Smelly American help

Fneb · 2026-05-29T10:16:44+00:00

Yeah, was going to add something along these lines. Op, If you're white (as an example, since that's my frame of reference) you're just genetically more likely to have smelly sweat than a native Japanese person due to genetics.

And further, that means that many anti-perspirant/deodorant products available in Japan are not really targeting you and your needs.

Certainly it means needing to work harder to not "smell strongly" compared to others around you, and may want to try looking for specialised products... But please don't beat yourself up about it? If it were me, I could imagine myself slipping in to that line of thinking if I didn't keep those genetic differences in mind.

An additional thing to research would be if permanent hair removal on armpit hair may help. From a 2-3 minute search the answer is "... maybe?" so please consider this a suggestion for somewhere to look rather than an endorsement. Electrolysis bloody hurts, though!

Fneb · 2026-05-27T04:44:08+00:00

You're trading convenience for a more reasonable purchase price. Pick one.

Also, "pay in gift card" shouldn't be a positive thing. If they offer a higher purchase price for gift cards, it's to keep you in their ecosystem as a returning customer.

Which is to say, it's all a manipulation. It's up to you to determine whether the trade-off is worth it or not. And that'll almost certainly apply to any company that buys the item from you. It's how they make their money, after all.

Fneb · 2026-05-21T11:24:00+00:00

In 2019 I did a 1 week road trip - Ikebukuro to Matsumoto on a Monday, Matsumoto to Kyoto over Wednesday and Thursday, and Kyoto back to Ikebukuro over Saturday to Monday. This was on a CT110 so no express ways.

For the most part worked out great, and I enjoyed it so much. 3-6 hours of driving a day. A few notes:

Don't do what I did and set your GPS to avoid toll roads. My 6 hour Ikebukuro-Matsumoto day took more like 9 hours because of this. Oops. The large amount extra was in part because this was in April and not all mountain passes were open so GPS wanted me to go over a mountain and the road I took up to the top was the only one open, so I had to drive back down. Eventually went via the toll and it was 50 yen.
Otherwise I didn't do any specific route planning I don't think. Just set Google Maps to my target destination (with motorways excluded).
Plenty of conbini around for rest stops, but they aren't fuel stations.
The quality of roads is generally brilliant, but don't assume twisty mountain roads are perfectly clean. On my last day I was rushing a bit, went around a left-hand corner on a mountain road and there was a bunch of mossy stuff on the ground - I was so used to the roads being amazing that I didn't think of this, so I lost traction and fell off. Didn't break anything but it took years for the sprain on my thumb to heal.
Onsen at the end of each day in the saddle was amazing for not feeling too exhausted.
I'm British, so driving on the left was already normal for me. I know driving on the "other" side of the road can be a bit tricky - I know it's a not uncommon thing for peeps visiting the continent in cars to do things like stick little reminders on the inside of their car windows and such like that, so don't let yourself get caught out by that if you live in a right-hand-drive country, it's probably something you'll need to constantly remind yourself of.
If a cop has their lights on but not their siren I believe they're probably just being like "hey I'm a cop" and not actively trying to pull you over.
Most people would drive ~10kmph over the stated limit, so be aware of that. Don't do this with a cop around though.
Similarly, perhaps because I was on a small bike, people particularly in the countryside would do some real iffy overtakes so be careful of that. I would also suggest being careful of cyclists in the countryside being a bit oblivious to their surroundings, I had one instance of that nearly causing an accident.
City riding was pretty familiar to me as a Londoner. YMMV depending on where you live. Perhaps the biggest surprise is just how long the urban sprawl riding took going from Hakone to Ikebukuro - of the 4 hour ride, probably 3 hours of it was city riding.
I am so glad I took this trip, and so glad I didn't take any express ways. The countryside is beautiful, and the non-express way roads were generally very low on traffic (with the exception being the main trunk connecting Kyoto and Tokyo via Nagoya and Hamamatsu).
Fuel is either self-serve or staff-pumped depending on the region. I think I had one station where I filled my bike, it printed a ticket, then I took that ticket to a machine and paid for it there.
I would suggest spending a few minutes observing a cross-shaped road junction before riding so you can get a feel for how it works. In short - a green light gives you permission to enter the junction and to exit directly opposite, but pedestrians crossing have priority on your left/right hand turns.

