SHOCKING Truth About Qidi Q1 Pro Heater Hazard 

Finally someone speaking sense - for goodness sake don’t ever use a toaster, heater, hairdryer etc.

Excellent breakdown and summary. Space heaters, hair dryers and toasters are all appliances with a similar heating element design. I am not convinced that Adam (Vector3D) did not do what he did unintentionally. He reviewed this machine like he resented it before he even touched it. His entire review was brutal and had a good number of factual errors that could have been easily avoided if he bothered to research at all. Even for anything that was good, he still followed up with negative comments that downplayed the good. Seriously, it was one of the most "bad faith" reviews I've seen in a long time. I don't know if he was having a bad day, or what else was going on.

Your evaluation is right on! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

It comes down to the tools vs toys mindset. People who use these as tools and use other machine tools understand not to be stupid. People that buy printers as toys expect them to be easy bake ovens. If you are worried about your kid poking a screwdriver in to a heater shroud I would also worry about them poking that same screwdriver in to the wall outlet.

So tired of echo chambers. The online groups are full of people who just like to complain about everything and give advice when in no position to do so. I would just ignore all those stupid comments and I feel bad you even had to do a video on this subject .

As a guy with a shop full of table saws, circular saws, radial arm saws, band saws, forges, welders, plasma cutters, mills, lathes, etc., I find the entire idea of breaking out the smelling salts every time someone uses the term "mains power" to be another internet virtue signal. This is a little bitty toaster inside a printer that is much harder to access and more isolated than an actual toaster that is actually on your counter that has a one-by-six inch slot in it granting you access to the heating elements. How many people have electric ranges? What about power outlets in your wall? We are proximate to 120v 15amp power sources all day, every day. That said, this is an inevitable by product of the transition of 3d printing from an enthusiast hobby to a ubiquitous technology built for consumer use. You're exposing printers to people who have to be told not to eat the Tide pods. In days gone, we used Darwin to rid the gene pool of mutations programmed for self destruction. I guess at least we still have the common toaster and Tik Tok challenges for that. This is a not a beginner's printer. Heated chambers are not made for beginner's filaments. Among hobbyists, you should know your own risk tolerance and act accordingly. Just don't be a Karen and ruin it for the rest of us.

Yeah, the concern here is way overblown. Don't let anyone near a toaster or hair dryer! Not to mention an electric stove. Or any space heater ever made. IMO Vector 3D was harsh about the Q1 Pro and didn't do a good job demonstrating its printing capabilities either. People generating drama over this online act like experts on a topic they know very little about.

A 3D printer is CNC machine, and must be treated like one. If you stick your hands in it while it's in operation, it WILL bite you. Typically not hard like, say, a full-size VMC, but still - you *will* go "ouch!"

As you've seen on my Twitter comments - I definitely agree with you and used same examples as you did in video. It's an issue, labelling should have been better, even the grill out of box should be same as one you've designed, but to blow it out of proportion this way... Really great and rational explanation!!

One of the few videos showing a sensible opinion on this. The risk is being overblown. Your comment on responsibility was right on, too.

Just to elaborate: European outlets have no polarity. Not by design, not implied, not by convention or customary. So the incoming power line to your printer, depending which way you plugged into the wall socket, can have have live and neutral "swapped" (there is no right way, so swapped doesn't really apply either, but you get the point). In your US wiring case, the heating element is always connected to your neutral line, and the SSR closes the "live" side to make it a circuit. In our case, it could be that it's always live, carrying full 220+ line voltage, and the SSR closes the neutral side in that case to turn the heater on. If you want to have a truly disconnected device, you need to disconnect both sides of the AC wiring, either with the physical power switch that also needs a pair of contacts then, or using two SSRs (which also seems wasteful in more ways than one). Or you need to design your device so that you can't touch anything that might be connected to the live side of the wiring, either directly or with a screw driver or scraper or even an allen key. It's inside a device where that's not an unreasonable assumption (being a 3D printer). But even if you should always pull the plug once you take a screwdriver into your hand, maybe you need to adjust something on the hotend and you drop it, or any number of other, normal screnacrios: would you pull the plug for it? I surely wouldn't. I maybe would turn it physically off, but honestly probably not even that... Just to be clear: that plug wiring is by design, and not a wiring error here. Electrically it's irrelevant for AC which side you connect to what terminal of any AC powered device, so there's no requirement for it and plugs don't need to be keyed either. Dealing with it properly inside a device is regulated by our electrical safety requirements, and I really don't know what they say about this case: It might be ok, it might not be. For comparisons: toasters disconnect both sides of the circuit when they are off, making sure the coils aren't ever live when they are not on, where you can also relatively easily reach the 220V heating wires.

