SV06 gripes

[transistor1]

Adding my "gripes" here at the suggestion of @bassamanator.

Let me start by saying I don't dislike the SV06. Being a complete noob to FDM printing, I think my experience might have been similar on any other 3d printer: I've encountered many of the common printing issues you find on the Internet: over and under extrusion, layer separation, first layer problems, bed leveling issues, etc. And I have destroyed and replaced several important printer parts. I've screwed up a lot, but I've also made a bunch of cool stuff, and when printing goes well, I'm pretty happy with the results.

The biggest problem with the SV06 IMHO, is that in many cases, Sovol hasn't used readily available, or easy to source parts. I have gone on several wild goose chases trying to find heatbreaks, heatblocks, thermistors, cartridge heaters, connectors, and screws. Like, why was it necessary to create their own specific MK8 heatblock variant rather than using common, off the shelf ones? Why use M2.5 screws to hold it on rather than M2 or M3? Why use a heatbreak with a difficult to find length (I think it is 13.5mm or 14.5mm)? Why use a PH-2 connector for the heating cartridge, when most heating cartridges use XH2.54? Some of these design choices seem like they were intentionally chosen to lock the end user into buying parts directly from them to avoid the frustration of sourcing stuff.

Personally, I don't want to order every part from Sovol... I want to be able to get parts quickly when I need them, at competitive pricing, and not wait for a month to get my order when in the meantime, I can't use my printer. Case in point: I have had an extra extruder on backorder for over 2 weeks now with Sovol, and it still hasn't shipped.

The 3rd-party parts I've sourced so far mostly work, but there are caveats to just about every one of them.