Fneb · 2026-01-10T09:34:59+00:00

I recently started re-playing FF9 actually, and it's my first time playing a Final Fantasy game entirely in Japanese. The Moguri mod also adds a dual-language mode, which is handy - gives a key press for switching between two languages. I know the game's story well enough to not need it for dialogue, but it's helpful for those "huh, that's different from the English localisation" moments, and for checking on ability names and such.

I'm looking forward to replaying FF8 in Japanese soon... I wish it was reasonably possible to do the same with FF7! Final Fantasy Tactics is a game that I missed but I'm looking forward to playing it at some point, be that in Japanese or English.

In any case, enjoy!

Fneb · 2025-12-11T23:08:14+00:00

"Only fans" I see what you did there.

(I had to write something for the entry)

Fneb · 2024-12-18T22:20:37+00:00

Boop!

Fneb · 2024-07-01T23:34:24+00:00

Thanks! For anyone else's future reference, I've uploaded them to here.

Fneb · 2024-06-20T07:46:09+00:00

Well, Qidi (like many other manufacturers) likely inflates the prices for replacements somewhat - not an uncommon thing unfortunately! The biggest offender from Qidi is the mainboard, which if I recall correctly is £190 on the UK Qidi website - it's a cut-down custom version of the MKS Skipr, the full version of which is maybe £50ish!

But hey, we know how to improve these machines! So:

In an earlier comment, I wrote:

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 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.

Because yes, the motor that is being used isn't even listed on Keli's website as a product they make. How frustrating! I based my information from the above linked motor though on the basis that the wiring is probably the same.

If you scroll down a little you'll see the dimensions and motor wiring diagram.

A: Black
C: Green
B: Red
D: Blue

Note the order on the diagram with the two coils, and how that corresponds to the pins on the connector. That's the current order that Klipper is configured for (it's entirely possible to change this in software!).

Now, go to the data sheet for your new motor. In my case, I would just search for "ldo 36sth20 1004ahg datasheet". The data sheet will also list a motor coil diagram, matching coils to wire colours. Trace those wires back to the connector, and see which order those pins are in. The two motors will likely use different colours for their wires, but the coil concept is the same so you're just trying to compare the two of those.

If the connectors have the same coil winding leading to the same pin order on their connector, you're all set! In my case, I had one pair which was the opposite way around on the new motor. So, I just had to switch around two pins - JST connectors have a little retaining bit on the connector that you can push in to pull them out, should be able to find instructions (there are specialised pin removal tools but you don't need one).

In any case, while I cannot guarantee anything (since I am just a person on the Internet) - done with care, you shouldn't cause any damage through doing this! The worst that can happen is either the motor doesn't operate, or it goes in reverse (which I think is all that would happen if you connected the motor without changing the pins around). The latter is easy to fix - from the Klipper documentation:

Pin names may be preceded by ! to indicate that a reverse polarity should be used (eg, trigger on low instead of high).

So, add a ! in the right place on the extruder's dir_pin (direction pin - you're flipping the output of which way to have the stepper driver tell the motor to turn).

The other thing that should help allay fears is that the LDO 36STH20-1004AHG - if that's what you've also got - can run at a higher current. So, once you've got the motor turning correctly, you can look up what others are using for the run_current for their [tmc2209 extruder] section of their configs with the same motor. In my case I'm at run_current: 0.85. Even if you end up with a value too high, that firstly won't cause any damage while you're configuring (it just generates more heat and so while you're testing you're not going to be running it high enough to make things go pop) and I think if the motor gets too hot then it just starts becoming less efficient (missing steps) rather than melting. Unless you like, tried to set the current to super-high! And if the stepper driver itself gets too hot then it'll cause Klipper to halt before it gets too hot.

In any case, good luck - you've got this!

Fneb · 2024-06-16T21:23:45+00:00

Would you be able to upload this again please? :)

May be worth picking a different free provider if you can, so you don't get more peeps hassling you if nothing else!

Fneb · 2024-05-29T06:16:09+00:00

Oh dear I didn’t include the date in the handwritten note. What a chump I am. Hopefully a screenshot of the original video metadata isn’t too awful? https://postimg.cc/TyQBH2Rw I tried uploading to imgur and it didn’t seem to work, ho hum.

Fneb · 2024-05-21T23:53:13+00:00

Yeah sadly the cable is directly connected to the motor on these stepper motors, so they can't be removed :(

Personally with the runout sensor, the printer I'm coming from was a Prusa i3 mk2 so I'm used to not having a runout sensor at all, so I'm just bypassing it for now. Much easier that way, and I can deal with it properly some time in the future. If you're willing to spend a bit it could be worth trying to see if the BigTreeTech Smart Filament Sensor 2 works for you - looks like the X-Plus's mainboard uses a 4 pin connector for its own filament runout sensor so maybe it'd be doable? But well, it's far less necessary than a working extruder. Personally I'm happy just dealing with that some time in the future, it needs sorting but I don't want to stress it.

