There’s a lot to unpack about the Qidi Tech Shadow 5.5 S, but the long and short of our time with it can be characterized as a smooth, high-quality printing experience let down by iffy quality control.

Desktop MSLA printers are all much of a sameness with little between them (especially in print quality). The Shadow 5.5 S differentiates from this expected core MSLA experience with a kitsch look, and build quality (and quality control therein) that strays from great to rough around the edges.

It Is Not Iron Man

It’s too easy to draw a parallel between the Shadow 5.5 S and Marvel’s most bankable superhero, but (giving Qidi Tech the benefit of the doubt) it could just be that the red and gold could are used here for their symbolism of prosperity, and, generally, beauty.

To our uncouth eyes, it looks like a blender.

Unlike a blender, however, the Qidi Tech Shadow 5.5 S does not make a mess of prints. Really, we’ve found it to be of a similar standard to the current crop of budget desktop MSLA 3D printers, albeit with a few small pros and cons in and against its favor.

Kicking off with the hardware itself, you’ll find a 2540 x 1440 pixel LCD panel beneath a build area of 68 x 120 mm, equating to a pixel size of 47 microns. You get 150 mm of build room through the Z-axis. Short of any print defects from the resin you use and motion system, the prints are indistinguishable from the likes of the Elegoo Mars, Anycubic Photon, and Creality LD-002R.

The Z-axis gantry features a single lead screw flanked by two roller-style guides, not unlike that on the original Elegoo Mars, but doubled up for what we imagine provides additional sturdiness (not that we have found single guide systems to be noticeably unstable).

There’s a robustness to the Shadow 5.5 S that we attribute to virtually every part of it being machined metal, even up to the build plate’s tightening knob. This stops short of the base unit’s shell, which is a small shame considering the premium aesthetic Qidi Tech appears to be aiming for. All in all, it seems to be a solid desktop printer.

Quality control is lacking somewhat, as demonstrated by our test unit’s misaligned power switch (it doesn’t sit flush the printer’s body). That, and the metal resin vat is covered – on all sides – in scratches.

The vat itself is, curiously, covered in some kind of lacquer. It’s difficult to tell if there is any function to this or if it’s purely aesthetic – whatever the reason, either it hadn’t properly dried before being handled and brushed alongside something else, or fails to mask ugly marks from rough machining on the vat. The result is noticeable scratches on the outer walls of the vat.

It’s worth noting that the Qidi Tech Shadow features two deodorizing units inside the print chamber – two individual fans that draw air over pouches of deodorizer. Similar in style to the Elegoo Mars Pro, we have no hard figures to back up the performance but can attest to the immediate area remaining relatively scent-free when the printer is in operation.

Balanced Performance

The Qidi Tech Shadow 5.5 S uses ChiTu firmware and pairs with ChiTuBox for print file preparation – the de facto standard in budget desktop MSLA. Using the printer is easy, simple and frustration-free.

The provided instructions are comprehensive, which we’d argue makes the Shadow a pretty solid pick for a complete beginner with zero prior experience with this style of printer and slicer.

Slicing models using the printer profile baked into current ChiTuBox is a simple task of selecting the profile, loading your model, hollowing and adding supports if needed, and hitting “Slice”. You are greeted with a preview of your print, and can then save it to the provided USB stick.

A note for the impatient when using the Shadow. The stock printer profile in ChiTuBox has what we suspect to be an erroneous number in the “Print” section of its settings. Where many other MSLA printers use a value of 8 mm for the “Bottom Lift Distance”, the Shadow 5.5 S has 80 mm.

Using the profile as-is results in the print plate slowly raising beyond the halfway point between each of the bottom layer cures. This detour takes an eternity.

Slicing files is a little sluggish, with ChituBox writing the older .ctbdlp filetype for the Shadow 5.5 S. Perhaps a firmware update could upgrade the printer to use the software’s newer, faster and lighter .ctb file type, but as of the time of reviewing, no dice.

Overall using the Shadow 5.5 S is standard desktop MSLA fare, and a print workflow that many hopping back and forth between the glut of budget desktop MSLA printers will be familiar with.

Print quality is generally terrific – expect fine details, even on teeny tiny models. Printing edge to edge across the breadth of the plate, we see no sign of distortion.

Though it isn’t stated anywhere, we’d hazard a guess that the film used in the vat is treated with some kind of anti-stick coating. The final layer of every print has a glass-smooth finish that you don’t find with every budget resin printer and, imperceptible as it is, you get the sense that layer changes are silky smooth with little resistance as the print separates from the film.

In operation, the Qidi Tech Shadow 5.5 S is also quite quiet. You hear nothing of the motion of the printer, only the whine of the base unit cooling fan and deodorizing filters.

At ~$290, the Qidi Tech Shadow 5.5 S is not the cheapest printer of its kind. Its closest competitor in price and features is the Elegoo Mars Pro, which currently uses the better .ctb file type and, in our experience, doesn’t come out of the box all dinged up (it’s unfair to assume all Shadows will be like this, but we can only report what we have experienced.)

Setting aside the fact ours came with a power switch that was trying to escape, and a slightly beat-up resin vat, the print performance is, from our limited time using it, perfectly up to par. Picking the Shadow 5.5 S over the competition will be a matter of taste and availability, rather than any substantial advantage it offers.