QIDI Plus5 Review

I’d consider the QIDI Plus5 is worth shortlisting if you want large parts for practical use and expect to use plastics that need a warm enclosure. It for printing with one material at a time. Reported tests show encouraging results with everyday plastics and some more demanding, fiber-filled materials.

The main drawback is the loading and adjustment work you may need to do. Feeding plastic into the back is awkward, and ordinary PLA plastic should be printed with the lid open to let heat escape.

Accessories add cost and take up space without guaranteeing trouble-free printing. I’d start with the base printer unless automatic spool changes solve a specific problem. For small decorative prints, much of what you’re paying for would go unused.

Making Room For The Plus5 And Your Prints

The advertised print space is 320 × 320 × 300 mm, or roughly 12.6 inches square and 11.8 inches tall. That’s useful for helmets, housings and batches of smaller parts, but it doesn’t mean every object with those dimensions will fit.

QIDI reserves a 9 × 13 mm patch at the lower-left corner for the cutter that snips filament, the plastic strand fed into the printer. The company says removing the cutter allows full-plate printing. Follow QIDI’s instructions if you need that space, and check how removing the cutter affects automatic filament changes before planning the job.

Before buying, open your intended model in QIDI Studio, the software that turns a model into printing instructions. Select the Plus5 profile, which contains its saved printer settings.

Include any supports—temporary structures that hold up overhanging sections—and any brim, a thin border around the base that helps it stay attached. These also take up space. Check the prepared job against the print-space limits, including the excluded corner. That missing patch can matter to a square panel while leaving an irregularly shaped prop unaffected.

The printer itself measures 500 × 488 × 558 mm, about 19.7 × 19.2 × 22 inches, and weighs 29 kg, nearly 64 pounds. Get help lifting it onto a sturdy table.

You’ll need more space than those dimensions suggest. Leave room behind the printer for the spool, loading, cables and discarded filament. The glass lid slides backward for ventilation, so a tight shelf or wall can get in the way.

You also need access through the front door to remove prints. The optional QIDI Box, which holds and feeds multiple spools, needs room beside or above the printer too.

How The Plus5 Handles Everyday Prints

You can make use of the larger print bed without starting with an expensive specialist filament. Reported PLA helmets and smaller objects had clean surfaces. PETG prints also stayed attached to the bed and had a good finish. PLA is a common choice for decorative models; PETG is often used for practical household parts.

Automatic leveling helps with the first layer, which is where a large print can go wrong immediately. The nozzle touches the plate to measure its position, reducing the manual adjustment needed to set the starting height. In reported PETG tests, batches of parts with numerous small holes printed clean first layers across the plate. That’s encouraging for printing several parts together, though a clean, correctly installed build plate still matters.

A 300 mm-tall lampshade printed in Polymaker PETG took a little over four hours in a reported test. It used spiral, or vase, mode: essentially one continuous thin outer wall. The other settings weren’t fully reported.

That shows a thin-walled print can use the full height, but it doesn’t give you a time estimate for a housing with thick walls and internal reinforcement. Those require more plastic and printing time.

Smaller detail tests are encouraging, too. One reported test produced straight bridges spanning 20–30 mm—short sections printed across empty space—and pieces whose printed joints moved without being forced apart. The exact plastic and settings weren’t specified for those examples.

They show that moving joints are possible, but don’t tell you exactly how much room to leave between the parts in your design. Print a small section containing the joint or screw hole before committing to a full-size assembly.

Support placement also affects the finish you get after removing those temporary structures. A reported bird feeder made from ASA plastic had a rough area where better support placement could have helped. A smooth outer wall doesn’t tell you how clean the underside will be.

For PLA, start with chamber heating off and the lid open to let heat escape. Excess heat can soften filament above the nozzle, where it needs to stay firm to feed properly, causing a jam.

A reported closed-lid PLA stress test jammed while using the supplied settings unchanged, without the QIDI Box or optional Polar Cooler. Room temperature wasn’t specified. That result doesn’t mean PLA always jams in this printer.

The advertised 600 mm/s is the maximum speed of the moving printhead. Your actual job slows for small details, cooling and the rate at which plastic can melt. Use QIDI Studio’s time estimate for your own model, and expect to adjust temperature and how much plastic the printer pushes out when changing filament brands.