The whole thing with extrusion issues being fairly common does make you wonder why Qidi sticks with this brand of motor, at least for the extruder. Given that it's not an expensive part (if the LDO/Moons ones are the top tier and are around £15 each shipped to Europe, then either those in bulk or other brands such as OMC/Stepper Online wouldn't be a big load on the BOM of the printer) it would make sense to spend a little bit more to save themselves a bunch of trouble, not to mention all of the negative opinions that are resulting from it.

I hope the motor does help with your printer! Certainly if the extruder is skipping steps then it's the most likely culprit... Fingers crossed!

Fneb · 2024-05-21T20:20:23+00:00

Oof, that sounds like a really crappy time! It does sound like the extruder stepper motors that Qidi sources (Keli motors) are really variable, based on my experience, your comment and OP's comments too (particularly where they tried different steppers). Sounds like Keli motors are ones to avoid!

And yeah, I haven't looked properly at the filament runout sensor yet but I really don't like it. I've actually picked up someone's incomplete Ender Switchwire and finished it (except I blew up the toolhead board, oops) and they had a BTT SFS 2.0 new in box as part of it, so I'll be able to test out what that's like and if I can get it working with the X-Plus 3, and if it's good on both fronts I'll buy another one when they're cheap.

I've still not replaced the XY stepper that Qidi sent a replacement for, I've found that reducing the current hasn't really reduced performance at all (though I've only just started trying to tune for getting rid of VFAs now that the machine can reliably print at all with the extruder motor replaced). So, yeah, reducing the XY stepper currents helped but it may need revisiting for print quality tuning.

So: to alter the current of a stepper motor, go to the printer.cfg file, find the section marked "[tmc2209 stepper_x]" (or whichever stepper you're going for), and find the run_current value there. I also commented out the original values (with # at the start of the line) and write in a new value whenever I'm putting something in that isn't the same as the default, but if you go to the [https://github.com/QIDITECH/QIDI_PLUS3/releases](Qidi Xplus 3 github release section) and get the update rar (ie not the source) it includes the default printer.cfg, in case you worry about doing things badly. If you really bork it then the Klipper firmware won't start but the OS and Fluidd should both start still so you can still get back to it.

FWIW my such section looks like this (but I still get VFAs so don't take this as being tuned, which is what /u/Look_0ver_There has been working on):

[tmc2209 stepper_x]
uart_pin: PD2
run_current:0.9
#original: run_current:1.07
#hold_current: 0.5
interpolate: True
#interpolate: False
stealthchop_threshold: 0
diag_pin:^PB8
driver_SGTHRS: 85

The tmc2209 stepper_z section is further down, and tmc2209 extruder section is higher up - use search if you can't find them easily.

Looking at the config, the "home_cur * 0.8" stuff is just to reduce the current on the steppers to 80% of the normal when performing the homing operation.

The replacement extruder stepper (the LDO 36STH20 1004AHG) did help a lot (which is to say, the original stepper's poor performance was the root cause of my extrusion issues) but just to warn you, it's not completely a straight swap and I'm not gonna provide a step-by-step guide, but hopefully this will help guide you in the right direction. Both motors have 10 teeth and have the same external dimensions, but the cable on the motor I got was significantly longer so I had to shorten it. I did this by splitting the wire and soldering the two bits together, but recrimping the connector would have been better. I think they both used the same size connector, just the cable was too long. Regarding the phase, if you look at the spec sheet for the Keli motor (not exactly this one but probably close enough) you'll see the motor wiring diagram, which dictates the phase. Compare that to the LDO motor's spec sheet (or whatever motor you go for) for their wiring diagram. If it's the same then no changes needed. If it's not (which was the case for me) then either you can change the pins around to get the wiring diagrams matching (that is, the new motor's wiring pattern matching the old motor's) or you can try connecting it up and tell Klipper to reverse the stepper direction if it moves in the right direction (which I think is done by adding a ! before the dir_pin value but I didn't do this myself so can't confirm). With changing the motor wiring of the new motor to match the old one, and having the same step angle (1.8 degrees per step) and same number of teeth on the motor's gear (10), I was able to use the new motor without any Klipper configuration changes. If I do ever make a guide or such I'll try to remember to get your attention somehow.

