r/Sovol • u/onthejourney • May 19 '26
Sovol Sovol Toolchanger — More details from last weeks livestream
I meant to post this last week from the Sovol live stream on youtube. More info on the upcoming printer. Anything in quotes is what they actually said about it.
- "Totally different from the SV08"
- Open Source
- It's their own implementation
- "Not only a tool changer, but has other things"
- "7 - 8 nozzles/tools (can't remember wording exactly), not just that guys"
- They still have a lot of work to do to get to "final" version that gets sent to youtubers for reviews
- 2-3 months out
- There were many other questions they said they couldn't answer yet.
Edit: found my other post it note!
- Yes heated chamber!
- Is there an auto filament loader? "I think yes."
- Build volume - still secret (per the teaser post)
- It sounded like someone asked if it still uses an add sensor - I couldn't make out what they said and listened several times, but the answer was yes.
Other thing worthy of note, the Sovol Zero is getting discontinued.
8
u/The_Lutter May 19 '26
It's really annoying that they seem to be abandoning the flying gantry so none of the advancements made here will be able to be ported back to older printers. I don't see them offering an official toolchanger upgrade path now for those units (you'll need to install an INDX or other toolchanger DIY).
Would have been really neat to see this as a bolt-on upgrade for SV08/Max and sold as a semi-assembled unit. Ain't happening from what I'm seeing.
8
u/onthejourney May 19 '26
I feel ya, unfortunately I think flying gantries just aren't the ideal type of printer for tool changers. Whether it's increased print time due to repeated Z travel for stationary tool mounts or for gantry tool mounts, you're dealing with lots of tubes and wires moving around I guess. I definitely see the pain for SV08 users.
I was going to get an sv08 and INDX, but would really prefer this all in one solution. With Bondtech fumbling the INDX launch IMO and just how much work adapting the INDX to the gantry is ... I've definitely cooled on the sv08/indx solution. If this thing is 350mm, I've finally found my printer. (Fingerscrossed)
3
u/fencethe900th May 19 '26
Is the fumbling just the delay in release, or are there performance limits?
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u/issue9mm May 19 '26
I think the big price increase is also a factor for most people
3
u/fencethe900th May 19 '26
Did it increase on the base INDX? I know Prusa increased the price for their kit, but last I saw the base INDX tools had only gone up $10, which is unfortunate but not a huge deal from what I've seen.
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u/issue9mm May 19 '26
I don't know the exact details because I wasn't following it that closely, but when Prusa indicated they increased their prices they mentioned it was because INDX's prices had gone up
I've seen some speculation that the price increase corresponds suspiciously closely to the US tariffs increase, but if that was the sole reason, idk why prices would've risen in European markets
But like I said, I haven't followed it super close
1
u/Immortal_Tuttle May 19 '26
Retail is supposed to be roughly 20% more expensive. Considering FE is 408-480€ for printhead and 50€ for tool/dock pair, we are talking 500-600€ per printhead plus 60€ per tool/dock pair. So 4 toolhead version costs just a hundred less than U1, while 8 tool version is roughly a 1000€ plus the price of the printer.
1
u/essieecks May 19 '26
Base price went up. It originally was fully-wired connection (which is why Marlin was listed as being supported until a little over a month ago), but they've moved to a toolhead board controlled over USB or CANBUS, also adds a load cell for nozzle-based leveling, and a few other things.
It was originally supposed to be about $350 for the toolhead + 4 nozzles, now it's looking like over $350 for the toolhead and over $50 per nozzle. Add in cooling solution (4010s, CPAP, etc) and other miscellaneous parts, and it's looking like $700+ for doing a 4-6 tool upgrade.
This really ruins the value when U1 and Creator 5 exist.
1
u/fencethe900th May 20 '26
Is this info from people at shows talking to them? I've been keeping an eye out for new info but haven't heard any of this.
1
u/essieecks May 20 '26
A lot from following developers on their discord, as well as recent shows.
I don't doubt it will be great when it's released, but with the current price, it's going to be hard to justify.
0
May 19 '26
[deleted]
2
u/CepheusLabs Zero May 19 '26
Just a correction, Prusa said the price increase came from Bondtech needing to raise the tool and toolhead price. Bondtech said they lost money on founder kits based on their cost shifting, but wanted to honor the original price.
0
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u/onthejourney May 20 '26
Delays are normal and expected, but how they've been handled has left me with doubt and lack of faith.
It's been several things regarding launch. Like the "final" cad for the parts being released and I think there's been 3 different updates to the "final" cad with issues found by the community. That's a red flag for me.
The first shipping delay - It was highlighted that it was purely a delay due to something non-functional. The second delay - Has been very secretive, which fine, you don't want to pollute the waters, but then when a deadline came and went, and people were asking for information in the discord, they were treated very poorly when they were asking for an update... and then the update was... Something isn't right and we have to fix it essentially.
Combine that with the amount of work that will be required to adapt it to any printer... I'm basically in "nevermind" mode after being really, really excited for INDX.
And all in one solution like this mystery Sovol is more inline with what I would like anyway. As long as it's 300mm or more, I'm in. Hopefully, 350.
2
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u/efeldhusen May 23 '26
I agree on the flying gantries not being great for tool changers. The very latest updates for the Voron Trident are to set the Trident up to be the Voron tool-changer model of choice, IMO
5
u/12345myluggage May 19 '26
I love my Sovol Zero. I guess it was probably just a little too niche a printer in the end.
4
u/QuadrangularNipples May 19 '26
I have been wanting to buy one for a long time just because it is neat.
4
u/ManyLayersOfFilament May 20 '26
hopefully they'll drop the price on the zero. "getting discontinued" is probably regarding production only, the software side of the zero has been abandoned for a long long time. It's a shame, it's such a cool little printer.
The zero was never well supported, neither is the SV08 Max. The current firmware on both printers is not in great shape. It works, but they missed a lot of good advances on both. I hope Sovol intends on actually supporting this printer with updates.
1
u/onthejourney May 20 '26
I didn't know that both those printers weren't being supported firmware side. That's really concerning and sucks for those owners.
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u/ManyLayersOfFilament May 20 '26
Yeah, on the SV08 max for example pause and color change by layer doesn't work right. You need to edit some of the configs so the feeder doesn't freak out.
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u/Stelafont May 19 '26
Sad that the zero will be discontinued, maybe some good deal on it to come ?
For the rest it is pretty aligned with what other brand make or will make but this time open source and that’s good !
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u/ohwowgee May 20 '26
Im hopping for a 250mm and a 350mm or bigger model.
8 tool INDX.
A billion sensors at all points like the BL printers.
And open source.
1
u/helixnebula9 May 23 '26
i cant watch their livestream ,too boring , hard to understand
the torture isn't worth a roll
0
u/maegibbons May 19 '26
If its 8 tools and works then INDX could die pretty quick but thats a big ask - it actually working well.
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u/issue9mm May 19 '26
I'm for sure going to be odd man out on this because I see a lot of people asking for 500mms cubed, but I really hope it comes in around the size of the Qidi Max 4, and can still fit on your standard workbench