I just thought I would start a new thread listing some of the Mods we have done to our SV08 printers, that might help others.
Since I’m a Hot Rodder I can’t leave well enough alone so here are a few of the Mods that I have done or in the process of doing.
To start with my SV08 first thing I installed was a Microswiss Flowtech Hot end (Good flow rate.)
Then I installed a R3Man Graphite Bed, (no more taco bed)
I received Ultra-lightweight Hollow Gantry from West3d, I’m now waiting for Funssor Lab CNC gantry system to install these items, will see how this Mod works out.
So far the Bed and the Hot End have worked out very well.
I bought the printer in March of this year. I started with the MicroSwiss hotend, .4 and .6 nozzles, lightweight toolhead cover, started with an M12 probe then moved on to Eddy-NG, Mainline Klipper, CryoGrip Pro Glacier (but I don’t use this all the time). MCU cover with larger quieter fan, acrylic enclosure held with magnets so I can remove if needed/wanted, tophat with filter and dual 3010 fans oh and cable chain for the main cable from base to gantry.
That’s pretty much all the mods now the repairs. I’m on my third toolhead harness the first had a wire break, the second was just different than first and didn’t work correctly, the third has been working for a couple of months. Toolhead extra-MCU failed and was replaced. A/B belts were replaced the originals were too short so adjusting to proper tension was impossible. I have to admit that Sovol has been really good about replacing bad components. They ask for data to document the failure and then send replacement part or give instructions on how to fix without new parts if possible.
I’ve only had my SV08 up and running for a week or two. (I’ve upgraded from an Ender 3Si Pro.) It sounds like you’ve already done many of the SV08 upgrades I’ve contemplated, so you’re the one to ask. I love the CryoGrip Pro Glacier. I had one on the Ender & it was my first upgrade. The stock board fan has been replaced with a Noctua. I’m a hesitant about going full mainline Klipper. Are there any downsides to doing so? However, I’ve gone ahead & purchased an BTT Eddy Duo, but I was exploring the possibility of using a BBT U2C (to get around the going the mainline route). I read somewhere that Sovol used a custom fork of Moonraker and/or Mainsail. (Yes, I’m seeing that notification.) Thanks for any info you can offer!
When assembling it, I swapped the noisy motherboard fan for the same size quiet $14 Noctua fan, and I swapped the hot end for the MicroSwiss FlowTech hot end to allow me to quickly swap nozzles without removing and reinstalling the heater and thermistor. Both mods are highly recommended.
I designed and 3D printed an insulated enclosure to make passive heating more effective. There are two large but inexpensive and readily available HEPA carbon filters on top that can be used. I still need to finish designing the front door and then I’ll upload the design so others can make it.
I print from overhead reels so I don’t use the PTFE reverse Bowden tube, so there is nothing to support the tool head cable. I designed and 3D printed a TPU support for the cable.
I had a bad crash on my SV08 on 17MAR25, because the first layer detached while printing. I ordered a new MicroSwiss hot end but haven’t installed it because that wouldn’t fix the underlying first layer issues.
I ordered a $250 R3men graphite bed on 24JUN25 to fix the taco bed warping issues once and for all but haven’t installed it either, because the SV08 needs an accurate bed mesh to have reliable first layers. I’ll install the graphite bed when I’m installing an Eddy probe.
I’ve been waiting for Sovol to release their SV08 Eddy sensor tool head upgrade. It’s been very close for months and is apparently almost ready to be ordered, but it’s taken so long that I’m now very tempted to wait 2-3 more months for the Bondtech INDX system for the SV08 so I get an Eddy sensor tool head with multi-material printing. I don’t see the point of adding an Eddy tool head if I’m only going to upgrade to the INDX a couple of months later.
I ordered the Sovol Zero on 28MAR25 and it was delivered on 30APR25. The Zero has been my daily driver and it’s a great little printer. I have some larger projects on hold until the SV08 is back in service. I miss it. The SV08 is a great printer, other than the first layer issues resulting from the warped bed and inaccurate bed mesh. Sovol fixed those issues on the Zero and SV08 Max. The new and improved SV08 Ace will be an awesome 3D printer.
I would recommend the MicroSwiss hotend, and the CryoGrip build plate. Enclosure of some kind if you are going to print ASA or ABS or any other plastic that needs one. The only reason I went Mainline was for the Eddy. Unlike others, I’ve had mixed results with it. After some initial tuning with config stuff I was getting consistent good first layers without manually adjusting every time.
Now, after about two weeks, I am back to inconsistent first layers, usually no more than .010 or .020. Depending on the filament some need stepping down and some need stepping up. I’m still experimenting with first layer issues.
If some filaments consistently need the nozzle to be raised and others need the nozzle to be lowered, it might be differences in extrusion multipliers, first layer line width and bottom surface flow ratio in the slicer settings and filament profiles.
A quick way to tell if the Eddy is producing a consistent bed mesh would be to compare successive height maps in Mainsail after each Eddy scan. That wouldn’t determine how accurate the Eddy sensor is but it would determine how repeatable it is, and it seems that your problem is repeatability. It also seems that the problem is dependent on the filament, and the Eddy has no way to know which filament you’re using (other than possible changes in the bed preheat temperature) so if you’re getting first layer results that vary with the filament, maybe the issue is the filament.
Like many of you, I did the Microswiss hot end swap, and now I have 2 machines with that system so I can use the same nozzles on both. Added the Sovol anti-tangle sensor, which I replaced a few months later with a BTT smart sensor, which also replaces the filament runout sensor. Also added a BTT 5” HDMI touchscreen, which is very convenient. Lastly, swapped the case fan for a Noctua, which makes a HUGE difference in noise.
Most of the changes that I have made have been because something broke or I went down the rabbit hole looking for performance or looks that just weren’t worth the effort. My current list of changes that I am happy with (at least that I can remember) are:
MicroSwiss hot end - It’s a no-brainer to switch to this.
The Sovol enclosure and touchscreen. I got them both on sale during the last Black Friday sales but pick an equivalent if they are pricey to you. The enclosure allows me to print ASA/ABS with ease.
Mainline Klipper - I highly recommend this if you don’t have previous experience with digging into its bowels. I came from an Ankermake M5 and couldn’t get into the code guts of it so Klipper was a very different experience for me. Going mainline forced me to learn what the macros do and the impact of config settings. Not only did a learn a lot from the experience but my printer is more reliable and I don’t have to worry about Sovol keeping up with Klipper changes. Which they probably won’t do.
I also replaced the board fan but my printer lives in a very hot garage so I went with a higher CFM fan than a Noctua. I love Noctuas but they couldn’t compete with 100 degree F temps this summer.
I wasted far too much time trying out different toolheads but I finally settled on this one. It ain’t pretty but it won’t fall off and has a light so I can actually see what’s happening with the print.
I tried switching to an Eddy probe but I did it too soon after going mainline so I dorked everything up. It’s working well with the stock prob so I am just going to leave it like that until I get the itch again.
I’ll be working on the filament stuff today probably but yesterday I did a series of mesh runs at different temps. I’ll post a couple of meshes for illustration of what I see. The first is no heatsoak at the default of 60C. The second is a 15 minute heatsoak @ 90C. My machine goes from a “reverse” taco to an upright taco as it heats. I did two runs at 10 degrees apart with home all and QGL before each run. Temperature heatsoaking for 15 minutes at each. These are all 15x15 meshes over the entire bed surface. If you want to see more, I’ll post.
