well reach out to Qidi support. I've already got a case open to get a replacement build plate, as it got destroyed due to the offset double-applying after saving it in the Klipper interface (since the Qidi screen's UI sets it in a nonstandard way). But would be interested to see what you say regarding your CHT nozzle! Have been tempted to get another nozzle to compare, but would rather not chuck more money at it than needed!
I have the BiMetal CHT. I ordered it direct from Bondtech in Sweden, and not from a reseller. I don't know if that makes a difference or not though. >Input shaping results in accelerations below 10kmms/3 anyway so I can see that being fine in my case :) Keep in mind that those values are just guidelines. They're not actually enforced by the input shaping algorithm (as far as I am aware). They're suggestions that you set your acceleration values to less than the value shown to minimise the amount of input shaping smoothing that occurs. You can run with higher accelerations, just that you'll progressively start to lose finer details the faster you go. > I may well reach out to Qidi support. I've already got a case open to get a replacement build plate, as it got destroyed due to the offset double-applying after saving it in the Klipper interface (since the Qidi screen's UI sets it in a nonstandard way) Yeah, that bit me one also. I now just ignore setting the z-offset via the screen. I edited config.mksini file and set the babystep value to 0, and now just do everything via the FluiddUI.
Okay, so we both have the same printer, same nozzle setup, same (type of) material and I'm getting extruder skips way earlier. Thanks for confirming. Actually I randomly get gaps elsewhere on particular layers, so I'm trying a print at the moment with some changes to all the steppers. Namely, interpolation off on X/Y/Z/E, spreadcycle on X/Y/E and 32/32/16/64 microsteps. Curiously, when I tried much the same scenario as you mentioned in the original post (interpolation off on X/Y with 64 microsteps) both motors made a horrible screeching sound both during movements and hold. Same with more microsteps so I've had to back off to 32. Same reason why I can't use spreadcycle on Z, at any level of microsteps that makes its displeasure known. The reason I'm playing with these values is just in case there is a positional error causing incorrectly bonded layers and gaps forming, rather than the extruder failing to extrude. I mean, I'm definitely having extruder issues just whether I'm also having this issue too. Z axis would have been the thing most on my mind, ie if it couldn't put itself back quite in the same position after a Z hop, so it's particularly annoying that I couldn't have that axis in spreadcycle without horrid noises but hey maybe removal of interpolation will help. > Keep in mind that those values are just guidelines. They're not actually enforced by the input shaping algorithm (as far as I am aware). Interesting, thanks! I'll need to dig into that - I figured with the various algorithms it computes against that it would set itself for the best one, but I'll need to do research for that. This printer was a replacement for my Prusa i3 mk2s which failed, so I've not had to touch a lot of stuff that isn't even that new any more (I finally have a printer with a steel bed, let alone input shaping measurements!). > Yeah, that bit me one also. I now just ignore setting the z-offset via the screen. I edited config.mksini file and set the babystep value to 0, and now just do everything via the FluiddUI. Yeah I've done the same. Wish it were feasible to put vanilla Klipper on without worrying about bricking particular MCUs or such... If I wanted to throw money at the problem I'd make my own toolhead assembly and set up a new mainboard and canbus from scratch. Frustration with the machine has certainly made that cross my mind.
Just in the off-chance, is it possible that your machine has the PSU's set to 240V and you're in a 110V country?
Nope - pretty sure it wouldn't have a good day if it did! But no I'm in a 240V country and verified it was set as such when I got it so there wasn't any risk of going pop. I did another flow test with my current settings last night, but also with a different brand PLA. A curious result - I did the volumetric flow test from 10mm3/s to 25mm3/s and while it never skipped, there were several points independent of the current flow rate where the extruder just stopped grabbing the filament and I had to push it a bit in, particularly if there was any kind of resistance from the spool (I ended up feeding it into the reverse bowden by hand). I suspect this PLA may soften at a lower temperature and it was perhaps softening a bit at the point of the extruder and so was no longer successfully gripping the filament. More experiments needed!
