A while ago I got my hands on the Sovol SV05 Printer in 2023, a year after the release of the printer, which seemingly was short-lived and almost at the end of its product life, when I received it (today, at least, it is not listed anymore on the manufacturers website: https://www.sovol3d.com/collections/3d-printer).
However, there is a comparison of the Sovol SV05 versus the Ender 5 Pro on the Sovol Website. An erchived version of that page (print to PDF, as such article tend to vanish over time) is here: Sovol SV05 Cubic Direct Drive VS Creality Ender-5 Pro Cubic Bowden Buy
My printer is used as a stock 3d printer with only very minor improvements (cable guard to the heated bed, back cover for the screen & control board and a different build plate attached to the factory magnetic surface), that’s it.
This printer is – so far – the best performing 3D printer I ever had (in terms of reliability and maintenance). I had a few machines:
- a Tevo Tornado (formerly by Tevo, now TevoUp, which is in pieces awaiting a second life)
- a Monoprice Select Mini v2 (out of production – linked: Manual – a sturdy little machine that just works with a one-size-fits-all profile, not PETG or ABS capable)
- an Anycubic Photon (out of production – classic model, which is fiddly, messy and not nice to work with but gives respectable results)
The Sovol SV05 however is on another level. The only thing I actually had to do on this printer was tightening the belts and replacing the filament. No adjustments, no repairs, not even after weeks of neglect. Just perfect for my use-case.
Specs
- Name of printer: Sovol SV05
- Year Released: 2022
- Build Volume: 220 x 220 x 220 mm
- Build plate: heated (500W), magnetic build plate
- Type: FDM, direct drive, cartesian (cube)
- Price Range: 300-350 €
- All-Metal hot-end, cooling Fan
- Device dimensions: 683 x 530 x 533 mm
- Auto Bed Leveling: Touch Probe
- Data connection: USB, micro SD-Card
- Printing speed: 80 m/s (extreme: up to 140 m/s with factory software tested; but increase hot-end temp somewhat for this)
Observations
The printer has some minor quality problems (visible layers being the most obvious), but it also has some outstanding qualities (like printing .1 mm sections with a .4 mm Nozzle, just magic, provided the object stays within the center 60% of the build plate). Its quality diminishes somewhat toward the extreme edges of the build plate, but never in a way, where I would be left with a failed print.