Sovol SV04 - a great IDEX (two color) 3D printer (review, testing)

[@gcerchio]

Terrific review! I am considering buying the SV04. Your review helped me köszönöm. I visited hungry last Oct, Budapest is a very beautiful city, I hope to visit again.

[@MyTechFun]

Thx, but watch the end of this video, not sure if Sovol fixed that in the meantime: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3e5i2evYsZjbqM

[@boggisthecat]

My particular SV04 has a bed with too much warping for the flexible sheet to be used successfully. You can use CR10 sized glass plates - 310 x 320 mm - to get around this. I still can’t get clean dual-colour printing, having tried setups in Cura and Prusa Slicer. The provided older version of Cura with everything preset yields the best results but you lose a lot of functionality. Even using the provided slicer I cannot get quite as good results as the pre-sliced calibration cube, so I am not sure how Sovol tweaked their files. Using a purge shield would likely remove most of the small imperfections as you see with the dual-colour Benchy in this review, but that would use a bit more material.

[@boggisthecat]

@Rachnmat What slicer and settings are you using?

[@AdrianoCasemiro]

Very good execution of Idex concept here. How hard is it to upgrade the hotend to all matal (and hitting higher temperatures while eliminating the ptffd tube)? Would it run on Klipper? Or at least some Octoprint goodness?

[@cj5376]

Not a bad printer for the price, but of course you're a pro!

[@JesseGravenor]

I needed to disassemble both extruder heads to tighten my belts manually before I could consistently calibrate the 2nd head x offset. The tensioners were topped out and still belts were very loose. Several hours wasted. Great printer once that was worked out.

[@MyTechFun]

That was my experience too (except, my timing belts were tight already). Several hours with leveling, settings and calibration. But when everything is prepared, it works great. Tips: Leveling do with 50C bed and 160C on nozzle, without any filament on nozzle. I also plan to add G34 to start g-code, to do the auto-Z before every print.

[@tomboard]

Could this printer be Klippered? Love your reviews, some of the best on YT IMO - I like your focus on quality. Also testing printers that have been out a while means they have had SW upgrades, so we are seeing its real potential rather than its teething problems! One thought: could it be interesting to test two nozzle sizes rather than two colours? Could it speed up prints by doing infill faster, for example? I understand that layer height is related to nozzle size, so that would be a limitation.

[@windmill10]

For me the reason to get an idex printer (especially this one at the present price point) is that I want to print in two colors. A product in black ASA and then my logo and lettering in red ASA. What I do not know yet (I have seen the somewhat complex method by which the colors must be assigned) if it is a all possible to print let's say 10 or 20 products in one printsession. In other words can you print multiple bi color benchies in one session or just one?

[@billb921]

Thank you for the Spool Holder File !

[@JB-yu1vv]

Got mine just yesterday, can't wait to test it. Would it be possible to add the z alignment to the start g-code the same way the levelling is added?

[@MyTechFun]

Yes, I am planning to add it too, I have to Z-align after every manual filament change. Just add G34 in the start code in Cura.

[@c.rutherford]

I like the printer but I would rather use a glass bed, I don't really like the magnetic ones. Do they sell a glass bed you can swap the factory one out with, will that work?

[@n6iap]

Great content! My school has one, and I inherited the maintenance. I have Ender 6 experience but not IDEX. Also, thank you for all the files.

[@MyTechFun]

There are several videos about SV04, just search them on my video list..

[@TubeRadiosRule]

Can you get steel nozzles for this so you can print with materials like glass filled or carbon fiber filled nylon?

[@MyTechFun]

I think the bigger problem would be building the enclosure and the teflon line hotend (don't go over 240°C even if you can heat up the nozzle to 260°C)

[@tomasgunnarsson2044]

Have you tried it with TPU/TPE A60 - A95?

[@MyTechFun]

90A the softest I tried (polymaker TPU90)

[@TheVevaxel]

Is there a slicer you can paint coulor like bambulabs slicer ?

[@MyTechFun]

I know that PrusaSlicer have this painting option. Only I don't know how to export this to Cura and to SV04

[@mrMicroSur]

Когдаж ьы уже по русски заговоришь, а они пусть переводят )

[@ChannelRejss]

Zachem? Esli moget po angliski tak horosho goworit, pochemu net? Takim obrosom na mnogo bolshe ludey eto mogut smotret i ponemat. @My Tech Fun: Keep going! Loving what you do and I'm beyond impressed by how many videos you manage to produce while the quality doesn't suffer.