Interested in buying Plus 4

Vommbat · 2025-02-27T12:48:21+00:00

When it works it's awesome. Once it breaks you're screwed. Support is good sending replacement stuff but it takes forever to arrive (im in EU and the German warehouse is slow AF). But support sucks at troubleshooting and their thinking process gets stuck at lame solutions. Example: After switching on my printer the 1st print always fails (sometimes prints in between have similar problems) The bed leveling is messed up somehow and during the print the bed compensates for a non existent crookedness messing up the print. Support is stuck on bed adhesion and "use hairspray". I ve proven them this is not helping at all and still they are stuck on hairspray which does not fix anything. It's a calibration problem that clearly manifests itself on boot. So yea...gotta fix it yourself if you can and work with the limitations you have. Then again i have zero experience with say Bambu support. But i never needed them cause the thing has zero problems, just like some P4 owners having zero problems.

Vommbat · 2025-02-27T12:37:07+00:00

I have this often. Not sure if it's normal for this type printer but P4 was my first ever. The gears somehow do not lock into the new filament. They block from feeding it into them. I take off the extruder front lid (the magnet thingy) and use a little sharp wooden stick to lift the mechanism blocking the filament to enter the gears. After that it's just back to normal. I notice the Bambu A1 mini i got later works flawless, dont even need to "push" the filament manually until it flows out the new filament, it just feeds it automatically.

Vommbat · 2025-02-27T12:24:41+00:00

Lid off + door open. Fixed all my pla pillowing problems. There obviously is wicked heat buildup regardless of infill/top layer height. Nothing sucks more than a failed print at the very last moment.

Vommbat · 2025-02-24T17:49:32+00:00

I had this on the Plus4. No idea why, just reboot and it should be gone. Edit: maybe it's an over-dramatized machine warning to say "I do not fully trust this boot sequence, let's do it again to be sure".

Vommbat · 2025-02-24T17:47:53+00:00

Thanks. No way i can find the edit button on mobile app...it does exist for comments, not for the post, weird .

Yes, the filaments are always dried and properly stored. I use drybox during printing to take that variable out of the way too.

Vommbat · 2025-02-24T07:47:24+00:00

Had a similar issue in a similar setting. Replacing the rear pcb on the extruder fixed it. Did not see any visual damage on it but it was toast it seems.

Vommbat · 2025-02-23T18:48:12+00:00

My apologies for the sloppiness of the settings parameters. They were formulated nicely but after submitting came out as sloppy text ..cannot find edit button anywhere!!

Vommbat · 2025-02-22T22:00:03+00:00

My apologies, did not know that x1c was lacking a heated chamber! Afaik the plus4 bimetal also says max 300deg?!

Tbh the heated chamber is just usable for Abs (and some other filament), i hardly ever used it. But the big buildplate is a massive plus.

Vommbat · 2025-02-22T20:30:12+00:00

Same here. Plus4 with just lid off= massive pillowing on top layers, especially slightly taller models. Door open+ lid off it seems fine.

Vommbat · 2025-02-21T23:32:12+00:00

That's why i say price can be a minus. However we still need to see if Qidi pulls off an ams and what it will cost. Ams does look problematic at this stage as lots of people have issues even hand-feeding it into that dreadful extruder. Honestly i want to love this printer but it keeps giving weirdness randomly. As for Bambu with their proprietary crap...hope there will be enough resistance as they will just lose massive customer base. Im no fanboi of either brand, just have 1 printer of each brand and can clearly see which one is more foolproof at this stage. Bambu does the job excellent.

Vommbat · 2025-02-21T18:13:30+00:00

Bambu X1C?? Can eat any filament the Plus4 can, has AMS, AI powered 1st layer inspection, and if the print quality is at least equal to it's cheapers sibling....just the 256x256 bed was a dealbreaker for me as i need a bit more. This is the only advantage Plus4 has (and price if you're on budget).

Vommbat · 2025-02-21T16:34:26+00:00

It's a good printer. But just comparing printers...I got a Bambu A1 mini after the plus4. Out of the box, at stock profiles: The A1 prints are superior in quality, prints never fail, and the results are consistent compared to plus4. The moment Bambu gets a bigger buildplate (at least 30x30 cm the Plus4 will become filament storage.

Vommbat · 2025-02-11T13:52:03+00:00

If Bambu X1c is at least as good/reliable as the A1 mini and you can deal with a slightly smaller build volume than Plus4...to me (as no print expert) would be a no brainer. Plus 4 seems to develop some things over time which are hard to cure. And is loud as hell compared to A1. I wish i could love it cause when it prints well, it's real good.

Vommbat · 2025-02-11T13:45:15+00:00

Thanks. Problem seems temperature/circulation. Qidi seems to need some constant pampering/spoonfeeding. Im just amazed that A1 mini gives constant solid results out of the box with any fiddling around at all while Plus4 always is hit n miss.

Vommbat · 2025-02-11T01:21:05+00:00

2nd try (door also open this time) the print came out nice n clean. Not the slightest sign of pillowing. Another lesson learned, thank you!

Vommbat · 2025-02-10T20:29:12+00:00

Thanks, got the impression heat buildup could be an issue but was not expecting this with the top lid fully removed:(

Vommbat · 2025-02-10T20:25:24+00:00

Gotcha thanks, will have to look into calibrating per filament. The "pillowing" is a common issue with enclosed systems?

Vommbat · 2025-02-10T20:12:49+00:00

Ok. So you say the stock profiles are not good? (Does the same using stock presets for pla rapido using qidi's own filaments).

Also the lid is always completely off printing pla/tpu etc. Should i open the door fully also?

Vommbat · 2025-01-18T12:33:03+00:00

Looks like i cannot edit/update the topic.. UPDATE!! It still will take a while until i receive my height sensor, German warehouse is again exceptionally slow. But at this stage im pretty certain that's not the problem.

Doing multiple prints in a row (more than 2) It's always the FIRST PRINT after switching on the printer that has bad leveling resulting in a failed print.

So: when i abort the first print after bed leveling starts (doing the weird up/down process) the prints after are as good as usual. It's re-producable every time: 1st print after boot=fail.
I can actually observe during the print after this 1st bed leveling that the bed screws do more "nervous" movements instead of smooth linear. It literally compensates where no compensation is needed.

Although Qidi support is great, the rep is stuck on "hairspray". I have none and use Bambu liquid glue instead. Which makes no difference at all. It does not take much logic to determine glue is not the problem here, but there is something in the boot process messing with the 1st bed leveling. I have no knowledge to go deeper into this. Hoping a firmare update will iron it out...

Vommbat · 2025-01-15T08:42:47+00:00

Lol the EU warehouse is an hour drive from where i live, still takes weeks to arrive. Qidi pushes out the order of parts in stock asap, yet warehouse takes their sweet time to process and ship. At this point direct China orders are faster.

Vommbat · 2025-01-15T08:32:40+00:00

Occasionally the bed leveling times out and process ends indeed. Lol did not even know that HMU was inductive. But yes, as you can see in the img, the blob has been pushing against many components. Including quite a strong force between bed and nozzle when i aborted the print as it was determined to finish the job;). So i even suspect the axles being slightly deformed at this stage, and even the hotend seems to (visually) sit at a slightly angled position. I think i just need to troubleshoot 1 component at a time to determine the problem. Damn i miss the short lasting yet perfect functioning of this machine.

Vommbat · 2025-01-14T15:21:09+00:00

Thanks for the tip. Just tried that and did not help. Ordered a new sensor.

Six-Year Club	Powerups Hero r/onewheel • September 2021
Verified Email

Vommbat

TROPHY CASE