That's an apt summary :)
I haven't seen abnormal wear yet. There are a couple spots that are tricky to align correctly, so I'm wondering if that happened to him and he unknowingly fixed the alignment when replacing the belt. It's worth being detail-oriented and triple-checking everything when assembling.
But I've been having some clicking on Z-axis moves recently. My suspicion is that I accidentally got some filament debris where it shouldn't be. I haven't opened it up to investigate yet, so if it's a machine issue, I'll update here.
Yeah, I did the LDO kit, revision C. I'm very happy with the quality of the kit and included options/mods.
However, the documentation is... fragmented. It all exists, but it's spread across the official Voron build guide, the Stealthburner build guide, and the LDO print guide, addendum, wiring guide, etc. Super annoying. And there's no canonical part checklist, so it's easy to accidentally print unnecessary parts.
That seems to be a problem with most kits, though, so more of a heads-up.
LDO is releasing their revision D of the kit soon, so you can either wait for that or get a discount on a clearance revision C kit. I know KB3D is supposed to have them 20% off soon if not already (no affiliation, I just chatted with them at MRRF).
I have the LDO Rev. C kit, and it is rock-solid. They're releasing the Rev. D kit soon, and I can only imagine that'll be even more refined. I printed my own parts using a combination of Phaetus aeWorthy ABS-GF and 3DXTech ABS-CF.
If your printed parts are good-quality, you follow the directions precisely, and stick to the kit (no mods beyond the LDO-provided ones), I see no reason it shouldn't provide years of trouble-free service.
All of those upgrades are absolutely doable. Given the price of those upgrades, all-in, a Voron will be a better value. Unless you have most of the parts already, anyway.
Although, I wouldn't bother changing out the board unless you have specific needs. Firmware and config tweaks will take care of most issues I've seen with it.
The fan is probably on par with stock ender 3. But always-on.
Goodness no.
It is such a cool little printer, but it is very much an enthusiast product. You'll find yourself doing way more tweaking and troubleshooting than printing. And support will be... thin. Also, the general body of 3D-printing knowledge is largely geared towards common styles of printer, which this is not.
I'd suggest going for a Bambu A1 Mini, Prusa Mini, or the like. If price is a concern, the Kingroon KP3s is a solid budget choice, but a bit more manual.
As a beginner, any printer geared towards enthusiasts will just be endlessly frustrating. My strong recommendation is to just go with something tried-and-true, and well-supported.
Maybe.
I've built a Voron 2.4 350, and own an SV08. I'm currently working on a detailed teardown/analysis/reverse-engineering of the SV08.
From a user perspective, there haven't been any deal-breakers so far, but certainly some annoyances. In short:
- The filament path between the extruder and hotend is poorly-constrained, making it a pain to load
- The auto-z calibration is often just a smidge off
- The fans are absurdly loud. All of them.
- The camera is meh
- It uses a custom nozzle/heater
- The bed is a bit thin
- The mainboard is effectively a BTT CB1 and Fystec Cheetah on a single board
- Their software customizations are of dubious quality
- Their OrcaSlicer profiles are... fine. Just fine.
That being said, there are also many nice touches and good attention to detail in other areas. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase, but don't buy it to upgrade (aside from the mainboard fan). There be dragons.
If a Voron 2.4 fits in your budget, get a Voron 2.4. if not, the SV08 is a good choice if you can live with those annoyances, and especially if you are comfortable with third-party firmware mods (whenever they come out).
As an aside: based on my analysis of the mainboard, I strongly suspect Sovol is working on an MMU for the SV08.