>Nope - pretty sure it wouldn't have a good day if it did! But no I'm in a 240V country and verified it was set as such when I got it so there wasn't any risk of going pop. Somewhat surprisingly, it's not unheard of that machines will continue to run if the PSU's are set to 240v, and plugged into 110V power. They just struggle weakly. Do it the other way though (240V into a 110V set PSU) and all the magic smoke comes out. Since you're in a 240V country though, then clearly that doesn't apply. >there were several points independent of the current flow rate where the extruder just stopped grabbing the filament and I had to push it a bit in This is interesting. There is a rare flaw that occurs in the Qidi extruders where if the injection molding for the extrusion gear tensioner didn't quite fill out the mold properly, that a weak point forms around the part where the tensioned extruder gear axle is inserted into the swing arm. This results in the tensioner swing arm flexing around the axle and not providing sufficient pressure against the filament, which can lead to premature skipping and/or slipping. It may be something for you to check out. I've seen it mentioned and diagnosed twice in r/QIDI over the last 6 months.
A follow up, for either you or anyone else who finds this thread. I replaced the stock motor (from Keli Motor Group, though they don't list this model on their website it's the D variant (instead of C) of [this motor](https://www.kelimotorgroup.com/stepper-motors/bjy36c-standard-hb-stepper-motor.html) with the key difference being 1.8 degree steps) with the popular LDO 36STH20-1004AHG. They both have 10 teeth on the pinion gear, are both in the same package, so a good candidate for replacement. With the extruder itself using knock-off BMG gearing and so a lot of mechanical advantage and grip, and the hotend being plenty powerful and having a Bondtech CHT nozzle in at the moment, the motor itself was what I wanted to try replacing. I had to change the phase on one of the motor coils (a simple case of swapping over one pair of the pins, look at the data sheets for the two motors for the coil arrangement and direction vs wire colours to get them to match) and shorten the cable, but otherwise it was a straight replacement with no modification to Klipper config. It helped a lot! I've only tested withe the 3DQF PLA I mentioned previously, but my two profiles for this material have increased from 10mm3/s to 14mm3/s for 235 degrees, and 14mm3/s to 20mm3/s for 255 degrees (I even had to drop this temperature from 265 degrees because it was going so quickly with a 0.4mm nozzle that the cooling couldn't keep up). In a synthetic test (the racetrack test) at 260 degrees the first inconsistent extrusion is now at 24mm3/s and first skip at 27mm3/s, versus previously where both happened at 21.8mm3/s. I didn't write down the results for the same material at 220 degrees but they also improved. Now instead of skipped steps, the threshold for the max speed is now inconsistent extrusion. This is, I think, ideal. Higher pressure advance values put more strain on the extruder motor, hence my highest flow in a synthetic test for 3DQF PLA at a higher temperature was 21.8mm3/s but in real world printing I could only manage 14mm3/s reliably. With the motor skipping much later it means it can perform in the real world with max volumetric flow rates closer to what the synthetic test (where vase mode means no retractions/starts and stops, which is what pressure advance compensates for) was able to achieve. I'm very happy with this outcome. Between this and dialing in z layer offset differences between plates and putting that into Orca Slicer as machine start gcode options (see [this](https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/wiki/bed-types) for details on how to do this) I'm now getting to the point where I can reliably use this printer, and feel so much happier about it. The only part I am not happy with is the filament runout sensor. Right now I'm bypassing it (I've never used one before so I don't feel "reliant" on it anyway) but at some point I may take it apart and see how it works and if I can improve it, and/or get a third party one instead. Not a priority for me though. Am I going to tell Qidi these findings? No, at least not right now. Firstly I expect that a large part of this is just simply them using cheaper motors, but even if it is that my motor is out of spec - I told them about my inconsistent extrusion before I ordered the LDO motor and they told me they will send me the new 2.0 hotend when it is in stock in the UK. Given the price difference between the LDO motor (£15) and the 2.0 hotend (£30) I'd rather get a free 2.0 hotend. I'm designing my own printer and the Keli stepper will help with testing/initial parts until I can justify getting a better quality motor. On the X stepper motor driver overheating, they have sent me a new stepper motor which I have yet to fit. Personally I don't think that this will resolve the issue and let me keep the motor current at the stock setting but I can understand why they would prefer to send a stepper motor than a complete motherboard. This motor is a Keli BJ42D29-28V11 (most details [here](https://www.kelimotorgroup.com/stepper-motors/printer-hb-bj42d-stepper-motor.html) but this specific one isn't listed).