I appreciate the analysis and explanations about why it's not THAT big of a deal.

Always love 3d printed solutions to 3d printed concerns. Nicely done!

Very well done analysis. I think it’s a good rebuttal to people who are worried. It still sketches me out a little, but that extra grate adds peace of mind.

Reasonable take AND a solution, well done!

What well thought through and informative video. Thank you.

I personally think that lack of exhaust filter is much more dangerous for people...

Good points. I appreciate your answering my questions on Twitter the other day - all in all, I wouldn't be any more concerned about this than a space heater and would treat it with as much care or more. I am a little confused why Qidi didn't have a better grille but based on their response to all this, I'm guessing they will make it right. In the end, I would NEVER work on a printer when it is on and plugged in. I would not be reaching in a high-speed printer when it is printing. I would make sure it is out of reach of small children and pets. These are common-sense measures one should take with any electric and mechanical item. The only concern would be the European plug issue but, again, I wouldn't be surprised if Qidi quickly fixes that. I really wish I had the space for one of these. I'd love to get more into high-temp materials. Good video.

Excellent discussion of personal responsibility and common sense.

Thanks for the detail video. Excellent information and valid reasoning. If anything a sticker should be near by. I agree nothing wrong being cautious, however a lot of new members in the community that does not do research and learning a head of time and just dive in. I recall years back with a couple dying at their home from laser cutting some material that off gassed with not proper ventilation. It was a home business. Like you said, these items are all tools and should be treated with care.

Mine arrived today and they now provide a heater chamber cover file on their site. We can now take of our high voltage protection gloves and live another day👍

I agree. Yes, you could misuse the machine enough to induce a hazardous condition but at that point you're rolling a personal responsiblity check. As much as the marketing is trying to mass appeal and EZ Bake Oven them, at the end of the day these are industrial machines, and care, knowledge, and attention are needed to use them safely. I'm happy that it's easier to be safe these days with the improvements in design and the proliferation of fuses and other safety features after some hard learned lessons, but they're still tools and have more capacity for personal mayhem than a hammer sitting on a bench.

You heard about a problem, tested it, and created a solution. Awesome.

I saw Adam had evaluated the heater in isolation, not within the system. This fumble was unfortunate, exacerbated by the livestream chatter. As a former electrical systems engineer - where energy isolation is a big deal, one can not isolate systems completely from malicious intent. The heater is sound. appreciate the time and your reach to educate.

I agree 100% with you. Good video.

Great video again, as always. As for safety, you're absolutely right. We live in a society that is over protective. If you have children and want them to use the printer, keep it in mind, as you say, the high temperatures and speed of the printer head are more likely to be a hazard than putting their fingers in the heating element. Make it clear to your children what the danger is and just as you would with a knife, scissors, etc.

I'm not really concerned about the heater, but it's interesting that they don't include warning stickers for at least hot surfaces with instructions to power down/unplug before service (I think even companies like Creality does that). My bigger concern is that for some reason they decided to use their own fork of Klipper; rather than just configuring their printer.cfg to run their specific hardware and using a regular Klipperscreen compatible touchscreen they did some base code changes to run their stuff. I guess my expectation when they highlighted Klipper on their product page is that I can do normal Klipper things and not have to rely on Qidi to release their own fork updates.

