Input Shaper Settings - Sovol ships with "speed benchy" settings

[cardoc]

EDIT - I was unable to verify sources on setting the damping_ratio to a value higher than 0.1

Let me preface this by saying I’ve never touched a coreXY printer. I do have 20 years as a test engineer chasing puzzles like this.

After working on a surface quality issue with @R23195 (Normal for idler?) it wondered is enabling [input_shaper] on the Z axis would help. A trip to Sovol’s github and I started going thru settings. The first thing I noticed was the shaper_ratio was far FAR smaller than the default Klipper setting.

Down the rabbit hole I went. With the assistance of AI (Copilot and Gemini) I came up with this.

---

SV08 Max Input Shaping & Motion Tuning Guide
Voron‑derived best practices adapted for a large flying gantry

Introduction

The Sovol SV08 Max is mechanically similar to a Voron 2.4 — a CoreXY with a moving gantry, distributed Z drives, and a rigid frame — but scaled up by roughly 30%. This increased size and mass shift resonance frequencies downward and make damping more important.

Sovol’s stock Klipper configuration uses:

• Extremely low damping ratios (0.001)
• Narrow resonance scan ranges (35–45 Hz)
• Minimal shaping

These settings appear to be chosen for marketing speedbenchy performance, not long‑term stability or surface quality. They suppress only the most obvious ringing while keeping acceleration artificially high.

For a large flying gantry, this approach is insufficient.
A more robust, Voron‑style tuning method produces:

• cleaner walls
• more stable tall prints
• better dimensional accuracy
• predictable behavior across materials

This guide provides a complete, modular motion system designed specifically for the SV08 Max.

Voron‑Derived Input Shaping Best Practices (Adapted for SV08 Max)

1. Measure X and Y resonances separately

Voron tuning emphasizes that CoreXY belts couple differently in each axis.
On the SV08 Max, the Y axis carries the full gantry and resonates significantly lower than X.

2. Match belt tension before tuning

Voron 2.4 belts typically resonate around 110 Hz.
SV08 Max belts are longer and heavier — expect 80–100 Hz.

3. Verify accelerometer noise before scanning

Use MEASURE_AXES_NOISE.
Turn off fans.
The SV08 Max’s large frame transmits more environmental vibration.

4. Use MZV for quality, EI2/EI3 for speed

Voron best practices:

MZV → best surface quality, lowest overshoot

EI2/EI3 → higher speed, more rounding

On the SV08 Max, MZV is even more beneficial due to gantry mass.

5. Use tight frequency ranges

Voron guides recommend trimming ranges for cleaner FFTs.
For the SV08 Max:

X: 25–110 Hz

Y: 15–90 Hz

Z: 5–35 Hz

6. Re‑run shaping after mechanical changes

Voron practice: retune after belt tension, toolhead changes, or frame adjustments.
SV08 Max: even more important due to mass and leverage.

7. Z‑axis shaping is optional on Voron — but valuable on SV08 Max

Voron’s 4‑belt Z is rigid.
SV08 Max uses lead screws, which introduce:

low‑frequency wobble

gantry rocking modes

Belt harmonics

Z shaping significantly improves tall‑print quality.

Why Modular Shaper Profiles Are the Correct Approach

A single input‑shaper configuration cannot optimize for all goals.
Voron users often maintain multiple profiles:

Quality‑first

Balanced

Speed‑first

The SV08 Max benefits even more from modular profiles because:

the gantry mass amplifies differences between shapers

damping ratios dramatically affect surface quality

acceleration limits must match the shaper

Z‑hop behavior should match the motion profile

resonance ranges differ per axis

By isolating each profile into its own .cfg:

switching profiles is trivial

no conflicting blocks remain in printer.cfg

tuning is cleaner

version control is easier

each profile can evolve independently

This is the same philosophy used in advanced Voron builds

Attached find a Zip file containing a modified printer.cfg AND 3 modular configuration configurations. Rename your printer.cfg to printer.cfg.old, unzip the 4 files and copy to your printer. Open printer.cfg and near the top you’ll find 3 [include] lines. This allows you to “shift gears” easily.

Please post your results if you try them.
Max-Tuning.zip (2.9 KB)

[R23195]

This is great, lots of good information for new users. So a few important corrections here:

“Voron’s 4‑belt Z is rigid.
SV08 Max uses lead screws, which introduce:”

Not sure if this was an accident SV08Max doesn’t use lead screws, it uses belts. You may have meant that and just mis-typed?

Second, you are right that their damper values are extremely low and using different shaper functions is usually good, and there may still be value to the z resonance especially with belts. I usually run the resonance tests manually. So far the input shaping even with their low damping gets rid of all ghosting and ringing in the x-y, it works pretty well even with that tiny damping, it relies on the function itself to do the heavy lifting.

Third, small correction, the x/y and z belts differ in tension: Sovol has sent me a video showing belt tuning of the sv08max (not the sv08) and the video shows 140 hz tuning for A/B belts (whereas the sv08 was 110 hz for these which why the confusion) with 150 mm spacing. So when you wrote “SV08 Max belts are longer and heavier — expect 80–100 Hz.”, at least it should actually be closer to 140 hz for the a/b belts. Additionally the z belt has been quoted by many to be 140 hz…but I can’t confirm this directly from Sovol, I didn’t ask.

I included a screenshot from the specific SV08Max A/B tensioning video (not the SV08):

[R23195]

Also from my understanding input shaping on Z is virtually never done on a Voron or other, because you can’t even out the spikes the same way - the accelerometer use on z is more to catch if there’s periodic belt error - like bad idlers - but because it’s lower frequency/speed of movement and no oscillations, the shapers don’t really work well on the Z. I realize we are at the bleeding edge of size here, and it doesn’t mean you are wrong (in fact I’m willing to test anything to get this machine better because it has so much potential!), I’m just noting that this is not something generally done because the shapers don’t equate in the same way in my experience. Worth giving it a go for sure, so I’ll try it out.

[cardoc]

Yes the AI thinks the Max has lead screws.

I have 3 bed slingers and gave up on printing fast with either of them so this is my first deep look at input shaping. I do follow all the traffic at General Discussion - Klipper. There has been on and off discussions on Z axis input shaping. Most that try it report no noticeable improvement in surface finish but say there is an improvement in the noise generated for Z moves.

If ever there was a printer that could benefit it is the Max. Sovol made the gantry wider but used the same extrusions. There is NO QUESTION the Max is going to have a lower resonance frequency in the Z axis. When you consider the increase in displacement that lower frequencies drive the movement is likely to be large enough to create visible artifacts.

I do see documentation of damping_ratios as high as .2 for the Y axis at Input Shaping and Resonance Compensation | Klipper3d/klipper | DeepWiki. My gut says .3 or .35 is not unreasonable for Z on the Max.