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I’ve been 3-D printing for almost 7 years and I have about 14 printers at this point. I’ve had as many as 24 at once. I do have to admit that this is the very first printer I ever owned that prints out of the box with the least amount of set up.There are so many positives to this printer. It is a premium quality printer and it does have a premium price tag. It is far less than Ultimaker or Maker bot but that’s where that ends.Utilizes two extruders two hot ends and a very unique system to raise the extruder not being used so it does not get in the way of the print.It has very nice linear rail bearings and from what I can see most of the components are very high-quality.It is a very spacious build area and heated which is a plus. It has a very thick aluminum heated bed and uses a spring steel printing surface that’s magnetic.It utilizes a three point manual bed leveling set up there is no ABL on this printer.In my experience if you have a nice flat bed and you level it correctly ABL is not even required. I print mainly on glass on all my other printers and it’s almost a necessity to use ABL on those printers. Those printers have very thin aluminum beds which are prone to warping and most came warped brand new. Some of them even had warped glass which I was forced to replace. I tend to like to use mirror glass but I would prefer the heat bed glass. This printer once it’s adjusted correctly except for changing nozzles or the head you will not have to touch it once you have it correctly adjusted.It has a nice large touchscreen and the touchscreen is very responsive.The manufacture says that they have silent drivers on the main board. I kind of doubt it because the sound I get from this printer when printing. I get a terrible amount of stepper driver noise which doesn’t affect the printing quality it just affects your hearing.All my other printers have been upgraded to silent drivers and except for fan noise you cannot even tell they’re printing so when I’m told that this has silent drivers I don’t believe it.I like the spool holder set up that slides up from the back but I do not like their filament path through the filament out sensors at the back of the printer.The filament paths through the sensors are restricted and it is very hard to pull filament through. I’ve contacted the manufacture about this and they said it’s intended because they do not want the filament to be pushing back through the sensor. My thought is that they’re afraid that it’s going to push off the spool and then you’ll have a feeding issue but I feel that it could be far less restrictive than it is and still maintain integrity of the wind.I opened up my sensors and found that the path leading to the switch actually is too far to the left and it causes the filament to almost bend slightly as it comes out the path to the switch. It’s hitting the entire side of the housing causing a tremendous amount of restriction. What I did was I opened it up slightly where it still maintains the integrity of the wind on the spool and it is far less restrictive than the way it was originally.I still am not a fan of this method and really wish they would address this issue because when the printer is printing and it really has to tug hard on the filament to pull it through in my view is not the best way to handle the situation.When talking to the tech-support about this they told me that I should be using the dry box and then I would not have that issue but you will also lose your filament out sensors by doing that.I’m sure at some point I’ll be able to come up with some thing maybe by reengineering they’re filament out sensors like I’ve done on other printers. It’s just not something that I’m looking to do right now but when I get some time I may approach that issue.It has a bright LED light set up which I really like and also a Camera that works real well. I see others have complained about it being washed out by the LED lights and I’m guessing the manufacture made some corrections to that because mine works perfectly.The heated chamber is a nice touch which will make it much easier to print ABS, nylon, carbon fiber ASA and other types of exotic elements that would require a heated bed and it will prevent drafts.The heated enclosure also has an air filter fan which does have a very mediocre carbon style filter which I say is not very effective but just the fact that it has it is a plus.It has Wi-Fi which I had no issues getting connected and although I’ve had it drop out once or twice I can’t guarantee that it wasn’t my router that caused that.It would be nice if there was some type of memory on the board because when you transfer a file via Wi-Fi even smaller files it seems to take an extremely long time to get the transfer completed.My guess is that depending upon the speed of your USB stick that is required to print or transfer files via Wi-Fi that is probably some of the cause of the sluggish transfer and the lengthy time it takes.Now to the weakest link,I’m familiar and generally use simplify3d or recently the new updated Prusa slicer for all my slicing.Simplify3d is the very first slicer I’ve used so I tend to hang onto it although I find myself gravitating to the new updated Prusa slicer because they have made so many enhancements to the slicer.The number one best the paint on color change or the level type color change or the batch fill color change it just makes making multicolor prints quick and easy. No longer do you have to make separate STL files in modeling software or sculpting software to be able to bring it into your slicer and create multi material objects.For someone like myself that