Sovol SV04 IDEX 3D Printer, Independent Dual Extruder 3D Printer with All Metal Direct Drive 32-bit Silent Motherboard Auto Leveling, Larger Build Volume 300 x 300 x 400mm

I wanted to share my recent service experience. I purchased an SV04 in August of 2022 (it is now March 2023). I've used the machine fairly heavily and love it. If you have just bought one, follow the setup and calibration process. It takes several hours to dial everything in, but then it prints great. A couple of weeks ago, a print failed. There were large gaps in the model for close to 100 layers and then there was no extrusion at all. I looked over the machine and found that when attempting to extrude, the stepper motor was just vibrating back and forth. I contacted Sovol through Amazon and the next morning I had an email instructing me to check the resistance of the stepper motor. They provided written instruction and two images showing the process. I checked the resistance as instructed and found that both checks had the same value (20.3) which means the motor was OK. I replied to Sovol and they responded the next day, that I should replace the wire from extruder 1 with the wire from extruder 2 and run a test print. It worked. This meant that it was the wire, not the control board. I reported this result, and they shipped me a new wire. It was not available in the US, so it took about a week to arrive. Meanwhile, I was able to use my printer as a single extruder, which was great. I'm very happy with my service experience with Sovol. And for anybody considering buying from Sovol, I can tell you that my experience with service and with my SV04 has been great. I've included the test images in case anybody needs to test their extruder motors.

So I have owned this printer for about 4 months. And after owning a good printer do you really see how bad this one can be, sure for a dual color if you want to fight and hate something you used to love doing for a cheap price it's good. Below will be a list of issues that i have had1. The customer service only work at night US time so you may get someone to email you may once a day maybe.2. When asking for them to send you a part or anything, they want you to jump over hoops. Like my temp was super off on one of the hotends so this is what they asked me to do"Thank you for your email.For the problem of the hot end, we would recommend you to do the following steps:1. Please use a multimeter to measure whether the resistance of the thermistor of the nozzle is about 100k ohms.Method: Turn the gear of the multimeter to the 200KΩ gear, and the positive and negative poles of the multimeter are on the ports of the thermistor wire.2. The thermistor may be broken if the resistance difference is big, which will affect the temperature measurement.Please provide us your test result to help us confirm your problem. After confirmation, we will provide quick and correct solutions to you.We are looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.Best regards,"Like I really understand that you want to be sure something is broken before fixing. it, but really I have to own a multimeter and WANT to play around with the MB hoping that i don't break something for them to even try to work with me on fixing it.3rd issue the hotends are cheaplike super cheapCHEAP if you dont melt your filament and push a little before pulling out it fast it will break, and you have to take the hotend apart to just clean out the broken part that will stop the filament from feeding.4th the power off and on auto restart of print does not work not once. I have lost a 5 day print that "should" have started right back. and it did not. I really understand that this issue can be hard to get around but me having to go out and buying a 100$ UPC for a printer that should have started on its own is just not right.5th I told them my fans didnt work and were making some crazy sounds. After sending 3 videos and 2 pics they finely sent me 2 fans... one was the wrong one..... lucky for me tho one of the fans they sent also came broken cables just fell out..... no joke. I messaged and told them just to make a note..6th, all I asked for was 1 to return something that was broken and just not working for me. I have had issue after issue, I even asked just for a replacement. Nope! BIG NOPE they will not take it back at all i asked within 1 month of having the printer. If they would b/c i was already having so many issues.Then I said its fine, just send me some new extruder's b/c maybe i just a set of bad ones. BIG nope after telling me they are going to replace is when i was sent “fans” .... so no don't buy this or do perhaps i just happened to get a bad apple. And i 1000% understand that can happen but refusing to replace something that is broken or i spend more time trying to fix then printing just does not seem right.

Ok folks, I don't write reviews but I feel like this printer (so far) deserves some praise.I've been printing for 8 years primarily with creality. In the past year I've been searching for the right IDEX printer. I've been through maybe 4 or 5 and for various reason have returned before 30 day policy.PRO1) heater block and nozzle are same as creality so I don't have to buy proprietary parts. I already have a stockpile.2) instructions are required reading if you want to print successfully. Bed leveling and nozzle aligning is very clear to understand. Videos on sd card are also helpful. Best instructions I've seen for IDEX yet.3) they have their own version of Cura which comes ready to truly print mirror, dupe, dual, single without having to modify g code. You change mode in Cura, change to same mode on printer, load and print.Other IDEXs advertise these other modes but you have to jump through hoops to actual use it.4) Comes with a mechanical auto bed leveling device mounted on the main extruder. Similar to the digital laser auto bed level tech. So far it works well. This mechanical device is also used to do the 16 point leveling inspection of bed to compensate for minor bed differences.5) The way you align the 2nd nozzle z axis has been the easiest so far. You level main nozzle first, then use a knob mounted on top of 2nd nozzle to hone in on a single corner. check if its level with paper and done. No need to check other corners.6) when screwing the main frame to the base, the screw holes are on the SIDE (smart move) instead of having to bend over upside down and screw from the bottom. I'm fat. I feel like I'm under a truck stealing a catholic converter.5) The wiping mechanism, used when switching nozzles mid-print, isn't made of horse hair or some weird bristles. Plastic bristles collect oozing filament but collection cools and hardens. This is impossible to take out unless you watch your printer and catch it every time there's a switch. I ended up having a lump of plastic over time collect in the bristles. I've had IDEX printers with more soft bristles like horse hair but the strands would come loose, hitch a ride on the nozzle and deposit on my model. So you have these random hairs embedded in the model. The wiping mechanism here is a rubber-like block. Feels like the rubber when you squeeze a tennis ball but firmer. Set it to the right level and it wipes beautifully. no bristles.6) Some things I print require the side that's on the bed to be clean and neat. Other brands put their freakin logo right in the middle of the magnetic print bed in white. So when I print something, their white logo gets stuck to the bottom of my print like an unwanted decal. The logo here is kinda big but its at the bottom away from the center. Good job Solvo.7) Last pro. Finally I found an IDEX that when you switch nozzles mid print, the nozzle that is waiting doesn't head up OVER the model depositing a blob. It heats off to the side then starts to print. There was a backdoor way to fix this but required modding G code and I'm not comfortable doing that. All the IDEXs (from what I can recall) did not have a solution to this. What I would do is leave the nozzle thats not in use at the desired printing temperature which is kinda silly. 210C sitting idling is silly. Perhaps because Solvo has their own version of CURA, this bug was also fixed. Who knows.CONS1) When switching filament, it can be a pain to thread the new filament because it has to go precisely straight into the hole, be caught by the gear, and fed even further down which you can't see because its a direct drive and is shrouded by all the parts. I had a hard time feeding one of my filament spools because it had a natural curve in it and wasn't going in straight. Oddly enough it was only the main extruder I had trouble with. Call me demanding but it should be able to accommodate any filament in decent condition. This isn't an issue with Bowden Tube Printers.2) the hole on the sensor module (used to detect if filament runs out) may be too small to fit some filament. I had trouble feeding filament through one of these sensors. It just wouldn't thread through. The other sensor was just small enough that 1.75mm filament was being shaved as it went through. So it came out the other end with slightly less diameter and the shaving collected on top. As of right now both sensors are bypassed and unplugged. If you keep track of how much you use you don't really need them.If these two cons were improved somehow it would be a five-star from me.