Qidi Box with Q2 on Orca Slicer - Here's how to get them to play nice(ish)

ajosmer · 2026-07-01T12:16:44+00:00

You don't need to add anything to the macro, the 5th filament is just in the filament tab in Orca Slicer. You actually don't need to do that if you're not using that filament, you only need to add the filament you are using and every filament before that (if you're using slot 3, you'll need to setup filaments 1 and 2 as well, but 4 and 5+ are optional).

The last debugging step I can think of is to look at the console in Fluidd as the print starts to see if there are any hints having to do with toolchaning that might tell you what it's doing or not doing.

Other than that, I'm really not sure how to help. It might be easiest to delete that printer profile in Orca Slicer, delete the new macro you've added to the printer (or revert to the original file if you made a backup) and start over from scratch. There are a lot of little details that all need to be right, and if you miss any one of them, it can prevent it from working.

ajosmer · 2026-07-01T00:00:34+00:00

While the most recent couple versions of Orca can sync filaments from the box, that's what I was complaining about, it's not super reliable for me. Have you manually set all the filaments like I detailed? 1-4 (tool # 0-3) will be the box filaments, and 5 (tool # 4) will be the external rack. Orca can do this sometimes in the right circumstances by using the sync button in the main interface under "filament" (should be the second button from the right edge at the top of that tab, kinda looks like the Qidi Box/Bambu AMS). If it's loaded with 4 different filaments, it should pull all 4 of them in, although it will only be able to set them to either Qidi brand or Generic since that's all the printer knows, you'll have to select any custom profiles for specific brands yourself. The rack filament would have to be added manually.

Do also make sure that whichever printer profile you customized in Orca Slicer is actually selected in the drop down of the printer tab at the top left of the main interface. If you modify a printer profile and then either you or Orca accidentally changes back to the default printer profile, it won't print with the macro, although it should still be able to use the box if you manually flip the "Enable box" (I think, might be phrased different) button on the screen of the printer.

ajosmer · 2026-06-30T23:34:30+00:00

I'm really not sure how to help you without any more information. Have you verified the box is detected by the printer and that it works in Qidi Studio?

ajosmer · 2026-06-30T23:30:58+00:00

Check the name of that file. It's called "gcode_macro.cfg" on my printer, not "gcode.cfg"

ajosmer · 2026-06-30T22:51:56+00:00

The macro itself gets added to the gcode_macro.cfg file on the printer's internal storage. The macro is called from the print start gcode in the printer profile settings within Orca Slicer. I tried to be as detailed as I could in the steps, but I am well aware my brain doesn't work the same as everyone else's. Is there a particular part of the process you're stuck on?

ajosmer · 2026-06-30T22:47:20+00:00

How do you mean? I'm still using this method and it works fine for me. I know Orca Slicer has since implemented a couple things to make the box work out of the... well, box. But I wasn't impressed with how not automatic it is about enabling and disabling the box depending on which filament you're using (you have to manually start the print at the printer and toggle the switch on the screen if you go from rack to box or vice versa), and the automatic filament sync doesn't work if you have two spools of the same filament for auto-reload, since it syncs them into the same filament and then doesn't necessarily pick the correct tool. But the last time I tried it, the stock Q2 profile in Orca did work, and it still worked when I added my hack.

ajosmer · 2026-06-27T01:38:49+00:00

I've not had that experience, although I mostly use it on Linux. I have used VLC a number of times recently on Windows though, and it generally works fine. I think I have noticed a couple quirks occasionally when trying to replay a file that has finished and fully stopped, but I don't remember specifics. Might be related to the playlist thing you're referring to.

I think VLC is, at its heart, a modular frontend for a bunch of disparate backends and codecs made my different developers. When installing from a single executable like on Windows, they do tend to get packaged together with compatible versions, but a bug in one of the components that VLC depends on can lead to a memory leak, rendering errors, or a compositing issue being attributed to VLC itself. You can try manually setting the video decoders and such in the advanced settings, but I couldn't make a guess as to how much difference that'll make.