basically can’t use modeling or sculpting software at all it opens up the world to multicolor multi material work because now within minutes with the Prusa slicer I can make multicolor multimaterial prints out of a single STL object and that for me is a game changer.The biggest negative of this printer is they have their printer almost exclusively tied to their slicer. It’s not terribly bad but it is nowhere near the complexity or the usability or the functionality of a simplify3d a cura or a Prusa slicer it’s kind of antiquated compared to the others.And it does not do anything close to what the prusa slicer can do so with their machine. If you cannot use modeling or sculpting software you’re going to be very limited with multicolor multimaterial work.I feel this is their biggest downfall. They have supplied me with profile files for simplify3d and Prusa slicer but none of those work.I intend to be contacting them about those profiles because I really feel if they put a little bit of work into them they could actually get those profiles to work probably better than 90% with other slicers. I’m not sure that they want to but I’m going to check with them.I’ve yet to try printing with ABS or carbon fiber or ASA yet but the success I have so far with PLA and very complex PLA I’m getting perfect prints.I will be attempting some ASA work in the next few days and carbon fiber after that. I really believe that this is going to do a fantastic job with those filaments but again the ability to use other slicers that function correctly would be a very positive step in the right direction for this company.Overall I feel that this is a solid printer at a decent price point. Again the slicer to me is their biggest downfall and I think if they would supply good profiles for other slicers that would just totally blow most other dual extruder multi material printers out of the water at this price point.This thing is a beast and a does take up a fair amount of room and if you’re limited to space you want to make sure that the space that your printer utilizes is well worth the real estate.In my opinion this printer is definitely worth the space that it takes up and with a very few minor corrections I think this could be the best printer on the market anywhere near this price point.Just so everyone knows I am not being paid for this review. I have not been asked to do this review by the manufacture. I just feel so strongly about this printer that I felt that I needed to let others know that their money would be well spent.And lastly and maybe one of the most important their tech-support is fantastic. They actually answer you back in record time and it appears that they really try to correct any problems that you may come across.I would have given this a solid five star rating if it was not for the filament path issue and their proprietary slicer situation.

I’ve been 3-D printing for almost 7 years and I have about 14 printers at this point. I’ve had as many as 24 at once. I do have to admit that this is the very first printer I ever owned that prints out of the box with the least amount of set up.There are so many positives to this printer. It is a premium quality printer and it does have a premium price tag. It is far less than Ultimaker or Maker bot but that’s where that ends.Utilizes two extruders two hot ends and a very unique system to raise the extruder not being used so it does not get in the way of the print.It has very nice linear rail bearings and from what I can see most of the components are very high-quality.It is a very spacious build area and heated which is a plus. It has a very thick aluminum heated bed and uses a spring steel printing surface that’s magnetic.It utilizes a three point manual bed leveling set up there is no ABL on this printer.In my experience if you have a nice flat bed and you level it correctly ABL is not even required. I print mainly on glass on all my other printers and it’s almost a necessity to use ABL on those printers. Those printers have very thin aluminum beds which are prone to warping and most came warped brand new. Some of them even had warped glass which I was forced to replace. I tend to like to use mirror glass but I would prefer the heat bed glass. This printer once it’s adjusted correctly except for changing nozzles or the head you will not have to touch it once you have it correctly adjusted.It has a nice large touchscreen and the touchscreen is very responsive.The manufacture says that they have silent drivers on the main board. I kind of doubt it because the sound I get from this printer when printing. I get a terrible amount of stepper driver noise which doesn’t affect the printing quality it just affects your hearing.All my other printers have been upgraded to silent drivers and except for fan noise you cannot even tell they’re printing so when I’m told that this has silent drivers I don’t believe it.I like the spool holder set up that slides up from the back but I do not like their filament path through the filament out sensors at the back of the printer.The filament paths through the sensors are restricted and it is very hard to pull filament through. I’ve contacted the manufacture about this and they said it’s intended because they do not want the filament to be pushing back through the sensor. My thought is that they’re afraid that it’s going to push off the spool and then you’ll have a feeding issue but I feel that it could be far less restrictive than it is and still maintain integrity of the wind.I opened up my sensors and found that the path leading to the switch actually is too far to the left and it causes the filament to almost bend slightly as it comes out the path