Maintenance guide or recommendations for a Sovol Zero?

Sovol Zero
3

Was performing some much past due maintenance on my Sovol Zero. Some updates and adding a few new things I found that may help others if they run into them.

  1. Eddy Sensor Broken
  2. Odd x-axis wear
  3. Loose x-axis Belt Clamp
  4. Glue turning brown (Mentioned by others in other posts)
  5. Tool head cover locking issue
  6. Using cheap 250g filament rolls
  7. Regular maintenance.

I’m still new, :thinking: well a lot more behind, than others in this forum… I make mistakes printing daily, when I see them, I try to learn and cleanup after them. :melting_face:

As for these posts, I love the Sovol Zero it’s a awesome little printer and as mentioned I unknowingly do bad things to the printer all of the time… Somewhat dated, but like a Timex “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking”… I’m very happy with it the printer, and hey it’s Opensource enough to enjoy :mechanic:

Figured I’d share some recent issues/discoveries below.

  1. Eddy Sensor housing is broken. Above I posted about the eddy sensor screw backing out. I failed to notice the top part of the sensors mount was broken. Today while cleaning I noticed more of the sensors housing was broken. Evidently the plastic does not handle heating and cooling well? For sure it’s structural integrity is compromised captain. :mechanic:
    Also note the back part of the sensor (right red square) mount on it’s side to show how it has warped. I’ll be looking into maybe trying to repair the front part of the sensor (left red square) and finding a small lock washer. The sensor has loosened a couple of times since my last post, this could be due to the plastic breaking down and giving out.

    close_up_eddy_sensor bright
    close_up_eddy_sensor bright816×459 92.4 KB

  2. Odd x-axis belt wear, have not figured out what is causing it other that the wear lines up perfectly with the respective left and right geared pulleys when the tool head is parked in the home position. It’s hard to see in my images, in person it’s very clear some wear is occurring. I guess right now it’s something to keep a eye on. I know belts eventually need to be replaced, but don’t know how often, I got my printer in March 2025.

    Belt left side of tool head.

    left side belt wear x-axis
    left side belt wear x-axis816×459 144 KB

    Heavy wear on top of belt right side of tool head.

    right side belt wear x-axis
    right side belt wear x-axis816×459 109 KB

  3. Left side belt clamp loose on the tool head, perhaps why I have weird wear on the belt?
    Pictures of Belt Clamps:
    Left side of tool head belt clamp, had a loose screw and odd gap, bottom screw (x-axis belt) was loose enough to twist by hand.

    Close_up_left side x-axis belt
    Close_up_left side x-axis belt459×816 152 KB

    Right side of tool head belt clamp, looks normal, other than I missed a cleaning window mentioned below.

    Close_up_right side x-axis belt
    Close_up_right side x-axis belt459×816 144 KB

  4. The odd glue turning brown issue, others have reported it here on the forum as well. :+1: Connectors seem firmly seated in sockets, just noting the glue does not like the high temps, but things seem ok.

    glue_browning_on_toolhead_connectors
    glue_browning_on_toolhead_connectors816×459 118 KB

  5. Tool head cover issue, left side is always stubborn about “snapping” into place. Found the reason. A small circular pad that is supposed to be centered over the magnet that the magnet in the cover attaches to was offset half on the wall and half on the magnet. I took a pair of tweezers and moved the pad to the centered position like the others and now the cover clips into place without a problem.

    left side toolhead_cover_fit
    left side toolhead_cover_fit459×816 123 KB

  6. Cheap wet filament, incorrect temps, prototype printing, validating filament settings using PETG and printing prototypes. I’m sure other filament types will have similar issues as well.
    My printer runs almost daily ~2-8 or more hours each print. It’s used for either testing new filament or printing prototypes.
    Until I am able to dry the filament enough, and dial things in, I run into some very stringy prints. More often than not while tuning those small 250kg cheap rolls of PETG filament.
    Nightmares are seen here… Shroud fan as well :anguished_face:

    filamenrt cleanup
    filamenrt cleanup459×816 147 KB

  7. I learned my lesson, regular maintenance is a good thing! I try to clean once a month, but skipped a monthly cycle over the holidays! and do the above photos show it… Ouch!!! Turn off and unplug the printer! Wear a good mask and turn a fume extractor before trying to clean. Pull the shroud off and take a close look at the tool head, specifically the tool head fans and surrounding areas. The exhaust port and checking the charcoal filter, and cleaning the floor of the print chambers etc…

Happy printing folks, hope these new and updated notes help others that are new to the 3D printer world… Feel free to add on to the list.

Until next time.
Cheers,
-Mike

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Loose Eddy Sensor Causing Bad First Layers