Sovol SO-1 Plotter Printer Limit Switch Replacement
I recently purchased a Sovol SO-1 Plotter Printer, which is a device I plan to use to plot generative art. There is a user group on Facebook for this device which helps to connect to other users and support from the company that manufactured it. The device was fairly priced at about 160 dollars on Amazon. I have some past experience with tinkering with a 3d printer and so my expectations for this device at this price point are not that I would have a plug and play item but I would probably have to tinker with it, which is part of the fun anyway for me. My printer arrived in good shape, it was easy to assemble. Unfortunately, there were a couple of items missing from the box (SD card and USB/SD card adapter) and clipboard to use to hold the paper. I contacted the company through Amazon and they apologized and gave me the option of sending the missing items or a cash credit. In this era in which customer service has generally declined I was impressed with Sovol's prompt response. I also saw a Halloween themed product promotion video they did that was quirky and fun. I already have the SD card and USB adapter from a 3d printer so that wasn't the end of the world anyway. After I plugged it in and it powered up fine. I tried to home the plotter, it began making a chattering sound, the X axis homed fine, the Y axis moved to the origin but was not able to trigger the limit switch. I confirmed that the Y axis limit switch pub was plugged in and the same problem persisted. I unplugged the printer and flipped it over and I could see the limit switch on the Y axis appeared to be broken and it could not be triggered with pushing on the switch with my finger. In my workshop I have some mechanical limit switches and a soldering iron. I checked the connections with a multimeter on the working limit switch to check which leads are normally closed or normally open. The limit switch I had on hand is a slightly bigger mechanical package. The limit switches are mounted with small screws, which I removed. I used a flush cutter to cut the leads on the old limit switch attachments to the pcb, leaving short nubs off the pcb for soldering. To mount the new limit switch, I used one of the original screw holes and had to drill a new hole in the pub with a tiny jeweler's drill bit for the second mounting screw and then I had to use a dab of ca glue since I drilled the hole slightly too big. I soldered some short wires to connect the new limit switch to the appropriate nubs/pads on the pcb. The limit switch board is mounted on the undersurface of the aluminum extrusion by a single Allen head screw into a hammer nut, it can be loosened and the angle of the limit switch pcb adjusted so that the new limit switch will contact the protrusion on the Y carriage appropriately and then tightened down. After plugging it back in the plotter homes well without the chattering. The homing function is not absolutely required, but I'm glad it could be fixed, for example if I want to do multiple passes/colors, it is helpful to have a consistent alignment at the start. Honestly, it was an easy repair, it took about 10 minutes to fix it. The quality control could be better but I still have a favorable impression of Sovol. I didn't bother trying to contact Sovol about it since I thought it would be easier for me to just fix it myself right away. Interestingly, I later saw a review on Amazon in which another user had a similar experience with a limit switch not working. Hopefully this post will be helpful for other users. I began to experiment with plotting, I can already see some ways the printing can be improved, and I will try to share some of my solutions in future posts.
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