They make heaters where the power goes directly to the ceramic parts without being routed through the fins, but they aren't as cheap. You can usually spot them because they have a cover over the ceramic parts. I used one in my V2 before giving up on it being pretty and making a polyiso foam insulation cover for it.

I went to Austria on vacation to visit my family and we went to this awesome hiking trail that has manmade wooden stairs along the rock face that’s about 50+ feet over these awesome white water rapids. Turns out it’s on private property and the people that own it just have a “if you enjoyed yourself please consider donating” box. These man-made wooden staircases had a single braided steel cable on the outside to use as a handrail and some grip tape on each step. We just walked into the park -there was nobody guarding it/charging a fee and I asked my uncle “don’t we need to sign a waiver or something in case you know, something happens to us? What happens if we fall?” He said “you’ll probably die, so don’t fall” lol. I said no, I mean won’t somebody sue the people who own it if a family member or a guest falls down and dies or get seriously injured? He looked at me laughed and said no - this isn’t America - you should have the common sense to know that if you take the risk (nobody forced you to go hiking above white water rapids) you can’t sue if you get hurt due to your own negligence. They don’t have a culture of ambulance chasing lawyers over there and the comments about “well what if I touch a hot heating element!?” You’ll get burned dumbass - don’t touch it.

Really well throughout video on this. The summary at the end is exactly where we are at the companies want appliances but they are not building them to appliance standards yet. This printer just feels unfinished and make do. It would have taken them very little time to do proper cable management. But then the price would go up. I hope where not in another race to the bottom with corexy machines

Good vid man!!!

Thank you for being reasonable. A warning sticker might be good. Could also be implemented that you have to enable the heater in the config yourself.

There are plenty of things to worry about in this world, that heater ain't one of em. The marketing annoys me. Printer companies are trying hard to act like they make appliances, and while we have made strides, we are still a long way from it. More than ever we see first time buyers hitting the power switch and then confused that the printer didn't just pop out a custom intake manifold all by itself.

Thinking back on older printers and how open all electronics on them were. I understand the concern but it seems this is an issue that is being made a bigger deal than it needs to be. That said the extra grill isnt going to hurt anything as long as its something tolerant of the heat like the material you used.

This is actually could be illegal in the U.K. and EU but it’s complicated as it’s a heater. However most devices would require more than one cover and would likely fall under the requirement for being double insulated. The rule is “The basic requirement is that no single failure can result in dangerous voltage becoming exposed so that it might cause an electric shock and that this is achieved without relying on an earthed metal casing” A single point of failure is that current cover. What. Complicates it though is many fan heaters have a fan grill exit where the element can be seen. This is complex how I would be leaning on this not actually being legal more than it is. However many fan heaters have the element exposed behind a grill, a toster does as well. However what you then have to take into account what you would be expected to do in the area around those. What complicates this is you are expected to be in the chamber and you are moving a metal bed around even if the heater is off. You have the very real potential to cause impact and damage to that cover. It’s not “shocking” bad design but as its mains it should have both a second cover and a warning label.

If you look very closely behind the cat, there's a printer in this video.

Well said!

Nice job on the new cover. I suspect Qidi will end up sending a fix out for this, since they are usually good about these types of things.

love the "Labs" fomat! Keep it going.

Regarding the European plug, Type F is what you have shown, but Types L and C also have that problem, and the SSR: An SSR commonly only controls one pole, so it interrupts neutral or live but not both.

Alan, THANK YOU for this video! I prefer your outlook on things. I also look at 3D Printers as tools rather than as appliances. They are not ready for the appliance users.

completely agree , these are tools not appliances but even then a toaster is an appliance and it too will shock you if you touch the heating element and far more common to be done , I got my first printer with a chamber heater with qidi ifast and absolutely love , game changer for printing several filament types , while I don't have plans to buy this exact one from them also do have the xmas 3

I just bought the Bambu P1S but I wish I had bought this printer. Bambu doesn't have the heater and can't print abrasives out of the box. Now I need to shell out like 60 bucks plus shipping for the hardened steel upgrade. This has just so much more value. Bambu prints great but the heater and hardened nozzle out of the box is hard to beat.

