QIDI Plus4 Review: A Big Enclosed Printer for Engineering Materials

Quick verdict: is the QIDI Plus4 worth it

The QIDI Plus4 is an enclosed 305×305×280 mm CoreXY printer with an actively heated chamber up to 65 °C, a nozzle up to 370 °C and a bed up to 120 °C, launched in late 2024 from $649. It's a workhorse for engineering and high-temperature materials: ABS, ASA, nylon, polycarbonate and carbon-fiber composites. For an experienced user it delivers a big enclosed build area and a hot hotend for roughly half the price of a Bambu Lab X1C, but it needs tuning out of the box — this isn't a set-and-forget machine.

QIDI Plus4 specs

Build and setup

The Plus4 is built around an internal steel CoreXY frame wrapped in metal-look panels, with a glass door up front and a glass lid on top. It's a big, heavy machine (around 30 kg), so the engineers added carry handles up top. The Z axis runs on dual independent lead screws with separate drivers, which helps keep the bed level and nails down Z accuracy. The belts are 9 mm Gates with a fine tooth pitch, which noticeably cuts ghosting and ringing on fast moves.

The printer ships mostly assembled — reviewers report about 10 minutes to first print: remove the transit locks, load a spool and run auto bed leveling. Build quality feels solid: a thick 6 mm aluminum bed and decent rails. A few nitpicks, though: the door only opens to about 130°, and there are visible gaps around the door and top lid that slightly hurt chamber sealing when printing fussy materials.

The 65 °C active chamber is the headline

The actively heated chamber is the reason to buy a Plus4. A 400 W PTC heater with a circulation fan brings the inside up to 65 °C in 5–8 minutes, and the walls get foam insulation. A warm chamber sharply improves layer adhesion and reduces warping on ABS, ASA, nylon and polycarbonate. Paired with the 370 °C nozzle and a hardened-tip bimetal hotend, it confidently handles carbon- and glass-fiber composites — PA-CF, PET-CF, PPS-CF. This is really what sets the Plus4 apart from enclosed printers with no active heating, like the Bambu Lab X1C.

One note on the numbers. QIDI's official review blog and most tests (3DPrint.com, Notebookcheck, 3DIY) cite 65 °C for the chamber and 120 °C for the bed — the figures for the 230 V version. Yet the US product page and Tom's Hardware list 55 °C and 100 °C, apparently for the 110–120 V version with a less powerful heating board. In practice, for engineering materials chamber stability matters more than the last five degrees.

Print quality

On accuracy the Plus4 is strong: with proper calibration deviations average under 0.05 mm, and test cubes came out at 100.12 / 100.13 / 99.99 mm against a 100 mm target — parts are flat and square (3DPrint.com). The rigid steel frame and wide belts suppress VFAs even at speed, and overhangs and bridges come out clean. 3DPrint.com ran 300+ hours with a single minor failure, and GamingTrend scored it 95/100 after 134 hours, including printing a large cosplay Space Marine helmet.

There's a flip side. Per Notebookcheck, without user intervention and on QIDI's stock profiles the printer delivers average to below-average quality. Out of the box you'll often want to drop temperatures 10–20 °C below the recommendations and dial in Z-offset — and you'll re-run the offset calibration before jobs. Plus the stock nozzle wipe and calibration burn up to 7 minutes and extra filament at the start of every print. For abrasive composites, plan on a wear-resistant nozzle from day one.

Speed and noise

Real working speed is 250–350 mm/s, with flow up to 25–30 mm³/s on PLA in 3DWithUs' tests — a solid level for an enclosed CoreXY, even if far from the marketing 600 mm/s (that's travel). On noise it's calm: around 45 dB with the doors closed and 55–60 dB open, up to 63 dB on the fastest moves — quieter than a conversation, fine to keep in a living space. Typical PLA printing draws about 260 W, peaking up to 800 W when the bed and chamber heat at once.

Firmware, software and connectivity

The Plus4 runs fully open Klipper 0.12 with the Fluidd web interface — you just open it in a browser, with no mandatory cloud and no jailbreaking like closed systems. You'll prep models in QIDI Studio (a fork of OrcaSlicer), and Cura and PrusaSlicer are supported too. Connectivity is Wi-Fi, Ethernet or USB. Reviewers' main gripe is the weak Wi-Fi module: on early firmware it dropped often, which Ethernet or the LAN mode in firmware v1.6.0 fixes. The non-English menu translations are rough — experienced users suggest switching the interface to English.