to the switch. It’s hitting the entire side of the housing causing a tremendous amount of restriction. What I did was I opened it up slightly where it still maintains the integrity of the wind on the spool and it is far less restrictive than the way it was originally.I still am not a fan of this method and really wish they would address this issue because when the printer is printing and it really has to tug hard on the filament to pull it through in my view is not the best way to handle the situation.When talking to the tech-support about this they told me that I should be using the dry box and then I would not have that issue but you will also lose your filament out sensors by doing that.I’m sure at some point I’ll be able to come up with some thing maybe by reengineering they’re filament out sensors like I’ve done on other printers. It’s just not something that I’m looking to do right now but when I get some time I may approach that issue.It has a bright LED light set up which I really like and also a Camera that works real well. I see others have complained about it being washed out by the LED lights and I’m guessing the manufacture made some corrections to that because mine works perfectly.The heated chamber is a nice touch which will make it much easier to print ABS, nylon, carbon fiber ASA and other types of exotic elements that would require a heated bed and it will prevent drafts.The heated enclosure also has an air filter fan which does have a very mediocre carbon style filter which I say is not very effective but just the fact that it has it is a plus.It has Wi-Fi which I had no issues getting connected and although I’ve had it drop out once or twice I can’t guarantee that it wasn’t my router that caused that.It would be nice if there was some type of memory on the board because when you transfer a file via Wi-Fi even smaller files it seems to take an extremely long time to get the transfer completed.My guess is that depending upon the speed of your USB stick that is required to print or transfer files via Wi-Fi that is probably some of the cause of the sluggish transfer and the lengthy time it takes.Now to the weakest link,I’m familiar and generally use simplify3d or recently the new updated Prusa slicer for all my slicing.Simplify3d is the very first slicer I’ve used so I tend to hang onto it although I find myself gravitating to the new updated Prusa slicer because they have made so many enhancements to the slicer.The number one best the paint on color change or the level type color change or the batch fill color change it just makes making multicolor prints quick and easy. No longer do you have to make separate STL files in modeling software or sculpting software to be able to bring it into your slicer and create multi material objects.For someone like myself that basically can’t use modeling or sculpting software at all it opens up the world to multicolor multi material work because now within minutes with the Prusa slicer I can make multicolor multimaterial prints out of a single STL object and that for me is a game changer.The biggest negative of this printer is they have their printer almost exclusively tied to their slicer. It’s not terribly bad but it is nowhere near the complexity or the usability or the functionality of a simplify3d a cura or a Prusa slicer it’s kind of antiquated compared to the others.And it does not do anything close to what the prusa slicer can do so with their machine. If you cannot use modeling or sculpting software you’re going to be very limited with multicolor multimaterial work.I feel this is their biggest downfall. They have supplied me with profile files for simplify3d and Prusa slicer but none of those work.I intend to be contacting them about those profiles because I really feel if they put a little bit of work into them they could actually get those profiles to work probably better than 90% with other slicers. I’m not sure that they want to but I’m going to check with them.I’ve yet to try printing with ABS or carbon fiber or ASA yet but the success I have so far with PLA and very complex PLA I’m getting perfect prints.I will be attempting some ASA work in the next few days and carbon fiber after that. I really believe that this is going to do a fantastic job with those filaments but again the ability to use other slicers that function correctly would be a very positive step in the right direction for this company.Overall I feel that this is a solid printer at a decent price point. Again the slicer to me is their biggest downfall and I think if they would supply good profiles for other slicers that would just totally blow most other dual extruder multi material printers out of the water at this price point.This thing is a beast and a does take up a fair amount of room and if you’re limited to space you want to make sure that the space that your printer utilizes is well worth the real estate.In my opinion this printer is definitely worth the space that it takes up and with a very few minor corrections I think this could be the best printer on the market anywhere near this price point.Just so everyone knows I am not being paid for this review. I have not been asked to do this review by the manufacture. I just feel so strongly about this printer that I felt that I needed to let others know that their money would be well spent.And lastly and maybe one of the most important their tech-support is fantastic. They actually answer you back in record time and it appears that they really try to correct any problems that you may come across.I would have given this a solid five star rating if it was not for the filament path issue and their proprietary slicer situation.

