Sovol SV01 Pro : the test !

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A few months ago I announced the new Sovol SV01 Pro, the evolution of the SV01. I received a test machine that I will present to you today, after more than 2 months of use.

Sovol is a brand that I really like, they are very responsive to the community, their machines are generally of very good quality with interesting features.

The SV01 Pro is an evolution of the SV01, a direct drive 3D printer, with many new features, such as a self-levelling sensor (CR-Touch type), a silent 32-bit motherboard, a flexible magnetic plate, belt tensioners on the X and Y axes, and a colour touch screen. You can find the complete technical file on the sovol website.

This machine is sold for 369$ without any promotion, which is a very attractive price considering the proposed features.

Let’s start the test of the Sovol SV01 Pro!

Upon unpacking, we find a partially assembled machine, which is the norm today for this type of machine. The materials seem to be of very good quality, and the assembly quite easy.

It takes about 20 minutes to assemble this machine, with the help of a fairly detailed manual, you only need 4 screws to assemble the 2 main parts of the machine, and a few cables to connect, and it’s done! If you are new to 3D printing, don’t be afraid, this type of machine is very easy to assemble, without being a great handyman.

Here is our assembled SV01 Pro, a beautiful machine with a large touch screen!

This machine is equipped with a self-levelling sensor, type CR-Touch (made by Creality), this sensor is similar to a BL Touch, and after a few months of use I would say that it is quite reliable, I have only calibrated the machine once, and after about 30 prints I have not encountered any problems with the levelling of the plate.

For the adjustment, it happens in the parameters menu of the machine, the sub-heading “leveling”, you can launch the calibration of the plate, which will check 16 points, then it will remain to adjust the value of Z-Offset with the help of a sheet of paper, this value changes from one machine to another, for my part I have a value around 0.20

First impression with the SV01 Pro

Before launching your slicing software, in order to check the good working of the SV01 Pro, it is better to print a test model provided by Sovol, you will find 2 of them on the micro-sd card provided with the machine, a benchy and an xyz cube.

Here is the calibration cube provided by Sovol, with a very nice visual rendering, the 20x20mm dimension is also respected, I used a Giantarm filament, this red is really nice!

Prusa Slicer configuration for the SV01 Pro

The printer is working, it’s time to set up the slicing software, as usual I will use Prusa Slicer, but you could very well use Cura or another software.

The Sovol brand is unfortunately not referenced in the Prusa Slicer software, so it is necessary to create your own profile. Instead of creating a profile from scratch, I chose an Ender3 S1 profile relatively close to the SV01 Pro (direct drive with self-levelling). I simply adjusted the size of the buildplate, the SV01 Pro being bigger than the Ender3 S1.

So let’s go for our first print via this Prusa Slicer profile!
For this print I hadn’t changed the plate size on the profile yet, so I have the model not centered, but the result is really clean, with a layer height of 0.20mm.

Note that the plate grip is really good, I had no problems, and to remove the print you just have to bend the plate slightly (like a buildtak magnet), without any spatula.

Other impressions with the Sovol SV01 Pro

Staying with the same brand of filament, here is a second print, also with a very good result, the same profile without any adjustment, still with a layer height of 0.20mm.

Printed with Eryone’s Silk Gold filament, in 0.20mm, the result is also very clean, the box closes correctly, in a fluid manner.

The following prints are made with Geeetech bronze rainbow filament, unfortunately you can only see the rainbow effect on one print, the SV01 Pro also does very well with this brand of filament, very nice results.

Some prints in vase mode, with Eryone filament, good extrusion, no defects on these prints, happy with the result!

Finally, here are some very large prints with the SV01 Pro, the 2 busts are almost the maximum height of the machine (about 29cm), I no longer have the printing times in mind, but the deadpool bust took more than 20 hours to print. These tests allowed me to test the reliability of the machine on very long prints, no defect on all these prints, really very happy with the result!

What do you think of the SV01 Pro?

This is the 5th machine from Sovol that I have had the opportunity to try, and I have never been disappointed, this SV01 Pro is a good evolution of the SV01, which was now more than 3 years old, it was time to respond to the competition and offer a machine with more advanced features.

It’s a very simple machine to use, so perfectly suited to a beginner. I see little room for improvement, I would have liked a flexible metal plate with a PEI/textured surface, but the original plate is good, to be seen in the long run.

This machine is very quiet in operation, it will be discreet in a corner of your office or living room.

I really liked the touch screen interface, intuitive and colourful, it’s one of the strong point of this machine (much better than a “non pro” Ender 3 S1).

This machine is clearly going to become one of my main printers, I still have to do some more tests, like printing TPU filament, but I had to use it for about 100 hours, and I had no print failure, no first layer problem, no nozzle clogging… no problem!

I would definitely recommend this machine to my friends and community.