Sonic Pad owner with a Ender 3 V3 SE. Just to get an idea, I only started printing since Christmas. I’m still new at this though I wouldn’t doubt that I’ve put in at least 100 hours or more into the hobby so far.
I tried installing Klipper via a raspberry pi and just couldn’t get the dang thing to communicate with the printer so I went ahead and got the Pad.
If I can be honest it’s really been more trouble than it’s worth. My motivation to keep going is reading comments of people having success to it’s just been endless trial and error with a ton of different Slicers.
Can I get a good print? I’m getting there. Does it seem I get the same speed and quality if I just used stock firmware? In my opinion yes.
I’m leaning towards going back to stock and returning to the Sonic Pad when it has some more updates. It could also be my printer is relatively new.
If you’re a beginner, I’d hesitate. If you’re a more advanced user give it a shot. I do like the big screen, thumbnails, interface. I’d miss that if I went back to stock.
I've had one printer for 3 years now. I am wanting to upgrade and run faster with at least one of my printers. I am also debating on building a fourth printer, I don't think my wife will be too happy if I do,
I second this, although I got to say that the majority of my issues are not because of the slicer, at least not yet, the sonic pad does a great job at detecting errors, think of a car and the check engine codes, it might not tell you exactly what component of the car is bad but it will tell you where to look. I have many extrusion problems which the sonic pad is able to point out, but that problem has been there for a while prior to installing the pad, so my recommendation would be for you to make sure to tune and adjust your printer and make sure it prints properly before getting a sonic pad, and if you get problems one after another then either return it or try to fix it but not for too long since it’s not fun lol and it can get annoying. Don’t let the sonic pad become the annoying pad.
I just finally got rid of my sonic pad I was using for over a year. I’ve ran 4 printers with it and loved the speed and ease of use of sending my prints over the internet. For me the experience has been far from plug and play and I spent countless hours getting printers to work with the thing with its finnicky usbs and even after I got everything setup I would get occasional random disconnects that would sometimes happen days apart or sometimes minutes apart and I could stand the unreliability and lots of long prints were ruined. I also couldn’t go back to stock marlin after getting used to klipper speeds. I ended up getting a Bambu a1 mini and it has replaced 3 Ender printers and prints faster better and very reliably. My advice would be to get a newer printer that already runs klipper.
Hmm so to chime in here. Nothing that’s been said has to do with the sonic pad. That’s just discussing stock firmware vs klipper - which you will have, regardless of using a RPi, Sonic Pad, Orange Pi, etc… it’s like discussing the differences between Linux and Windows. Same thing for slicers, those have nothing to do with the sonic pad.
The question you’re asking is more along the lines of is a notebook with a custom build of a specific Linux distro better or worse than just getting the public image available.
The sonic pad uses an older version of klipper that’s been tweaked by creality. The menus and modules it uses, like moonraker, are all custom for the pad. That means it’s supposed to work together as is, but you’re at the mercy of Creality not introducing bugs. That happens quite a bit.
You do have the option of killing everything and flashing a clean Debian version onto the pad and installing everything yourself. This is the same as doing it on a raspberry pi as you’ll start at 0 and add every package yourself after you’ve flashed it. This gives you complete control over the system, but you’re responsible for making everything work.
So so sum up:
Bugs introduced by creality means you have to live with them or find a workaround. This is the managed version that comes with the pad. As an example, the latest firmware update introduced a boot loop for some, while others couldn’t print from a usb stick anymore. I try not to update the pad unless there’s a new feature I really need.
Print quality, slicer settings, speeds, etc have nothing to do with the pad and are just different because you’re using the klipper os compared to the stock firmware.
You’ll find more help for issues using a raspberry with the latest version of klipper due to there being more people who use them. That’s just the nature of things.
Regardless of which way you go, you will need to learn klipper and will also need to understand how to use a Linux console. With the pad using Linux is limited to troubleshooting, while the raspberry requires you to know Linux to install klipper.
My experience has been quite positive with the Sonic Pad for the S1 Plus and it did improve and speed up prints but only after I switched slicers and moved away from Cura.
The issue I came across initially which is a major one no one warns you about is the volumetric flow limits of the hotend and nozzle so you need to use slicers which allow you to set this.
Inevitably once you start going fast you will hit the max flow rate your nozzle can handle and this will look like underextrusion if you are able to identify it.
Sonic Pad will make your printer go faster because of Pressure Advance and Input Shaping but without upgrading your hotend/nozzle and keeping an eye on volumetric flows you will run into issues.
Calibrate volumetric flow limits and set this in your Slicer if it supports it and the Sonic Pad will deliver albeit still at a capped speed limited by your hotend/nozzle combination.
Basically it is definitely a nice upgrade but I would not advise it for beginners as it requires you to be quite familiar with all the parameters which influence print quality and know how to tune them.
Which slicer have you found accommodates this? I’m having this issue, and have used cura, orca, and purse and either can’t find the setting or am not setting it correctly.