Multi-color and drying: QIDI Box

Multi-color and multi-material printing comes from a separate add-on, the QIDI Box. It's an AMS-style auto-switching system, but with an important twist — it also actively dries filament while printing, holding a constant 65 °C inside. One unit holds 4 spools, and chaining four modules gets you up to 16 filaments in a single print. There's NFC recognition of QIDI spools with auto profile setup, auto-switching to the next spool of the same material, and clog detection. The QIDI Box runs about $228, and a Plus4 bundle with it (Combo) is $799. For engineering materials that soak up moisture fast, constant filament drying is more useful than a plain AMS.

Pros

• Actively heated chamber up to 65 °C — the big advantage for engineering materials and fighting warping
• Hot package: 370 °C nozzle and 120 °C bed — prints ABS, ASA, nylon, polycarbonate and carbon-fiber composites
• Large enclosed 305×305×280 mm build — bigger than the Bambu Lab X1C at nearly half the price
• High accuracy: deviations under 0.05 mm with proper calibration, flat and square parts
• Open Klipper 0.12 with Fluidd — full control, no cloud or jailbreak, printing from OrcaSlicer and other slicers
• Long-run reliability: 300+ hours with one failure at 3DPrint.com, 95/100 at GamingTrend
• Quiet operation — around 45 dB with the doors closed
• Optional QIDI Box: multi-color up to 16 spools with active filament drying

Cons

• Weak stock air filtration due to a poorly sealed carbon-filter bay — ABS and ASA need a mod or an external HEPA
• TMC2240 drivers overheat to 90–100 °C — the stock fan isn't enough, owners add a mainboard cooling upgrade
• Flaky Wi-Fi — Ethernet or the firmware's LAN mode bail you out
• Rough interface translation and occasionally sluggish menus — experienced users switch to English
• Average quality out of the box: needs temperature tuning and repeated Z-offset calibration
• Tall prints above ~270 mm can hit the chamber heater and trigger thermal protection that cancels the job
• Early 110–120 V batch safety: there was a chamber-heating board issue, which QIDI closed with a relay swap

How it compares

In short: for the money the Plus4 offers what rivals either charge more for or skip entirely. The Bambu Lab X1C is more polished, quieter and easier to live with, but costs nearly twice as much, has a smaller build area and a chamber with no active heating. The Creality K1 Max is the exact same price with a big build area, but its chamber is passive and the firmware is closed (Creality OS), without the freedom of Klipper. Closest of all is QIDI's own X-Max 3: also an active chamber and Klipper, slightly larger build, but a cooler nozzle (350 vs 370 °C) and an older design. For printing engineering materials with an open ecosystem, the Plus4 is the most balanced option at its price.

Common print problems: where to look

• Warping and bed lift — even with a warm chamber, Z-offset and first-layer adhesion matter
• Ventilation and fumes — especially with ABS and ASA given the weak stock filtration
• Drying filament — nylon and composites soak up moisture fast; the QIDI Box dries on its own
• Nozzle clogs — abrasive composites wear brass, so you want a hardened tip or a tungsten carbide nozzle
• Choosing filament — which materials make the most of the Plus4's high-temp hotend

Bottom line

The QIDI Plus4 packs a lot of engineering capability for the money. A big enclosed build area, an active 65 °C chamber and a 370 °C nozzle usually live in much pricier machines, and open Klipper gives you full control. It prints ABS, nylon, polycarbonate and composites with good accuracy — that's its strength. Buy it if you make functional parts or large cosplay models and don't mind a bit of fiddling with settings and cooling. If you want a fuss-free out-of-the-box printer, or value quiet and a polished ecosystem, look at the Bambu Lab X1C. The Plus4's weak spots are predictable and mostly fixable: filtration, driver cooling and networking.

FAQ

Sources

• Tom's Hardware — QIDI Plus4 Review: Bigger is Better
• 3DPrint.com — QIDI Plus 4: Hotter Than The Competition? Is It Safe?
• Notebookcheck — Qidi Plus4 im Test
• 3DIY — QIDI Plus 4 Review (RU)
• 3DWithUs — QIDI Plus4 Review: Tests, Tips and Settings
• QIDI Plus4 Community Wiki (GitHub)
• Official QIDI Plus4 page