The QIDI TECHNOLOGY i-Fast isn’t my first 3D printer. At $2499 (at the time of this review), it’s pretty much the same price as the Ultimaker 2 (since upgraded to a 2+) I bought in 2014! Even further back than that, though, my journey started in 2011 with a Mendel RepRap. If you aren’t familiar with that particular unit, it was pretty much the early adopter DIY choice – and unless you wanted to get a commercial FDM printer, it was the only option available. Between materials that were not ideal, marginal build quality, immature hardware control, and the bad quality of early slicers, personal FDM was cool, but not for the faint of heart… and certainly not for the plug-and-play crowd. In the years since, the market has developed more consumer-friendly devices – even on the low end.While the Ultimaker 2+ was good for its time, I wanted to explore the “prosumer” chasm between hobbyist and commercial FDM printers. The features I wanted were dual extruders, the ability to print ABS with fewer problems, high dimensional accuracy, the ability to use higher temp materials, and large print volume. The dual extruder requirement narrows the field immediately, and while I didn’t want or need dual INDEPENDENT extruders, I desperately wanted to be able to print with PVA. My previous experience with Ultimaker had me check there first, but I was not cool with the prospect of spending $5000 to $9000 on a printer. Obviously, YMMV if you have commercial aspirations for your prints, but it didn’t make sense to me. QIDI kept showing up as a vendor of interest for me… the printers were financially feasible, appeared to be made well, and had mostly good reviews. It was really down to the QIDI i-Fast or the Raise3D Pro2 (the shorter one).The i-Fast arrived a few days after I placed the order. The shipping box was MASSIVE. I got the box into the house and decided to uncrate it right in the front hallway. Since the box was essentially the same width as the door leading down to my basement, I didn’t really have a choice. The upside to the unboxing was that the printer is marginally lighter to carry down by itself. However, it’s still 90 pounds and awkwardly shaped – fortunately it has molded carrying “dents” on the sides of the printer. The unit was extremely well packed, and nothing was damaged in shipping. Conveniently, the printer arrives almost entirely assembled. I looked for the spool holding hardware, power cord, etc. and immediately felt dread – I had pieces missing! The instructions clearly show where the extra hardware goes in to one of the styrofoam cutouts – and I didn’t have anything there. The crisis was averted 5 minutes later when I realized that those parts were stuffed into a filament box. I had naively assumed that the filament box contained, you know… filament (like the other included filament box did). Yeesh. Once everything was together, I looked the unit over. Notably, it completely dwarfs my old Ultimaker 2+. It also has a much more professional look to its build quality, aside from the cheesy “i-Fast” sticker. It definitely looks more expensive than it is.It’s nice that the i-Fast LOOKS good, but that’s not really why you get an expensive FDM printer, is it? First, I dialed in the Z gap. Then I loaded the included red PLA plastic and tried a test print. Finally, I loaded some of my own plastic into the other extruder and tried the extruder alignment print. I ended up doing it twice, since I had to confirm the offset. With that done I was less than 30 minutes from having unboxed the printer, and I was ready for my first real print on the i-Fast. I used PLA, TPU, and PETG without any issues. In fact, printing with the i-Fast was everything that I’d HOPED the Ultimaker 2+ would be year prior. It’s truly plug-and-play. Prints are amazing, even when using .2mm layers. I had some issues with ABS and PVA, but that’s only because I’m relatively unfamiliar with the temperatures and speeds. Once I got that figured out, those were perfect, too.The whole experience taught me quite a bit. I don’t really use PVA unless I need a COMPLETELY clean floating surface. My experience with supports on the i-Fast is completely different than with previous printers, as thin or tree supports release so well, that PVA is largely unnecessary (which is a weird admission after I wanted dual extruders so much). Using both extruders adds a LOT more time than I expected, and you will really want/need to use an ooze shield and/or prime tower. The layer start/stop point is very pronounced with this printer – it’s not a complaint… just an observation.Other observations? Well, the printer is pretty fast. That was a surprise to me, because I generally think of printing in terms of material flow rate, which is the same from printer to printer (assuming the same