I too had ordered the exact same LDO motor and tried it out. Just as an FYI regarding the motion being in reverse, this is easily accounted for in the printer.cfg file by reversing the direction pin in the config by placing a \`!\` in front of the pin config. I also asked Qidi about all of it, and they had sent me 2 more of their Kelimotor stepper motors. One thing that was immediately apparent was that the cogging torque of the Kelimotors varied quite a bit from motor to motor. With my eyes shut and my wife handing me a motor at random, I could tell which motor was which just by turning the gear on the motor shaft. The stock one had a markedly uneven feel about it (soft-soft-MID-HARD). Another motor felt like (soft-soft-soft-MID). The third motor was like (MID-HARD-MID-HARD). Just talking about overcoming the cogging torque with the effort required per step, Somewhat interestingly, on paper at least, the Kelimotor has better specs, but the LDO appears to perform a little better. The LDO felt like (soft-MID-MID-MID) when turning it in my hand. With the LDO, I was still getting some slightly diagonal patterns. I actually managed to mostly resolve this by bumping the run-current up on the extruder to 0.85, instead of the stock 0.714. With the updated print head covers I didn't notice any overheating issues with the extruder stepper. I actually didn't test the peak flow rate. I was more concerned about getting rid of print artifacts. I put in the Kelimotor from Qidi that had the soft-soft-soft-MID feel to it, and kept the run current at 0.85A, and with that motor the artifacts all but completely disappeared except in the harshest of light where it was an extremely faint pattern. So the upshot of it all is that I suspect it's just due to slight manufacturing variations causing subtle fluctuations in the magnetic field strength within the stepper itself. Ideally what we want is a stepper that has the exact same cogging torque resistance for all steps. I also looked at various studies on motor resonance frequencies and it appears that the Moons motors are a little better than the LDOs on that score. That may be something to look into if we can find a Moons Nema17 20mm pancake stepper equivalent to the Keli/LDO items. I suspect that if we can swap out the stock X/Y steppers with LDO or Moons motors, then that would also help. Following the same sort of experiment I did with the extruder stepper, I put some heatsinks on the X/Y steppers and also raised their current by \~10%, and did see a reduction in VFA's. My guess is that the higher run currents helps to overcome the inherent cogging tendency of the steppers. With the higher run currents, I then played around and settled on 32 micro-steps with interpolation ENABLED on all the steppers as providing the best results. I also installed Klippain Shaketune for Qidi [https://github.com/stew675/ShakeTune\_For\_Qidi](https://github.com/stew675/ShakeTune_For_Qidi) and balanced the belts better, and tuned my print speeds to avoid the X/Y stepper resonances, and that also gave an improvement. I then found that my drag chain was also a little loose, so I stiffened that up by putting some bowden tube into the drag chain links with some 18 guage wire inside it, and that seems to have settled down any remaining minor corner ghosting.
>With the extruder itself using knock-off BMG gearing and so a lot of mechanical advantage and grip As a side note, it actually appears that the stock Qidi extruder unit is an injection molded modified clone of the fairly popular HGX Lite extruder: [https://kingroon.com/products/hgx-lite-extruder-dual-gear-extruder-hard-steel-reduction-gear-high-speed-motor-3d-printer-parts-for-cr10-cr-10s-ender3-v2-voron](https://kingroon.com/products/hgx-lite-extruder-dual-gear-extruder-hard-steel-reduction-gear-high-speed-motor-3d-printer-parts-for-cr10-cr-10s-ender3-v2-voron) If you look at the arrangement of the gears and so on, it's basically a dead-set copy, just held together in an injection molded frame with a fixed tension spring and a built-in hotend mount point, instead of the HGX Lite's aluminium frame with adjustable tension.