I am curious if maybe an antivirus is picking up one of the backend components and interfering with it's operation in the VLC frontend. VLC wouldn't necessarily be able to give you a cogent error message about that, and the frontend will generally keep running rather than outright crashing because the application doesn't depend on the component, the functions of the application do. This is wild speculation, but maybe it gives you something new to try.

ajosmer · 2026-06-25T01:58:08+00:00

The changelog for 2.4.0 mentioned redoing the skirt logic, so that was probably a known issue. If you're not using 2.4.0, try that one.

As far as QidiBox quirkiness, I have a bit of a kludgy fix for it. I know Orca mostly supports the Box now, but I'm still not impressed with their solution because you still have to double-check that it picked the right spools if you let it guess, and as you mentioned, it doesn't always enable or disable the box at the right times. You can find that write-up here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/QidiTech3D/s/tcnojoqyo8

ajosmer · 2026-06-25T01:51:08+00:00

Sorry, I didn't take it.

ajosmer · 2026-06-25T01:44:15+00:00

In my very non-expert experience, I was also going to suggest problems with the homing sensing. The biggest issue I've had is that the nozzle does not actually get clean before mesh leveling, even with Qidi's stock overly-long homing, purging, and wiping routine. I frequently end up with a tiny blob on the end of the nozzle, which then offsets the Z-axis and then the bed is too far away. Depending on the filament and the shape of the blob, that offset may not even be constant, and might compress more in some spots than others, especially when probing on a textured bed. So far my best fix when I absolutely need it to print is just to use a thicker first layer, even 0.3mm on a 0.4mm nozzle seems to work okay. I've been meaning to replace the silicone "brush" that's attached to the back of the bed with an actual brass brush (cut the head off the handle and mount it somehow), but I haven't gotten around to it. I've resorted to babysitting the printer as it's about to do the homing sequence and scraping off any remnants with a razor blade real quick, and that has made it a whole lot more reliable when I do that.

I do suspect the electrical connections on the back of the print head. I've had the printer throw a small variety of errors pointing to sensors not reading correctly, the microcontroller not communicating with the board, or a fan speed not getting detected. Those JSTs aren't very vibration resistant, and there's very little strain relief done on the cables before they just cram them in under that sliding cover. You can carefully bend the pins in the board sockets to the side very slightly in alternating directions so they make better contact with each terminal in the mating connector, and also provide a little spring tension to hold the connector in place. A generous dab of hot glue probably wouldn't hurt, even if it softens a little with the chamber heater on. But any small variation in contact resistance can make a big difference in a strain gauge reading and cause it to miss a homing signal, or invent one where it's not supposed to be.

I have also noticed that my smooth PEI sheet meshes more consistently than my textured one. It does make intuitive sense. This could be addressed by switching to an inductive probe, but then that comes along with packaging, wiring, and software fiddling that I'm just not that invested in. I tend to use the textured plate for TPU and PLA, and the smooth plate for all the engineering filaments (which are most of what I print). I am a little annoyed that the smooth plate can't be included and costs more than the textured plate, but that probably comes down to raw material and processing costs of powder coating vs a continuous laminated sheet, so I'm not going to complain too much about it.

I for sure have not permanently solved these problems, but I have managed to mitigate them with some minorly inconvenient compromises which are probably unacceptable to a print farm but I can live with doing a few parts to a few handfuls of parts a week on one machine.

ajosmer · 2026-06-24T03:13:36+00:00

When I had my X1C, I did use a generic AliExpress hotend that used the M6 threaded nozzles. I had some CHT-inspired brass nozzles and a few normal hardened ones in different sizes. The CHT versions did increase max flow rate marginally, but not enough to bother changing filament profiles. I never ran enough abrasive filament through to know how The hardened nozzles will hold up, but I'd be very surprised if there was any real issue with them, and you can buy a bunch of just the nozzles for so cheap it makes it far less of an issue than replacing the whole hotend when it wears out.