nozzle size, anyway). All that’s left is the transit speed, right? Well, I just assumed that all printers were doing it at 100mm/s (or close). Nope. Also, the printer is pretty quiet. With the top cover on, which you are only supposed to use for specific materials, the printer is VERY quiet. Otherwise, it’s still quiet, with most of the noise coming from the extruder head clunking around. Good vibration isolation, like larger neoprene or rubber pads under the unit can cut the noise further. The i-Fast was my first printer with a spring steel print bed (I’ve since gotten that feature on an Ender 3 S1, too). Wow. It’s a massive quality-of-life improvement for print removal, and I recommend it to EVERYONE. The slicer just looks to be a rebranded Cura, but fortunately it’s updated pretty frequently.I like the i-Fast quite a bit, which makes the deficiencies stick out that much more. Initially, I noticed that the documentation didn’t seem to be quite up to the high level of the build quality and packaging. There are also other attention to detail issues, like misspellings on the BUILD PLATE! Those aren’t the end of the world, but they are small, unforced errors that detract from the credibility of the end product. The largest misstep, in my opinion, is the location of the USB port. It’s RIGHT next to the door. It’s so bad that I immediately bought a small USB extension cable that has a right angle at the male connector. That allows me to keep the thing as low-profile as possible, and relocate the plug-in location for the flash drive. The ergonomics of the touchscreen and device’s UI are just ok… QIDI could really improve functionality here, including the ability to easily bring extruder temps up for loading and unloading of filament when not in a print job.$2500 was a lot for me to spend on a piece of hobby equipment, and so I’ve been scrutinizing the value proposition since the i-Fast arrived. My opinion is that the QIDI i-Fast is an excellent FDM printer for anyone that wants to produce flawless prints without having to become an expert in FDM printing. Even though there’s a camera on the unit, I know that I don’t have to look at the thing throughout the first hour of the print to make sure that it doesn’t detach from the base plate. I don’t have to worry about coming downstairs and seeing the plastic Silly String of a failed print that continued ALL NIGHT. Instead, I know that I’ll have a perfect print waiting for me. Highly Recommended

I’m coming to 3d printing from an automotive repair background with the intent to make some parts that aren’t around anymore or don’t exist to start with. I’ve used this printer for a good 8 months now and it has been a great experience.I have printed all sorts of parts in all sorts of materials. ASA, PA12CF, ABS, COPA, TPU, TPE, PA6GF30, POM,PETG-CF, Ultem9085 and a little PLA.It consistently produces excellent results over and over again.I’ve found using preset material setting when you get new type of filament will result in a good print. Fine tuning to get a great print as usual is all about your part/model and your slicing choices. Recently updated Qidi slicer is also very good (most of current Cura under similar UI)Now the important topic of Qidi support. I have needed to contact the support team once for “not everything in the box on arrival” and a couple of software questions. I could not have expected a better response. On all occasions I received an email from a real person (not an automated ticket) within 24hrs. Sometimes more quickly.The Support Team take responsibility for their products and are quick to fix valid concerns.Very Happy

I’m coming to 3d printing from an automotive repair background with the intent to make some parts that aren’t around anymore or don’t exist to start with. I’ve used this printer for a good 8 months now and it has been a great experience.I have printed all sorts of parts in all sorts of materials. ASA, PA12CF, ABS, COPA, TPU, TPE, PA6GF30, POM,PETG-CF, Ultem9085 and a little PLA.It consistently produces excellent results over and over again.I’ve found using preset material setting when you get new type of filament will result in a good print. Fine tuning to get a great print as usual is all about your part/model and your slicing choices. Recently updated Qidi slicer is also very good (most of current Cura under similar UI)Now the important topic of Qidi support. I have needed to contact the support team once for “not everything in the box on arrival” and a couple of software questions. I could not have expected a better response. On all occasions I received an email from a real person (not an automated ticket) within 24hrs. Sometimes more quickly.The Support Team take responsibility for their products and are quick to fix valid concerns.Very Happy