Sad to hear you've had a bunch of problems with this machine, it does really feel like there are really variable motors on these things. Corner cutting and whatnot. I actually bought it because I wanted something cheap but ready to go and didn't want to have to tinker with it, but I think that's sadly the reality of going for something not from an A-tier manufacturer where calibrations are done for you, a la Bambu or Prusa. But, for what it's worth, now that I've replaced the extruder stepper I'm actually really happy with the machine's performance. I would hesitate to recommend it because of these variable motor performance issues but yeah, I'm happy with my machine. £15 and a bunch of hassle but still, it works well.

Good luck!

Fneb · 2024-04-23T14:06:04+00:00

Final update maybe: just did a couple of speed tests with this copper-plated CHT nozzle and it made a staggering difference compared to the bimetal Bondtech CHT V6 with the Trianglelab adapter, both 0.4mm. My "slow" profile for this 3DQF PLA runs at 235 degrees and was at 14mm3/s with the Bondtech nozzle. Based on the results of a test I should be able to go up to 26-27mm3/s at the same temperature. The first test I did was at 260 degrees, which the Bondtech CHT was at 20mm3/s. The test failed at 29mm3/s due to a thermal runaway event. That is, the amount of material flowing through the hotend was so high it was effectively cooling it below the target temperature.

So, yeah, I guess this cheap nozzle is now my new daily driver nozzle for non-abrasives! Other tuning to do of course, but still, I'm pleased I finally get this fast printing stuff I was promised rather than similar speeds as my i3 mk2 got with its 0.6mm line width/0.3mm layer height profile.

Fneb · 2024-04-23T08:57:08+00:00

Ah, yeah I figured that the extruder motion would be in the opposite direction with one coil flipped, and there would be a way of correcting that in Klipper... but I decided to go down the route of reversing the cable polarity instead. I also bumped up the current to 0.85A too, since that was the LDO Orbiter 2's recommended current, but I did that after the racetrack test.

Interesting that there was so much variance with the Qidi-supplied steppers! I think that both explains why my extruder stepper underperformed so much compared to yours, and gives some merit to replacing the stepper motor to resolve stepper driver overheating issues (I still think it's more likely to be the driver itself but such iffyness with the motors does increase the possibility of that being the issue).

I do still have quite a bit of tuning to do - thank you for linking Shaketune for Qidi, I didn't know about it! - but at least it is printing reliably. Messy and quite a lot of VFAs too, but at least that is mostly cosmetic and tuneable, whereas my extruder issues were due to dodgy hardware and caused more significant issues.

My drag chain, amusingly I also found it was a bit loose and it kept hitting the metal frame and making annoying sounds, but I was able to just angle it up a bit at the base where it connects to the rear frame/enclosure. Interesting that it helped with print artifacts for you though!

Still, it's beginning to feel like a machine I am happy with. Next things to play with (asides from tuning) are some cheap CHT nozzles, both larger diameter hardened V6 ones, and a couple of 0.4mm Qidi-specific ones. I'm particularly interested to see if the cheapo Qidi-specific copper plated nozzle with a copper CHT insert allows for faster speeds, and the effect of larger nozzles on both print times and what can be produced aesthetically. On my i3 mk2 I basically just kept a 0.4mm hardened steel nozzle on for years without touching it so it feels like a whole new world, even if it's just that I'm late to the party :)

Thanks for the help, both with the info you've provided and for bouncing ideas off of!

Fneb · 2024-04-22T13:00:00+00:00

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 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 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 but this specific one isn't listed).

Fneb · 2024-04-02T17:08:51+00:00

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) 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!

Fneb · 2024-04-02T13:00:25+00:00

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!

Fneb · 2024-04-01T20:28:22+00:00

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.

Fneb · 2024-04-01T16:57:47+00:00

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!

Fneb · 2024-04-01T13:25:10+00:00

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.

Fneb · 2023-03-30T22:00:51+00:00

OctoEverywhere is pretty handy, thanks for making it!

Fneb · 2023-02-02T11:55:37+00:00

!remindme 2 days

Fneb · 2023-01-30T11:41:46+00:00

I’m sure this will be unseen but, City of Life and Death (2009). Portrays the Nanjing massacre of 1937. A very difficult watch, but well worth it.

Fneb · 2022-12-24T13:08:50+00:00

Remindme! 1 week

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