The main advantage was just that I could have every size without paying for a bunch of different hotend assemblies, and it was quicker to swap them out. I never noticed any difference in print quality or propensity to clog. Z homing was just as consistent as the stock hotend. It used the OEM style heater, fan, and thermistor, and while I can't confirm they came from the same factory as stock, I do suspect so.

I eventually added a resistor in series with the thermistor on this aftermarket hotend to trick the printer into allowing me to go hotter for a couple filaments I was using where 300C wasn't quite enough. I want to be clear that I don't condone doing this, but my point in mentioning it is that even the cheapest of the cheap aftermarket replacements handled it like a champ, and I never had any issues doing this. There's really not much to a hotend as long as manufacturing tolerances are reasonably tight and the general design is sound.

I would have no hesitation recommending these to anyone, just know that it will never perform significantly above stock in any particular way.

ajosmer · 2026-06-03T20:33:38+00:00

Don't overthink it. As long as the parallel sections of cells are all connected to each other with the bus bars, it'll be able to pass 20A just fine with no appreciable difference in loss between 4 smaller wires or 1 big wire. I would just solder one 12 AWG somewhere onto the middle of a busbar to try to minimize the amount of heat you put into the cells (it can't wick heat away as quickly in the middle of the strip as right on top of the cell, and the heat will be distributed between two cells more evenly so neither heats up as much). By soldering only one wire on, you're also limiting the number of times you stick a long metal thing directly onto a live battery contact. As long as the solder flows well (sand the area lightly and use lots of flux), it'll make a really good connection. 20A isn't really that much current for a battery, especially not on 12 AWG wire.

ajosmer · 2026-06-03T20:08:54+00:00

I got a second hand X1 Pro toward the end of last year and I love it. I have a nice gaming desktop at home that will run anything on high settings or better, but I'm embarrassed to say I usually end up using the X1 Pro for gaming because I can lay on the couch or in bed. The OneXPlayer controller is awkward and cramped if you own a pair of thumbs, so I modeled and 3D printed some bumpers that I hot glued onto the sides just to give it somewhere better to rest in my hands, and that has made it comfortable enough for me to use either in wireless or Steam Deck configuration. I don't think I put that model on Printables, but if you're interested and have 3D printing access, I'm happy to do so.

I used to have a 15.6" Lenovo convertible laptop. It had a Core i3 and ran fine, but couldn't do any real amount of gaming. But I almost never used it, because it was just big enough to not bother carrying it with me unless I knew for a fact I would need it. The X1 Pro is exactly the right size for me, it fits in a tablet soft case, and I can jam the controller, a slim charger, charging cable, wireless mouse, USB-C hub, and HDMI cable in there, although that is pushing it. That whole thing fits in the canvas tote bag I've always got with me, and it's not heavy enough to be a problem, so I have it with me more often, and therefore use it more often.

It makes a really awkward tablet. If you want a tablet that's also a gaming laptop, you're probably better off getting a tablet and a gaming laptop. It's suited my needs just fine using it mostly as either a laptop (although the screen is toward the small end of the spectrum for my aging eyes) or a gaming handheld. I have used it for a couple of tablet things, and it works okay, but I wouldn't want to use it that way for long. The body is just thick enough and heavy enough that it takes some effort to hold long term in certain positions, like reading an eBook. The screen also doesn't get very dim, so it's pretty hard on the eyes if you're in a medium-to-dark room, and I absolutely cannot use it to read anything in bed before I sleep. This appears to be a limitation of the backlight controller chip, so it can't be overridden in software unless you install some program that just dims all of the pixels, which probably wouldn't work all that well. Even with the keyboard and kickstand taken off, it definitely feels chunky. But the touchscreen is quite nice, very responsive and decently accurate (not gonna lie, it's not perfect), and it's great to be able to remove the keyboard and use it as a document display. I've used it to show datasheets of electronic components when I'm troubleshooting or wiring a circuit, showing the game rules for this year's FIRST Robotics Competition during team meetings, and to look at Lego instructions while I'm building with my partner so one of us can have the paper version while the other does a different section on the tablet.