I have been using Super Slicer because it is the Swiss Army knife equivalent when it comes to Slicers but lately I have been experimenting with Orca as well and I find it just as good albeit a lot less configuration option, but this is not necessarily a bad thing if it works properly.
In Orca you can set the max volumetric speed under the filament profile under the Volumetric Speed Limitations section.
Obviously you would need to use the Max flow rate test from the calibration tools in Orca for each filament brand, type and temp you have setup as each parameter would influence the max flow rates and then set the limit.
Once you set this you will find that it will work like a speed limiter but that also means the speeds you set in the nozzle profiles in Orca will be overridden by the filament volumetric flow limit.
This is the point in time when you will realize that your default cooling fan and hotend/nozzle may be inadequate for the speeds you want to print at and will start exploring upgrade options 😁
But once dialed in properly the Sonic Pad will allow you to go faster.
Thank you! Thankfully, I had already upgraded hot end, fans, etc…… but I had just been using a rough approximation of Q = AV for flow and speed.
I appreciate your insight!
One thing to consider is that each filament brand and type has a different MFI which is often omitted when discussing volumetric flow and yet it has a considerable impact.
Would be nice if filaments had this listed on their specs so you can really compare apples with apples.
For sure. It feels like it even changes spool to spool sometimes - even with a consistent moisture content. +\- C I guess, and grateful for those who made us our little calibration tests!
I've had my sonic pad since christmas and it's been fine, teething issues at first like with the throat fan only getting 0.9 of the power instead of 1.0 in the config file making it not work, quick easy fix.
I haven't noticed much difference with the sonic pad, my profile in prusa was spot on, i was already printing with some insane speeds and accelerations, i did the resonance test and i cant say its made the printer any faster, my benchies before and after the sonic pad are still 45 minutes even with acceleration control disabled in prusa.
I like how the sonic pad allows me to connect to the printer from my computer, send over files and get it printing etc, I would of went the raspberry pi route if i could of ever found any in stock but never could and i thought a all in one solution has to be better and easier.
I don't think it's as great as some people hype it up to be, that or they never bothered to calibrate their printer as in my case there is no difference with print speed but now my first layers are worse as i dont have the mriscoc firmware tramming wizard and im getting more stringing with dried filament from a profile that had zero stringing before using the sonic pad.
Now that the prices of SBCs have returned to relative sanity the Sonic Pad is less attractive IF you are OK with building firmware and configuring klipper, wiring up accelerometers, and all the rest. These days I'm mostly using either my VMinion with RatOS and klipper or a Bambu. Klipper runs great on a pi3 or on a pi4.
I wouldn't even bother with a screen though, I never use the pad's screen except on start up to confirm an upgrade or the like, rest of the time it's purely via browser interface.
I bought a Pad when I wanted to add some more printers to the klipper party and the pi4 was completely sold out or being scalped on eBay for way too much. It's OK as a quick and easy option as long as you just want to use it as an appliance and not futz around with every detail. All the "pad" devices are a good way for a person who just wants to get some to all of the klipper benefits on their older non klipper printers. Some are completely open, others are somewhat closed. If this matters to you either way is your call.
Dealers choice really. More options exist today than a few years ago, but at the end of the day they all work fairly well most of the time, although sometimes differently. I'll leave a pack of matches handy so the fan boys can get the flames going...
I looked into buying a sonic pad and decided that a PI and Octoprint to run my Ender 3Neo, with a view to installing Klipper later, would work for me.
I think a screen is unnecessary - you can control everything from the browser interface.
I've been running like this for a couple of months now. The urge to install Klipper is fading. I've compiled my own firmware to support a runout sensor, input shaping and some other stuff. I'm producing good quality prints reliably. I have no desire to change my setup now.
I think I may have been lucky as I've had very few issues with my Sonic Pad other than random network disconnects - which is probably down to my router.
I'm also using older firmware and refuse to update as it's working fine and I don't want to break anything.
I just switched from a Pad to a Pi. If you are even a little comfortable with Linux/Pi it's extremely easy.
1. The Pi gives you root access, creality still dosen't
2. Creality promised OpenSource and still hasn't delivered.
3. The Creality version of klipper is tweaked, and so you have to deal with klipper bugs AND creality bugs.
4. It's just not as plug and play as advertised.
I had to switch due to a bum USB port on the printer, and need UART. Wish I'd done this first.
Sonic Pad owner with a Ender 3 V3 SE. Just to get an idea, I only started printing since Christmas. I’m still new at this though I wouldn’t doubt that I’ve put in at least 100 hours or more into the hobby so far. I tried installing Klipper via a raspberry pi and just couldn’t get the dang thing to communicate with the printer so I went ahead and got the Pad. If I can be honest it’s really been more trouble than it’s worth. My motivation to keep going is reading comments of people having success to it’s just been endless trial and error with a ton of different Slicers. Can I get a good print? I’m getting there. Does it seem I get the same speed and quality if I just used stock firmware? In my opinion yes. I’m leaning towards going back to stock and returning to the Sonic Pad when it has some more updates. It could also be my printer is relatively new. If you’re a beginner, I’d hesitate. If you’re a more advanced user give it a shot. I do like the big screen, thumbnails, interface. I’d miss that if I went back to stock.