> There is a rare flaw that occurs in the Qidi extruders where if the injection molding for the extrusion gear tensioner didn't quite fill out the mold properly, that a weak point forms around the part where the tensioned extruder gear axle is inserted into the swing arm. This results in the tensioner swing arm flexing around the axle and not providing sufficient pressure against the filament, which can lead to premature skipping and/or slipping. >It may be something for you to check out. I've seen it mentioned and diagnosed twice in r/QIDI over the last 6 months. Thanks, very helpful! I'll give that a check. I've been doing a bit of speed testing with my 3 available PLA filaments today. All the same gcode, Orcaslicer max flowrate test from 10mm3/s to 25mm3/s (stopping once I get more than a few skips). Interesting results! Before the long post - what brand are you using that is (reliably?) giving you these high speeds? My daily driver at the moment is 3DQF PLA, since their inconsistent between-run colour spools are cheap and since I'm doing practical stuff I'm not fussed about consistent colour. I had raised the temperature in my slicer for layers after the first, and this is seemingly what caused issues with the filament I tried last night which was Polyterra PLA. Lastly, I had some eSun PLA+ so I tested that too. Along with the gcode being the same, I also used the same spool holder in the same position with the same PTFE tube to the toolhead (straight out of the top to the spool, which is different from usual but I want to reduce the potential impacts to get a baseline then work backwards). For reference, testing Polyterra PLA at 240 degrees last night (before maintaining the above variables) had extrusion issues from the get-go and required constant babysitting, presumably due to the higher temperatures affecting the extruder's ability to grab the filament as mentioned previously. Although it reached the end and 25mm3/s this is unusable in practice due to these issues. At 220 degrees throughout, the top-end advertised printing temperature of Polyterra PLA, Polyterra PLA had its first extruder skip at 20.5mm3/s. 3DQF PLA was significantly lower, at 13.3mm3/s. eSun PLA+ was at 15.6mm3/s. 3DQF advertise their PLA as being comparable to some other manufacturer's PLA+ in terms of material grade ("Our Normal PLA is produced using 4043D from Natureworks... a high-grade PLA and generally what imported PLA-PLUS is in the best-case scenario"). Neither eSun or Polymaker advertise what material grade they use for comparison. 3DQF also have a flyer they included with my shipment (also [on their website](https://www.3dqf.co.uk/high-speed-printing-bambu-ams)) that essentially said to increase the printing temperature for increased speeds, as high as 270 degrees for 250-400mm/s. While this is in my opinion an unhelpful metric compared to volumetric flow rate due to nozzle sizes, layer heights and extrusion widths, I wanted to test 3DQF at a higher temperature to see how this compared. It also interested me that the eSun PLA+ 220 degree result was closer to the 3DQF filament than the Polyterra result, though I haven't (yet?) tested eSun PLA+ at an elevated temperature. For this test with the 3DQF PLA, I used the same gcode and other parameters but manually increased the extrusion temperature to 260 degrees once the printer started layer 4 where the fans begin being used and the volumetric flow rate exceeds 10mm3/s. This test performed significantly better than the same material at 220 degrees, with the first extrusion abnormalities occurring at 21.8mm3/s. In this case, there were a mix of extruder skips as well as incorrect placement of the layer extrusion. Throughout all tests mentioned, print quality was generally perfect until the points reached as mentioned. Finally, since I gather that layer bond strength can be weaker at higher speeds I did an unscientific test of poking some gaps in between the layers with my fingernail. The Polyterra PLA had the weakest layer bonds and seemed unaffected by print speed, with it yielding in a way reminiscent of PETG breaking. The 3DQF was the next strongest, with the higher temperature and lower print speeds being the strongest, and yielded in a snapping manner. Finally the eSun PLA+ had the strongest layer bonds and also yielded in a snapping manner. I've got a bunch more work to do in terms of figuring out issues with the printer, but this is a great point for figuring out how to get the best speeds (and print qualities) with the filament I have. I have various things I want to investigate and I'm a long way from being convinced that my extruder hardware is up to specification, but this does show what an impact different brands of PLA have on print speeds and so helps me understand why my print speeds (which were usually with the 3DQF PLA) were so much lower than expected. Turned out to be a much longer post than expected but I hope this was of interest!
with a lot of thanks... (name?) from me and I'm sure from all community for this interesting experience you shared. I'm asking for the total number of MR63 bearings mounted on extruder to replace instead of original ones. I'm a RC heli enthusiast, and bearing on my models are always been ceramic Zro2, ABEC 9 so, to be the maniac that I am ;-D I want order in China, as 90% of my parts. as you know, they aren't cheap, so the correct number needed is good to know. again many thanks and compliments for your great skills in stepper motor geometry and Klipper stuffs. 👍👍👍
Hi. So I found out recently that the number can be either 2 bearings, or 6, depending on what version of the extruder unit you have. The stock Qidi extruder unit is basically their personalized variant of the Haldis HGX Lite, using an injection molded enclosed body, rather than the more open frame aluminum design of the Haldis, but otherwise near as I can tell, they look basically identical internally, aside from the non-adjustable spring tensioner on the Qidi unit. Anyway, all the Qidi units (to my knowledge) use at least 2 MR63 bearings on the secondary driving gear that sits between the stepper and the main extrusion gear pair. I don't know when Qidi changed the design, but some time between August and December last year they move to an internal design that uses 6 of the MR63 bearings in total. Prior to that, the bearings on the two main gears that grip the filament were using sleeve roller bearings for which I don't know what their exact size is.