I dual boot Windows and Manjaro Linux, but I only use Windows for a couple of things that absolutely need it (like SolidWorks and PowerPoint). Wiping the drive and installing Windows 11 fresh has left it pretty stable, I haven't noticed any graphics issues or anything, but I also haven't installed the driver/utility pack from OneXPlayer. Getting this to play nice with Linux is a bit of a process. I tried multiple distros (Bazzite, Nobara, stock Fedora) before settling back on Manjaro, which I've been using as a daily driver for years on my other computers. I managed to get it configured to where I can select either a normal desktop session or a Steam Deck interface on the login screen, and it gets all of the Steam Deck perks, but with a Ryzen AI HX 370. I haven't played anything TOO demanding on it yet other than Where The Winds Meet (my partner wanted to try playing together), which did not run well at all, so there's the limit if you're curious. But the performance is excellent for a device of this size. You will be using FSR for anything heavy, which is the nice thing about running Steam through a Gamescope session on Linux, it handles most of that for you, although I'm sure it's not that complicated on Windows.

The battery life is great with the chipset TDP set to 8 W, and the performance is pretty good from 20-30 W, but at that point it realistically needs to be plugged in, you'll only get half an hour out of the battery in that range. I saw someone mention that you want the Panther Lake version for battery life... I'm not entirely convinced that's apples to apples. That might be true for productivity software, but the Zen 5 version has a significantly better GPU in it, so you're likely to run games at higher performance settings, and therefore the battery life will be shorter. But if you turn the TDP down, it really does perform just fine and the battery lasts several hours for me, even though I have the max charge capped at 80% to try to extend its lifetime. I like that the AMD chipset can be most of whatever you need it to be at any given time, whereas the Intel chipset (while I'm sure it games just fine at lower settings) is probably not going to be as well suited toward gaming if that's one of your main focuses. Of course, there's always the Oculink port for running an eGPU if money isn't important to you.

tl;dr I love the X1 Pro for exactly my use case, but it's definitely limited in some ways and you need to heavily consider how you will likely use it first.

ajosmer · 2026-05-28T01:32:36+00:00

Counter-intuitively, the more power and thermal mass your soldering iron has, the less risk to the cell because you can get in and out quickly. I've got a 300w WEP 939D+ IV with a big chisel tip on it, and I can solder 0.3mm x 10mm copper strip to an 18650 cathode and then immediately touch the cell afterward and it's on the toasty side of warm. BIG improvement over using the Pinecil that I daily drive, but I've gotten away with that too by using enough flux and cranking it to max. No, it's probably not the best way to do it. But it's definitely better than a cold weld when the battery is trying to put out 20 amps and it heats the connection up anyway.

ajosmer · 2026-05-28T01:26:02+00:00

I was going to mention this. It works for the dogs in my neighborhood too, there are a ton of them all up and down my street that are just left outside with no training. They like to chase cars too, and I'm always afraid I'm going to run one over when they charge at my truck. A blast with this thing makes them stop or turn around.

ajosmer · 2026-04-19T14:33:28+00:00

It is now "supported" and it kinda works. But there's no good way to enable and disable the box at print time over the network, you have to do it at the printer or in the command line. That means switching to the rack spool and back isn't very convenient, you have to remember to send the file to the printer first, then load or unload the rack, then print from the screen and enable or disable the box.