What The Heated Chamber Adds To The Plus5

The chamber heater is the clearest reason to buy the Plus5 over a basic printer. It warms the air around the print to as much as 65°C; the bed reaches 120°C and the nozzle 370°C. Choose settings for your filament rather than turning everything to its maximum.

ABS and ASA plastics can shrink unevenly as they cool. On a broad part, that can pull corners off the bed; on a taller one, layers can separate. Keeping the surrounding air warm reduces those temperature differences. That helps a part keep its intended shape, especially when a lifted corner would stop a cover or bracket from fitting properly.

Reported base-printer testing produced ABS and ASA parts without visible warping using a 65°C chamber and 100°C bed. The listed nozzle ranges were 240–260°C for ABS and 245–260°C for ASA. Those settings help explain the results; use your filament maker’s guidance for your own spool. The finished parts looked good, but their strength wasn’t measured.

Results with fiber-filled plastics are more mixed. A sanding block made from QIDI PPS-CF, a heat-resistant plastic reinforced with carbon fiber, reportedly printed flat with a good finish. The test used a 350°C nozzle, 100°C bed and 65°C chamber; drying conditions weren’t specified. That’s a useful example of what the printer can make, though it doesn’t prove how well another PPS part will hold up in use.

A separate test used Fiberon PPS-GF20, a glass-fiber-reinforced plastic, to print a bladed part called an impeller. It left many unwanted threads of plastic between the blades. The tester reported drying the filament and repeatedly adjusting both temperature and how far the filament was pulled back between moves, but the threads persisted. The sanding block and impeller used different materials and very different shapes, so one success and one difficult print don’t establish how all fiber-filled plastics will behave.

Filament can absorb moisture from the air. When damp filament reaches the heated nozzle, that water can turn to steam, interrupting the plastic flow and leaving bubbles or poorly bonded layers. Drying removes moisture before it reaches the nozzle; chamber heating keeps the printed part warm.

For damp PPS-GF20, Polymaker specifies drying at 100°C for ten hours before printing. Both the chamber heater and the QIDI Box top out at 65°C, below that required drying temperature. Budget for a suitable dryer if your chosen filament needs one.

The standard nozzle has a 0.4 mm opening and includes hardened steel to resist wear from fiber-filled plastics. Polymaker calls for a wear-resistant nozzle for PPS-GF20 too.

A small opening is more prone to clogging with fiber-filled plastics; a wider one reduces that risk. Check your filament maker’s requirements before choosing a larger nozzle. Buy Plus5/Q2 replacements: QIDI says Plus4 and Max4 nozzles aren’t interchangeable with these.

Plan ventilation as part of the purchase. The enclosure has particle and carbon filters, but you still need to control the particles and gases that printing releases. Use a separate, well-ventilated workspace away from where you spend time. Where practical, use exhaust ventilation to capture particles and gases near the printer.

Allow hot parts to cool before handling them, and don’t leave the printer unattended just because it has an enclosure or camera.

Loading, Monitoring And Maintaining The Plus5

The screen guides you through setup: remove the shipping restraints, attach the spool holder and feed tube, then let the printer run its checks and calibration. You don’t have to assemble the parts that move the printhead and bed. Feeding filament around the back can be more awkward; one reported test required disconnecting a tube connector when the filament caught on it.

QIDI Studio’s saved printer and filament settings make it the sensible starting point. Its preview also shows where plastic will go, how fast different sections will print and estimated material use, including filament needed for supports.

You can transfer files by USB or use Wi-Fi and Ethernet. Control through a browser on the local network has also been demonstrated. Remote access requires account setup; USB works offline.

The QIDI Maker app lets you monitor and control prints from your phone. Prepare your own models in desktop software such as QIDI Studio; don’t assume the phone app can turn any downloaded model into a ready-to-print file.

QIDI publishes the programming code behind Studio and lists compatibility with other programs that prepare models for printing. That doesn’t establish whether all the printer’s firmware—the software running inside it—is public too.

Use the Plus5’s own instructions when updating its firmware. Early firmware notes describe changes to filament refill and print recovery, so reports from around launch may not describe how an updated printer behaves.