I used plenty of tools that are more dangerous than some mains-connected heater element. One of them can literally get your fingers ripped off and even rip the skin off your hand with your finger(-s). I always take precaution to keep my appendages away from anything that could mangle them, I keep my kids away from any powered tools, and I do all my maintenance with power off. The sole exception is heat end of my 3D printer, which often requires a bit of heating for disassembly. I also electrocuted myself three times in one evening by accident. I discharged big mains capacitor with my forearm, then discharged it again with my face, and lastly I grabbed the entire PCB to throw it forgetting to unplug it from the mains first. Discharging ~320V between my nose and lower lip was the worst and most shocking experience...

We should stop crossing the street. Someone might hit us 😂. Great video.

Ordered the printer. Didn’t even know it had a controversy. Watched this video. Learnt about said controversy. Learnt not to worry about the controversy. And then he just casually mentioned the European plugs (starts sweating profoundly….). Well at least now I know the first thing I’m checking when I get the printer. 😂

Well said, I agree that printers are tools and should be seen that way. Marketing them as something else is not good, but also not the subject of discussion. Seems like a good printer and you make a nice upgrade if someone feels better with more protection.

Regarding the EU plugs and the SSR: The SSR only switches one wire and in most of the EU you can swap the plug so that means that either the neutral or the phase wire is switched. Anyhow, it is a bad idea to think that the neutral is safe to touch. Always - and I mean ALWAYS - assume that any wire coming from a wall outlet can contain a lethal voltage. I don't understand why the mains heater is such a big issue. As @markm49 already pointed out, toasters, heaters and hairdryers all contain open heater elements. Never ever stick a fork, knife, screwdriver or a finger in one of these while plugged in.

Good point and honestly people are making it bigger than it really is.

Again prettiest high speed bench I've seen

I can definitely see your point of view but from a modern safety standpoint it should definitely have a more protective grill on it. Pretty easy fix but something that should have been done at the factory. That being said keep in mind that your toaster doesn't have a protective grill on it and those heating elements are also live when it's on.

ha! you fixed it with conductive filament. I agree with you it doesn't really need a cover just common sense. I found out about cf filaments and electricity the hard way. I printed a tig welding torch handle with cf nylon and continually got shocked all day. it was the high frequency arc starting that jumped through the filament. CF filament isn't a good candidate for electrical insulation.

Great design on the new cover and great video. I agree with you fully that this is a tool and not a toy and personal responsibility is not the job of the manufacturer. No different than the burners on the stove. Keep those kids and animals away, this is not a toy.

OMG! A 3d printer with heated and moving parts, how horrible! A case of knowing what you are buying, and being responsible.

I love the slap dash video’s especially if it means more content.

Hi, I have not seen the machine in real life, but I do have a question. It looks like the SSR is on the bottom of the frame, and what happens if someone drops a glass of cola that forms a puddle under the machine? Is the SSR positioned low enough to be a concern then?

What's the distance between the heater's fan and the side panel inside? Is it enough to allow it to "breathe" efficiently?

A voice of reason!

Voron discord doesn't even let you talk about chamber heaters, it a rule lol

This is why hair dryers have warnings about using them in the shower. Even if Qidi did everything possible to prevent any kind of injury from using their products, and put labels on every part that gets hot, someone would find a way to hurt themselves. Use appropriate caution with any tool (or appliance) and you should be fine. Some of the people on social media would run screaming if they ever saw my wood shop . . .