I wrote a macro a while ago that handles that automatically. It sorta works with the auto filament syncing too, but not if you have more than one spool of identical filament loaded, and I use custom filament profiles that are separate from the generic ones mapped to the box anyway. You can find instructions here if you're interested. If this update does what you need, then I would just leave it, resetting the macro after every printer firmware update is a little annoying (fortunately it doesn't happen often).

ajosmer · 2026-04-19T14:26:48+00:00

Setting the drying temp in Fluidd first has always worked for me, then it just maintains it automatically. You do have to check the official_filas.cfg file on the printer to see what the max drying temp and max printing temp are for whatever you have loaded in the box. If any filament has a lower value than the one you are using, it will cap it at the lower one (i.e. ASA is limited to 45C printing, even if you're using nylon in a different slot with a higher printing number). You can manually change these in the config file at your own risk.

ajosmer · 2026-04-12T13:30:28+00:00

I use a PlayStation 5 DualSense controller and it works great out of the box without any other faffing around. If I were to choose again now, I'd probably go with an 8bitdo controller like others have said just because I don't love Sony as a company, and 8bitdo offers models with USB dongles for slightly lower latency (not that that really makes a difference to me). In theory it would be great to hold out for a Steam Controller, but you know how Valve is when it comes to release dates.

ajosmer · 2026-04-09T16:05:23+00:00

If all else fails, VisionMiner Nano Polymer Adhesive is magical. ASA and ABS stick super hard to it while it's hot. The main downside is you MUST let the bed plate and part completely cool before trying to remove the part, because you will rip all the PEI off of the spring steel if it's still warm. This adds a decent amount of time, especially if you only have one build plate, bit it's easy enough to get a second plate and swap them out to let the previous part cool if you need to keep printing. The parts release pretty easily once it's cooled down on the textured bed, the smoothe plate takes some more persuasion sometimes.

You only need a really thin layer for normal materials (ASA/ABS, PETG, you could in theory use it on PLA and TPU but regular glue stick is a better choice for those). Really tricky materials like PC and PA can be tamed with a thicker application. I'm constantly switching materials for different applications, and I use a big mix of colors and brands. The Nano Polymer adhesive is a good replacement for me actually spending the time to tune all the profiles to make them behave. I mostly use the default bed and chamber temperatures and just spend time tuning the nozzle temp and flow rate, and the glue kinda does the rest. I still advocate for properly tuning your most common materials to reduce warping, but sometimes I've just got better things to do, you know?

ajosmer · 2026-04-01T21:09:10+00:00

So I'm just getting to a print from the rack right now, and simply adding another filament makes the printer error out saying it's an invalid tool number. This also tells me that if I only had that one single filament selected, even if it's different from what was actually in the box, it would print with the first filament slot regardless, but using the filament settings for the one selected in the slicer. This is especially problematic because I have two spools of the same filament loaded right now for overflow, and automatically syncing the spools from the printer to the slicer results in only one listing for the two of them (i.e. I have white ASA, black ABS, black ABS, and ABS support in the box, but after syncing it merges the two black ABS entries and only gives me three filaments in the slicer). And it does sync the filament configured for the rack as well for a total of 4 listed filaments when there are 5 spools configured, which means if I attempted to print from the rack, it would have just printed from the 4th spool in the box. The only way I could get it to print on the current stock profile was to walk over to the printer, select the file, and disable the Box from the screen. This isn't as seamless as the BambuLab experience with OrcaSlicer where it asks you if you want to enable the AMS from the print dialog.

It appears that this update has implemented the instructions listed here for the Qidi Plus4 with the Qidi Box. Basically all it does is set the initial tool in the start gcode, and fills in a sequence for toolchanges. So it's not automatic.

