I currently have a Ender 3 v2 & an older PowerSpec i3 Duplicator Plus, right now the biggest build plate I have is 220x220 I’m thinking about picking up either a Solo SV01, SV03 or possibly the SV04
The SV03 appears to be a Ender 3 Pro clone so to speak. The SV03 is more or less a CR10 clone. Not sure about the SV04 IDEX but the dual extruders does look interesting. I’m not to sure about how the Z gantry is mounted. It’s just bolted to the side with 4 bolts wonder how stable it actually is without any braces. Seems like a bad design to be but maybe not.
So my real question is does anyone have any st hand experience with Sovol 3D printers.
I am an IDEX person, I love my ARTIST-D pro. I looked at the SV04 web page. Very interesting, especially with the auto leveling. I put a glass bed on mine and I have a little (?) problem leveling, but love the sheen the glass gives. If you can afford the IDEX printers, to me that is the way to go.
The Artist-D isn’t that much more than the SV04 Amazon has the Artist-D for $519. The BlTouch isn’t a selling point for me on the SV04 I had nothing but problems with the 2 I had on my Ender 3V2. Appears that the Artist-D doesn’t have a SD card slot but uses a SD to USB adapter, which isn’t a big deal to be as I print with Octoprint anyway. Doesn’t Irv have a Artist-D too? Manually leveling the bed and getting a consistent drag on the paper has always been a problem for me glass or otherwise.
The Artist D has an SD card slot. In fact, it’s a full size SD slot, not a a micro SD slot.
I cannot recommend the Artist D. The biggest issue I’ve run into, and the 1 many around the world have encountered, is poor extrusion.
Yesterday, I removed the nozzle from the left extruder of my Artist D Pro, connected to it via Pronterface, set the printer to be able to extrude at any temp, and extruded 100mm of filament multiple times. It extruded beautifully. The final setting for extruder e-steps was 99.
Then, I re-installed the nozzle, heated it to 230C, and tried to extrude just 50mm of filament. It failed miserably, only extruding around 15mm.
So, with zero resistance, the extruder works well. But, add pretty normal filament resistance and the extruder cannot feed filament well.
I am investigating, but have not found a definitive cause yet.
What I have found is the firmware only has one memory slot for both extruders. I use Cura and I calibrated for both extruders and placed the Gcode and value in each extruder start code under printer settings. Works great for me except when doing a duplication or mirror setting. The printer then uses what is in the second extruder value for both because it reads the value for extruder 1 and then extruder 2. Remember only one memory slot in firmware. When doing duplication/mirror prints I split the difference between and substitute for extruder 2 value for that print only and reset to true value when going back to single prints. I have learned to love my Artist-D pro, could be better but which printer is perfect?
I’ve had the left extruder apart 3 times in the past 2 days. 1 thing I’m now wondering: mine only can’t push filament at the proper flow when the nozzle is installed. This leads me to believe there simply isn’t enough grip on the filament to push it through. That made me think of something: when taking the extruder apart I have found it necessary to remove the top pipe connector in order to release the sliding piece. This has me thinking that, maybe, the connector is preventing the sliding piece from putting full pressure on the filament.
I’ve also wondered if it would help to put 1 of those curved wheel bearings in place of the current flat edged bearing. I have my original Creality metal extruder with a curved bearing. I have to check its size to see if it’s the same.
After @Lowteck mentioned the Artist-D Pro I went to JGMaker web site and check it out along with watching some reviews and reading some of the post in the IDEX thread. The Sovol is a little cheaper but not much but the support on the JGMaker web site is much better than on Sovol’s which is basically non existant plus the warranty on the Artist-D is better too. There isn’t many reviews on the SVO4 IDEX either not like the Artist-D Pro. I know Ender5 is having issues with his but others seem happy with theirs, maybe he got one out of a bad batch or something.
Well, my tests on the Artist D did not go well. Once yet again I disassembled the left extruder. I again tested the extrusion rate and, yet again, it worked perfectly with the nozzle removed. And, again, it didn’t work with the nozzle installed. I disassembled again. This time I adjusted the tubing in the top connector upward, so it doesn’t interfere with the movement of the slider. Then I trimmed the tubing in the nozzle so it, too, was clear of the slider. The idea was to remove any possible effect the tubing might have on the pressure exerted on the filament. I also inserted several layers of thin filament from a failed print between the spring and its stopper, to increase the pressure.
When I tried extruding 100 mm @ 230C it only extruded 60 mm. I adjusted the motor E-steps from 98 to 150. The next extrusion was 80 mm. After some more testing I settled on 168. The 1st extrusion after the change was 100 mm. OK, good. I tried again. Oops, only 85 mm. Tried again: 78 mm. I could have gone on, but why bother? Bottom line: the extrusion rate is erratic, unreliable. Not only that, but I watched the filament closely while it was being extruded. It didn’t feed smoothly and evenly.
For me, the Artist D extruders just cannot be relied on. I may look into using 1 of the alternative Artist D extruder setups on thingiverse. I believe there are at least a couple that allow the the use of BMG extruders.
If I not mistaken, you stated you use only PETG. I tried once to use PETG on my Artist-D and could not, what ever the reason. I did blame it on the groove in the gear when I did find the groove. Could be the temperature needs to be at the extreme for the printer. I understand that PETG has a higher melting temperature. I was using 135 degrees on my other printer to use PETG. I know that I told you that I would let you know how the steel gears worked. Yesterday I had the extruder apart 3 times yesterday trying to find the plug that was blocking the flow. I finally found the plug and the gear did not show any ware so I chose to leave it in. The PLA+ I have been using seems to be softer and a lower melting point.
It does worry me that you are having the extrusion rate problem. To my knowledge I am not having any problem, but then my experience against yours is a lot less, so you would recognize a problem before I would.