Obviously 3D printer is a machine. But it's also a home/office machine, not a workshop machine. Obviously it's going to have some hazards. I think burning hazard is acceptable, but if it can be minimised, that's good to aim for. Normally none of thesee temperatures are so hot that you wouldn't be able to remove your appendage once it's feeling too hot. You feel a burning sensation at something like 50-65°C but no injury is occuring at that temperature yet. I don't think hot end should have a large exposed hot area, but nozzle tip is only going to give you a tiny little burn that heals up no problem. A clothes iron and a stove pose a much higher burn hazard than a 3D printer, so that's about what you'd deem worst case acceptable if we can't help it. I think trauma hazard is acceptable, but not to the level of amputation, it shouldn't be a table saw. I think fire hazard and electric shock hazards are not generally acceptable to the extent at all avoidable, as these tend to lead to people's demise, which is not the same as losing a pinky. In most of Europe, the heater may be live at all times depending on which way you insert the Schuko plug into the socket. You have a 4-terminal SSR, that yellow MGR unit, this disconnects only either live or neutral depending on that. Ideally, there would be a fine earthed metal grill in front of the heating element, such that if you reach in with a screwdriver or drop a screw, GFCI will de-energise your space. Schuko power strip switches disconnect both live and neutral, and i think its advisable that 3D printer power switch should do the same in Europe because there's mains referenced metal here, which the power switch here does not, this creates an extra surprise behaviour and a hazard. Also if the heater could just be 48V or less and floating, that would just solve the whole hazard situation. I think the contacts of the PSU are sufficiently shielded for the class of product that it is, but knowing myself if i am to work on it, all these possible spots get covered with Kapton. I think 5.7mm opening is actually at times considered acceptable, but my pinky goes through around 4mm deep. Not a child either, just a not particularly large woman.

0:35 Give my a fuss, purr, prurr 😻

the x plus 3 had a 24v heater, but iirc that required a separate psu to provide the 300w, I guess this is just one of the ways they cut costs.

More volts = less amps. So yes, the 120VAC design consumes less energy losing the burden of the additional power supply, and is cheaper to build. What people don't understand is 24VDC can still shock you. This does not look like a bad design, maybe a little rushed to get to the consumer market.

EU AC is full sinewave and goes from +230V to -230V, therefore it doesn't matter which way you hook it up. Voltage still goes across. Full bridge rectifier ensures for DC which is + and which is -.

you know what have open live voltage too for everyone to touch? Toasters. People that complain about that heater should know not to stick their fingers into a toaster too.

TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU.

Wow, the heater having live voltage even when cold here in Europe is quite a design flaw! But other than that, as many have said, it's no different to a toaster. So even appliance's heater elements are live 120-240 V.

If someone would ask me, "but what if a kid gets in there ans touches it?" I would honestly just ask them, "how and why was your kid able to get in there in the first place?" I'm a woodworker myself with enough power tools and even a laser engraver. Sure I want things to be as safe as possible but THE best way to keep other people, especially kids and pets, safe is to just not let them enter!

Agree on most of your points. But did you notice the lack of a fuse for the heater element? If the fan of the heater breaks, it will heat uncontrolled as long as the print goes, and possibly melt the enclosure and start a fire in the worst case.

All good points. I treat my printers like tools and use the same amount of care and attention I would with any tool that moves, cuts or heats. Unfortunately, that is not how manufacturers are marketing these things. They're shown in living rooms and on dining tables and in classrooms. They're being marketed as appliances accessible to anyone and everyone. A burnt finger because you reached into a toaster oven and touched a hot rack is very different than getting across mains voltage while trying to fish out a piece of loose filament or debris with a pair of tweezer. Even at an industrial level, this would not be allowed in a lot of cases. There's no way my EHS manager would let me put a piece of equipment out on the production floor that has exposed mains voltage without an estop on the door. Not trying to defend the scare-mongers, just saying there are use-cases where this not allowed.

Should have a clicks-on type overtemp safety switch in the heater. What happens if that fan dies, is it going to just cook itself?

I was shocked when watching one reviewer's video, his opinion was that this was a good printer and he was impressed!

The mains heater doesn't overly worry me, so long as there's no way for a damaged wire etc to contact the frame and set it live too. The bigger problem for me with the Q1 Pro is the ancient, unmodifiable version of Klipper it's running.

I guess a nice feature for the future would be to have the heater linked to the door. So if the front door is open it cuts the power to the heater. But yeah overall I agree, these are not home appliances yet.

A washing machine or a dryer are appliances and have mains heater elements. Not mentioning a hair dryer or a toaster.