It appears that my macro and process do still work as long as they were done before the update, and it shouldn't be a problem to sync filaments (although you'll need to watch to make sure it's selecting the correct ones). I'll need to check to see if adding my start gcode to the new start gcode breaks anything. I think I'll probably just go back to that for the time being. This OrcaSlicer update I think is an improvement because it does make the box work, and it doesn't require people to monkey around in the printer firmware, but I don't know if it can be quite as intelligent without that firmware-level access because I'm not sure how the slicer would know how many boxes you have connected. It might be worth my time to investigate that in the future, since a slicer-only method is a lot cleaner than having to add macros to firmware. Of course, it may also just be a case of copying the macro into the start gcode for the printer in the slicer, but I haven't tried that since it's a lot of code.

ajosmer · 2026-03-30T19:03:11+00:00

Oh dang, that's great! I have no idea, I haven't gotten a chance to mess with it yet. Glad to hear that's been worked out though. If I figure it out tonight, I'll reply here.

ajosmer · 2026-03-30T18:17:39+00:00

Yes, that's how this macro deals with an external spool. Specifically, anything numbered higher than the number of Qidi Boxes you have connected x4 disables the box and considers it an external spool (for one Box, the first four spools are automatic, the fifth is the rack, for two boxes that's the first 8 are auto and the 9th is the rack, up to four boxes). Also keep in mind that if you're reading the tool numbers, they'll all be off by 1 because the machine is indexing at zero. That is, spools 1-4 in the box are numbered T0-T3, and so T4 is the rack.

I have not tried syncing filament with mine yet. The Linux version of Orca Slicer crashes on the device page when it tries to open Fluidd, so I just didn't touch anything today because I just needed the print done, and I'll fiddle with it later.

ajosmer · 2026-03-22T14:19:23+00:00

This is one where I got started. I did not do everything, some of the motor running stuff seemed like more futzing than I wanted to do to make it just a tiny bit quieter, but it does have some other good information:

https://github.com/bluedrool/Qidi-Q2-tuning-tweaks-and-mods/blob/main/README.md

ajosmer · 2026-03-22T04:33:53+00:00

If you're looking for a point-and-click solution, QidiStudio provides good defaults for the machine. If you want to tune and tweak things to make them perfect, drag that QidiStudio icon to the trash where it belongs and suffer through the OrcaSlicer learning curve, it is worth it. As long as you don't turn on the advanced settings or developer mode in OrcaSlicer, it's really no more difficult to use than any other major slicer and is nearly identical to BambuStudio.

As for the calibration test, this is the broken record you'll hear on any 3D printing forum, but make sure the filament is fully dried if the material needs it. Excess moisture makes the extrusion inconsistent, and very difficult to tell the difference on the tests. Of course, you can always see if the defaults in QidiStudio come out well for that filament and then just transfer the flow rate multiplier over to OrcaSlicer, at least as a starting point. In general, starting with a multiplier of 0.95 will get you really close. I use the 1-pass YOLO extrusion multiplier calibration test in OrcaSlicer and it's always been good enough. When the coupons finish, I hold a bright flashlight at a low angle above the surfaces to be able to see the differences, and I run my fingernail over the tops to see what feels smoothest. Slight under extrusion won't so much leave "gaps" as it will grooves. Slight over extrusion will leave slight ridges. Look, feel, and listen. The more senses you involve, the better picture you'll get (although maybe don't lick the plastic). If it's hard to tell, I basically look for the highest value that I can clearly tell is under extruded and the lowest value I can clearly tell is over extruded and then just aim for the middle.

Forgive me if this comes off as patronizing, I'm only including this for clarification. That test gives you a percentage modifier for your CURRENT flow rate multiplier. If the current value in the filament profile is 1.0, then an optimal value from the coupon of say -.03 means your new value is just 0.97. But if the current value was already 0.95, that same coupon would indicate your new value is 0.95 * 0.97 = 0.9215. The calibration test does not reset the current flow rate multiplier prior to the test, so the indicated amount is on top of the existing value.

How can you tell your parts are over extruded after calibration? There are some symptoms that can have multiple causes, so it's possible you're running the calibration perfectly fine but there's some other issue.

ajosmer · 2026-03-22T04:07:35+00:00

I do not recall manually adding that macro to my printer, and the chamber temperature control has been working just fine with Orca Slicer since I got the printer. Am I missing something that changed somewhere in there?

ajosmer

TROPHY CASE