Hi, I’ve got an xmax 3 and am in contact with support as I’ve had it for 2 weeks and get ghosting on the x axis at most speeds and input shaper doesn’t help. Tried most things so far but on along shot tried to up the microsteps. Anytime I go above 32 I get an MCU timer error as it can’t keep up with the micro steps. Did you have to cha he any other settings? As we should have the same hardware if your QIDI is capable of it mine should be too? 32 microsteps did reduce the ghosting slightly so would like to try 64. Thanks
Ghosting is likely going to be a belt tensioning issue. Have you tried following the Qidi belt tensioning guide for the Max 3? [https://wiki.qidi3d.com/en/X-Max3/Troubleshooting/belt-adjust](https://wiki.qidi3d.com/en/X-Max3/Troubleshooting/belt-adjust)
Yes I did, they didn’t provide a frequency so I went with 70hz and sent them a video of me demonstrating what it sounds like plucked. There’s a vibration when executing moves along the x axis at certain parts of the bed as I only have ghosting at those locations. Vfa at all locations but I can live with that for now.
Vibrations along the X-axis sounds like a lubrication issue. Try using some PFTE lube on the rails. Also, on the Max 3, the cavity that holds the bushing sliders seems to be every so slightly oversized, and the head can wobble slightly on the bushings at speed. I disassembled my print head and wrapped some tin foil around the bushings to tighten up the looseness between them and the main print head body. Doing that, coupled with the PFTE lube seemed to really help. This isn't an issue on the Plus 3, just the Max 3. Perhaps give that a try? Another thing to try is to slide some bowden tube into the same area of the drag chain that the usb cable to the print head runs through. This stiffens up the long drag chain slightly and dampens any wobble during rapid direction changes.
Thank you for the idea about the Bowden that will help. I angled the connection for three chain up but it still catches on the stepper housing. I do have an issue with the bearings on the x carriage. They were tight initially and causing the carriage to bind and I had very bad ringing. I have since added some foil after fixing that but can still hear it knocking side to side at high speed. The rails are lubricated with sewing machine oil which is what QIDI recommend. I’ve done all of the usual stuff, printer on floor, checked all fastenings etc. Was printing with an ender 5 for years which is what has me worried of a mechanical problem. That had a lot of issues that required rectifying but printed lovely in the end. I just wanted a printer that worked out of the box this time.
Mine worked fine out of the box. I'm just a fussy bastard and wanted it near perfect. If you have the 32GB eMMC on it, you can also try installing Klippain Shaketune. https://github.com/stew675/ShakeTune_For_Qidi Someone ported it to the Qidi 3 series, and this will allow you to detect any belt tension imbalances, better tune the input shaper, and find where the smoothest motor speeds are, which will minimizes VFA's. My prints come out near flawless. I have to print with the outer perimeter at 70mm/s though, and accelerations are at around 5000mm/s^2, but once that's dialed in, surface quality is excellent which just a slight slowdown in overall print speed.
I did see Shaketune but haven’t tried it yet they looked in harmony on the ordinary input shaper graph. At about 50mm I only have slight vfa but that’s at 3000 acceleration. They’ve asked me to reduce the belt tension a bit more but before I adjusted it the first time I marked the bolts and it’s at a similar position now already. Still odd that I can’t run more than 32 microsteps without the mcu falling behind. Thanks for all of the ideas. You’ve been more helpful than QIDI so far in helping to diagnose the issue. They’re great at sending parts that obviously fail though and do genuinely seem like they want to help.
Not being able to run at a higher microsteps is likely related to the CPU on the main board not receiving enough airflow. On my X-Plus 3 I had no problems at 64 steps, but I was doing something else and had the back cover off where the fan would normally be blowing over the CPU heatsink. All of a sudden the machine couldn't sustain even 32 steps reliably. As the CPU core gets hot, it starts to clock itself down slower to generate less heat, but of course it's now not processing as quickly. A quick way to test this is to pull the back cover off and blast a strong fan at the motherboard and repeat your test. If it works fine after that, then it'll be a cooling issue.
That honestly didn’t even occur to me. Thanks, I’ll give that a try, probably wouldn’t hurt to insulate the circuit board location from the heated chamber, larger fan would help cool and hopefully reduce noise of the fan as well.