The camera is useful for checking progress, with resolution up to 1080p, but reported default settings have been lower. Don’t rely on its AI detection to catch every failed print.

The base printer senses when filament runs out; the Box adds automatic refill plus tangle and clog detection. Detecting an empty spool isn’t the same as detecting every jam or rescuing every interrupted print.

For maintenance, the cover over the printhead comes off and the belt adjustments are accessible. Budget for replacing worn nozzles, tubes and other consumables.

QIDI’s consumer warranty is one year, with normal consumable wear excluded. Keep the packaging in case the printer needs service.

Long-term reliability remains an open question, and fan and printing noise matter if you plan to work beside it.

What The Plus5 Accessories Actually Add

The base Plus5 prints from an external spool. The Combo adds the QIDI Box, while Polar Cooler bundles are separately identified. A cooling connection on the printhead doesn’t mean the external cooler is included. Choose the package by its listed contents.

One Box holds four spools. Reaching the advertised sixteen colors requires four Boxes and connection accessories. Its most useful feature for large single-color work may be automatic refill: switching to a suitably configured backup spool when the first runs out. That can save you from having to replace a spool halfway through a long job.

Check filament compatibility separately for the Box and printer. QIDI excludes ordinary soft TPU, including TPU 95A, and QIDI PAHT-CF from Box feeding, although the printer’s material range is broader. Don’t assume all carbon-filled or flexible filaments behave alike.

The Box also specifies spool dimensions and advises adapters for cardboard spools. At 357 × 300 × 234 mm, it needs extra space, plus access to open its lid.

You may be able to reuse a Box you already own. QIDI says a Max4 Box works directly with the Plus5; Plus4 and Q2 versions need the Plus5 hub and signal cable. Check the exact compatible version when ordering rather than relying on a “new Box” label.

Purging pushes leftover plastic out of the nozzle; that discarded plastic is called purge waste. Multicolor printing repeats this during changes to clear the previous color. Check QIDI Studio’s material estimate: even a small object can need many color changes.

Substantial purging has also been reported on the base printer, but without a weighed comparison. Those observations don’t tell you how much waste to expect from a multicolor job.

The Polar Cooler blows cooled air into the printhead’s filament feed path above the heated nozzle, helping keep the plastic from softening too early. It’s worth considering for a specific heat-related feeding problem, but there isn’t enough evidence to recommend it for every Plus5. It adds another unit and hose.

Even with the cooler, QIDI limits PLA chamber temperature to 45°C. It doesn’t let you print PLA with all heaters at maximum or replace room ventilation.

Who Should Consider The Plus5?

I’d shortlist the Plus5 for large housings, workshop aids or outdoor parts if you expect to use plastics other than PLA. Its space and controlled chamber heat help with two different needs: fitting a large object inside the printer and keeping it flat enough to use. The base printer offers the clearest value if your parts usually use one material.

The Plus5 can be your first printer if you already have large projects in mind. Start with an ordinary filament and a manageable model before filling the bed with an unfamiliar high-temperature plastic.

If you only want small ornaments or desk organizers, a smaller printer leaves you more room and avoids buying capacity you won’t use. If your workspace can’t accommodate access and ventilation, solve that before ordering.

The Bambu Lab H2S is the closest useful alternative when the Plus5 is slightly too short or narrow. Its advertised print space is 340 × 320 × 340 mm: 20 mm wider and 40 mm taller, with the same depth. It has an actively heated chamber as well.

It generally costs more in comparable standalone configurations. Consider that extra expense if the additional space keeps your intended part in one piece. The Plus5’s higher maximum nozzle temperature matters only when your filament actually needs it.

If multicolor printing is the main attraction, the limited evidence for the Plus5 and Box together leaves reliability uncertain. A bundle is worthwhile when you’ll use automatic refill or color changes enough to justify the extra cost, and your chosen filaments work with the Box. It’s less appealing if you’ll have to feed those filaments from an external spool anyway.

Already own a printer that makes your parts successfully? Keep it unless the Plus5 solves a recurring problem: a model that won’t fit, corners that lift despite appropriate setup, or materials your printer can’t handle. Add drying equipment, replacement nozzles and ventilation to your budget before deciding.