Calibrating the Sovol SV08 Temp Tower in OrcaSlicer
A couple of weeks ago, I upgraded the hotend on my Sovol SV08 to the MicroSwiss FlowTech, but the machine has essentially been gathering dust because I haven’t had a chance to run through the proper calibrations. Today, it’s time to get this printer rolling again.
I’m currently running the latest version of OrcaSlicer. While I’ve typically started my calibrations with Flow Ratio in the past, a deeper look at the official OrcaSlicer calibration guide recommends tackling the tests in the exact order they are listed in the menu. We are going to follow that outline, starting right at the top: the Temperature Tower.
Why the Temp Tower Matters
Section titled “Why the Temp Tower Matters”The OrcaSlicer wiki highlights that temperature calibration is arguably the single most critical factor for overall print quality. The nozzle temperature directly impacts the viscosity of your filament.
- Too low: You risk under-extrusion, poor layer adhesion, and stringing.
- Too high: You invite filament degradation, clogging, severe stringing, and sagging on your overhangs.
One great feature in OrcaSlicer is that the temp tower automatically scales its size to match your nozzle diameter, ensuring all the overhangs and bridging features are correctly proportioned for your setup.
Pre-Flight Slicer Settings
Section titled “Pre-Flight Slicer Settings”Before generating the tower for my Silk PLA, I set up an initial profile to follow standard parameters. I use percentages for my line widths so that if I swap nozzles later, the settings dynamically adjust.
I also made a few specific tweaks to the profile:
- Switched the wall generator from Arachne to Classic (running inner-outer instead of inner-outer-inner).
- Enabled Z-contouring.
- Crucial Step: Navigated to the Others tab and set the Brim to Auto. Because the temp tower is tall and has a very small footprint, it desperately needs that brim to hold it securely to the build plate.
Interpreting the Results
Section titled “Interpreting the Results”I ran the standard PLA tower, which starts at the hottest temperature (230°C) at the bottom and steps down by 5 degrees every section until it reaches 190°C at the top.
If you are looking at your own tower and find a range that looks great (for example, between 195°C and 205°C), the general rule of thumb is to select the temperature right in the middle (200°C). However, if you plan on pushing high flow rates and faster printing speeds, leaning toward the higher end of that range will help maintain proper flow.
When evaluating my Silk PLA, the tower was honestly a bit brutal to look at. I inspected the overall layer adhesion, the severity of the stringing, and the sharpness of the corners. The sides varied, but looking closely at the overhangs and corner defects, the 205°C to 210°C range produced the cleanest results with the least stringing.
Final Profile Adjustments
Section titled “Final Profile Adjustments”I decided to settle on 210°C as my standard printing temperature for this filament. To ensure a solid foundation and better bed adhesion, I bumped my initial layer temperature up slightly to 215°C, and increased my heated bed to 60°C.
With the temperature dialed in, the SV08 is one step closer to being fully tuned. In the next post, we’ll move down the OrcaSlicer calibration menu and tackle the Max Volumetric Speed test.
If you have any questions or tips on your own SV08 tuning process, feel free to reach out!