QIDI’s new Max4 is quite a powerful desktop 3D printer.
The company may not be as well known as some of its competitors, but it certainly delivers products with the latest features. Their most recent flagship 3D printer is the Max4.
The name, “Max” suggests that it might be a large machine, and that is indeed the case. The Max4’s build volume is a whopping 390 x 390 x 340 mm, much larger than most of their competitors’ “large” machines, which tend to land in the 300-350mm range.
Let’s look at some of the features of this rather large 3D printer:
- Fully enclosed CoreXY system with metal frame
- Heated build chamber (65C)
- Active cooling system for accurate PLA printing
- Precision anti-backlash Z-axis
- Uniformly heated print plate (120C) with silicone layer
- Closed loop thermal control
- 65% stronger stepper motors with closed loop control
- Print speeds up to 800mm/s
- Hot end temperatures up to 370C
- Upgraded linear rails
- Nozzle sensor for automated calibration
- Next generation user interface on color touchscreen
- Webcam with AI print failure detection
- Multistage air filtration system
- Significant use of flame retardant materials
The Max4 is also fully compatible with the QIDI Box, the company’s answer to filament swapping accessories. A QIDI box can serve up to four spools at a time to a print job, enabling multicolor printing. It can also deliver soluble support materials for easy printing of highly complex 3D models.
There’s more: the Max4 can accept up to four QIDI Boxes at a time, meaning you can print in up to 16 different materials in a single job. However, it appears that the QIDI Box is not stackable, you will have to set them up on a table or build a shelving system to accommodate all those boxes.
Here’s the most interesting part: the Max4 is currently on sale for only US$1049. That price point seems relatively close to other desktop 3D printers these days, but there’s something different here.
The QIDI Max4 is configured to be a professional 3D printer. In years past a list of features as we see on the QIDI Max4 would absolutely been priced at tens of thousand of dollars and sold exclusively into the professional market. Now that same capability is available for only US$1049, an incredible drop in price.
The thermals on the device are significant. I used to call any 3D printer that could hit 400C a “high temperature” 3D printer. Here the Max4 is almost that high at 390C. While it isn’t quite yet a true high temperature 3D printer, it’s getting dangerously close.
The Max4 is fully capable of printing all manner of engineering materials, aside from the very high temperature types, such as ULTEM. That makes the machine able to print production parts of various types. Combined with the rock bottom price, the Max4 could be affordable by many smaller manufacturing operations that were previously unable to afford the higher price professional systems.
I’m not so sure the professional category is going to last much longer when low priced machines like the Max4 continue to appear.
Via QIDI