The European ones the power is switched both power connectors so live and neutral both switch off and European outlets do have keyed to and some USA connectors can be not keyed

You said it brother.. “Safety as a replacement for responsibility” is a problem with everything, everyday. Today’s products are horrible because the average user seems to be an idiot.

I’m more concerned about the filtration and venting setup as it is. I’d like to see a bento box/ nevermore filter for it soon.

I doubt if you even got a shock from it that it would kill you because you won't be directly holding it. So your more likely to retract from the shock automatically. Ive inadvertently touched 240v with a screwdriver before everything happened quickly but the screwdriver dropped from my hand. Unless you physically grasp the live heat sink your muscles won't contract around the heater. Of course you should be aware and practice care but it's no different to any other appliance a toaster is probably far more dangerous.

Great video as always ❤ I have hard times to understand why people seems not to use their common sense or exercising more thier critical thinking. And this need of dumbproofing everything... So what, at some proint, will we require fire to wear a sticker to warn us that it can burn?

This is sooooo much safer than another item that almost everyone has….. a toaster.

I totally agree with you about a printer being a tool. I love my Qidi X MAX 3 and want a Q1, I kinda think that many of the mainstream people are too soft and want OOTB consumer products now, with a few exceptions. If @QIDITech wanted to make everyone happy all they would need to do is put a safety switch to the door so that when its opened it turns off the heating element. would be a cheap mfg change on their part and they could even offer kits for people to update themself. If i had a Q1 id work on a BOM for a cheap limit switch and relay, design a small 3d printed part to snap on the machine (for ease of use) or drill and perma-mount it (for others, not myself. questionable to others is great, makes people not want to touch my things)

People are starting to look at 3d printers as toys and not tools. I guess my table saw shouldn't have a blade because it can kill me...

My only issue with it you brought up on the live stream. There should have been some warnings around or on it. Otherwise generally there shouldn’t really be a case where it is an issue.

definitely have to be careful going Lnside that machine

Just don't lick it or use it while taking a bath or shower and you will be fine 🤣😂🤣 and I think you made a good point with the toaster and there are dozens of things in the home equally or potentially more dangerous that heater.

it kinda looks like my schools crappy dremel 3d printers, I think they are called the 3d40?, you should make a video about those.

Mains voltage heaters are nothing new. Space heaters to toasters use domestic AC in every country in the world. That said, powering from a AFCI/GFCI outlet for safety might be a good idea and a good use of $10

Subscribed because of the cat

How do you find printing nylon compared to the Bambu? I'm of the same opinion - this is a tool and needs to be treated as such. Wish the outsides weren't plastic though..

Unfortunately, poorly wired american plugs can also have live amd neutral swapped. Not a bad idea to check your outlets to make sure your house is wired correctly, but thats not a printer issue.

There is only live in while it is heating which is mostly during printing. You will not go in there while you are printing anyway. I can't see the issue

the euro plug is called the schuuko (shoe-koh) :)

I already bought this printer and got worried for a second. This is not that big of a deal

While this is a tool and should be treated with respect, there was a simple solution that qidi seems to have been missed: A magnetic switch on the door and a circuit to deactivate the heater immediately when the door is open.

I think a certain basic level of common sense and intelligence needs to be used anytime a person uses a tool or appliance. People that are attempting to manufacture some sort of drama around this should never being using power tools i the first place.

Wait until people find out about immersion heaters. Those could kill you :D Truth be told, I think it is a non issue. As you do not plug in screwdrivers or knifes into working toasters, same goes for this part...

With regard to the SSR and the reversible mains sockets. The SSR is designed to switch the live line only and the neutral is always connected. If the wiring or plug is reversed then mains voltage is always running to whatever is connected to the SSR and the ground is being switched to actually complete the circuit and produce heat. So if its wired incorrectly you can become the ground and get shocked.

Isn't carbon fiber conductive? Would definitely not use filement with carbon fiber for a cover that should insulate me from electricity. (Even though its not normally touch the element).