World’s First IDEX Tool-Changing 3D Printer
Click it to learn more: Sovol M1D Landing Page
An IDEX is an interesting choice.
Is there an AMS coming later..??
Interesting indeed. Little surprised they went this direction. Let’s see where they take it.
Wish them luck.
Ok Sovol, you got my attention. Hopefully you stay committed to open source, reasonably priced printers and we don’t get a Bambu Shock with this.
Bambu burned me lately and despite them having pretty good printers, the cloud thing passed like a turd sandwich. Gonna keep my eyes on the kickstarter
Sovol is not “committed” to opensource. Their Klipper source is NOT available despite the GPL legal requirement to release derivative code.
If you grab the restore image for the Max, extract their “version” of kipper and DIFF it against official Klipper you will find Python files have undocumented edits but still carry the original copyright verbiage.
However they DO use klipper which a far cry from the proprietary firmware on Bambu’s boards.
So, Sovol, play nice… release your Klipper additions as per the AGPL and don’t get caught with your pants down like Bambu did… it never ends well.
Bambu may have played with their future by being obnoxious.. don’t make the same mistake.
Same, agree with folks on the opensource consensus. One of the reasons I picked Sovol was it seemed more “open” for tinkering over other printers I found. As pointed out, room for improvement…
Also noticed the M1D picture posted at the top looks to be an enclosed printer, 
the interior lighting is bright and maybe even adjustable… although…
I did have fun with @Liberty4Ever light mod for the Zero 
Good wishes on this project Sovol!
Cheers, 
-Mike
IDEX is a giant warning flag for me. I’d prefer they focus on the tool changer and not add to the complexity and expense with IDEX. I will be curious to see how many gamble on the kickstarter. I think I’ll gamble on it being a dud and perhaps picking one up in a couple years on a close-out sale.
The SV04 even though no longer sold is still popular here on the forum…we get posts every few days on it .
Without a tool changer IDEX brings a significant capability of having a second material such as for supports but at significant costs of an entire tool head and its mass on the gantry, the space to park it and the fussiness of Z offsetting and aligning print heads. For those desperate for 2nd material capability the SV04 makes sense. With a tool changer IDEX adds less value mainly just quicker material swaps which could be mostly addressed by a tool dock with standby heating.
I see IDEX as making a large expensive printer have an even bigger footprint, cost more and likely increase the fussiness of tuning, high speed operation and maintenance.
I see IDEX as mainly reducing the need to optimize tool changer speed and functionality. Mirror mode and copy mode I see as nothing burgers. I expect they only provide a speed gain for printing smaller single material objects that could be printed on other printers.
I’d like to see Sovol focus more on polishing. Make the tool changer as fast and robust as possible. Make a print bed that is easy to level. Make an extruder that works reliably. Ship the printer with well tuned software and profiles. Maybe they will achieve all of that on this printer but the inclusion of IDEX makes we doubt it.
I agree. My workflow has limited need for copy/mirror. With the print area halved the usefulness is trivial.
The only use case I can come up with would be mass production of small parts.
@Sovol Question - Will the ability to switch modes during prints be available like below:
If the model is 95% one color can I load one of the interchangeable heads with the same filament as the “fixed” head. Print in copy/mirror mode for the base color then switch to single mode and print detail color onto BOTH copies then return to IDEX mode to print more of the base color?
If copy/mirror mode forces one model to be 100% the same filament then IDEX mode is not very useful making 2 $500 printers a better option than 1 $1500 printer.
I still don’t work for Sovol, and I’m not giving them a blank check, but I don’t understand all the criticism being leveled at this printer when it hasn’t even been released yet.
Why not wait and see before saying all the bad things you think about it?
Because of Sovol’s history, like the buffer on the Max, I feel it necessary to warn community members of risks before they pre-order.
Slow uptake on the Kickstarter is the ONLY, truly effective, way to notify Sovol we are tired of doing all their R&D for them. As they add undocumented software and hardware to their “OPEN SOURCE” product line said crowd sourced R&D becomes nearly impossible.
I’m hopeful Sovol proves me wrong and that concurrent with the release of the M1d they will put their actual Klipper fork on a public repo. That they will release pinouts and specification for ALL the control boards.
I love my Sovol printers but I’m continuously frustrated by the unwillingness to adopt community fixes as “official”. The fact they are shipping printers today with a 3+ year old broken PLR system. Shipping printers with extruders with a carryover design flaw from 2+ years ago makes me skeptical as to the level of performance we can expect from the M1d.
Am I excited to see a new printer from Sovol, ABSOTULY yes.
Am I going to preorder one… err… No
I wish Sovol success. The last two printers I bought were Sovol’s and I am very pleased with both despite each needing a bit of effort to get working well for me. I would like to buy more from Sovol if I can find ones that are a good match for my priorities. Perhaps they will be more likely to make machines we want to buy if we express what we want and also express why we don’t want what they offer.
Currently I am most interested in getting a tool changer. Mostly for the purpose of experimenting with various types filaments that benefit from annealing and have both unfilled and fiber filled varieties such as PPA, PET, PLA, TPU, etc. as fiber filled filaments tend to both print better with less warping and less need of very high build plate & chamber temps while tolerating longer and hotter annealing with less deformation. But for many use cases the exterior surface of fiber filled prints is too abrasive. I want to try objects of nested parts, a hollow one with a thin outer shell of just a layer or two to be printed unfilled surrounding a core part printed in fiber. I expect there are other use cases for doing cores and shells in different materials so even if annealing doesn’t work out as well as hoped and proves too troublesome for the gains, I expect I would find long term value and use for a machine capable of 350 C nozzles, 120 C plate, 65 C chamber, 4 tool heads, a dock with stand by heating, fast reliable and precise tool swaps and ideally a 235x235 mm bed although somewhat bigger or smaller could be ok. It needs to have a dry box for the spools or be compatible with one providing their own versus some of the current filament changers that require spools be mounted on spindles on the machine’s sides. And a filament path compatible with both fairly rigid and brittle fiber filaments as well as soft stretchy flexibles. That’s my personal wish list. I will likely buy whatever most closely matches that list within the next year or two. At this point I’m pretty certain it won’t be a Sovol, at least not the M1d. That saddens me.
A final consideration is my most precious resource is space. Time is also valued. I jumped on buying a Zero at $429 but not a marginally more expensive SV08 and passed on a close-out T300 at $199 despite having a couple projects which could benefit from a 300x300 or bigger bed and no printer yet of that size. Getting a large printer requires I retire two currently useful and regularly used smaller printers. The cost of the M1d in both $ but especially in space means it would need to be an excellent match for my needs and it looks to be far from what I want. I would have bought a refined SV08 or a Zero with a good tool changer. Hopefully the M1d is excellent for others.
Does anyone know the bed size of this beauty?
It’s in the 1st post…300x300x350
300x300x350
Thanks. Sounds nice.
@sovol3d Before making a VIP reservation, it should be clear what the offer includes. The cladding is an essential component of the functional scope.