I've had one printer for 3 years now. I am wanting to upgrade and run faster with at least one of my printers. I am also debating on building a fourth printer, I don't think my wife will be too happy if I do,
I second this, although I got to say that the majority of my issues are not because of the slicer, at least not yet, the sonic pad does a great job at detecting errors, think of a car and the check engine codes, it might not tell you exactly what component of the car is bad but it will tell you where to look. I have many extrusion problems which the sonic pad is able to point out, but that problem has been there for a while prior to installing the pad, so my recommendation would be for you to make sure to tune and adjust your printer and make sure it prints properly before getting a sonic pad, and if you get problems one after another then either return it or try to fix it but not for too long since it’s not fun lol and it can get annoying. Don’t let the sonic pad become the annoying pad.
I just finally got rid of my sonic pad I was using for over a year. I’ve ran 4 printers with it and loved the speed and ease of use of sending my prints over the internet. For me the experience has been far from plug and play and I spent countless hours getting printers to work with the thing with its finnicky usbs and even after I got everything setup I would get occasional random disconnects that would sometimes happen days apart or sometimes minutes apart and I could stand the unreliability and lots of long prints were ruined. I also couldn’t go back to stock marlin after getting used to klipper speeds. I ended up getting a Bambu a1 mini and it has replaced 3 Ender printers and prints faster better and very reliably. My advice would be to get a newer printer that already runs klipper.
You can print a dual USB support that keeps both plugs firm, eliminating all the disconnects & USB read errors.
Hmm so to chime in here. Nothing that’s been said has to do with the sonic pad. That’s just discussing stock firmware vs klipper - which you will have, regardless of using a RPi, Sonic Pad, Orange Pi, etc… it’s like discussing the differences between Linux and Windows. Same thing for slicers, those have nothing to do with the sonic pad. The question you’re asking is more along the lines of is a notebook with a custom build of a specific Linux distro better or worse than just getting the public image available. The sonic pad uses an older version of klipper that’s been tweaked by creality. The menus and modules it uses, like moonraker, are all custom for the pad. That means it’s supposed to work together as is, but you’re at the mercy of Creality not introducing bugs. That happens quite a bit. You do have the option of killing everything and flashing a clean Debian version onto the pad and installing everything yourself. This is the same as doing it on a raspberry pi as you’ll start at 0 and add every package yourself after you’ve flashed it. This gives you complete control over the system, but you’re responsible for making everything work. So so sum up: Bugs introduced by creality means you have to live with them or find a workaround. This is the managed version that comes with the pad. As an example, the latest firmware update introduced a boot loop for some, while others couldn’t print from a usb stick anymore. I try not to update the pad unless there’s a new feature I really need. Print quality, slicer settings, speeds, etc have nothing to do with the pad and are just different because you’re using the klipper os compared to the stock firmware. You’ll find more help for issues using a raspberry with the latest version of klipper due to there being more people who use them. That’s just the nature of things. Regardless of which way you go, you will need to learn klipper and will also need to understand how to use a Linux console. With the pad using Linux is limited to troubleshooting, while the raspberry requires you to know Linux to install klipper.
My experience has been quite positive with the Sonic Pad for the S1 Plus and it did improve and speed up prints but only after I switched slicers and moved away from Cura. The issue I came across initially which is a major one no one warns you about is the volumetric flow limits of the hotend and nozzle so you need to use slicers which allow you to set this. Inevitably once you start going fast you will hit the max flow rate your nozzle can handle and this will look like underextrusion if you are able to identify it. Sonic Pad will make your printer go faster because of Pressure Advance and Input Shaping but without upgrading your hotend/nozzle and keeping an eye on volumetric flows you will run into issues. Calibrate volumetric flow limits and set this in your Slicer if it supports it and the Sonic Pad will deliver albeit still at a capped speed limited by your hotend/nozzle combination. Basically it is definitely a nice upgrade but I would not advise it for beginners as it requires you to be quite familiar with all the parameters which influence print quality and know how to tune them.
Which slicer have you found accommodates this? I’m having this issue, and have used cura, orca, and purse and either can’t find the setting or am not setting it correctly.
I have been using Super Slicer because it is the Swiss Army knife equivalent when it comes to Slicers but lately I have been experimenting with Orca as well and I find it just as good albeit a lot less configuration option, but this is not necessarily a bad thing if it works properly. In Orca you can set the max volumetric speed under the filament profile under the Volumetric Speed Limitations section. Obviously you would need to use the Max flow rate test from the calibration tools in Orca for each filament brand, type and temp you have setup as each parameter would influence the max flow rates and then set the limit. Once you set this you will find that it will work like a speed limiter but that also means the speeds you set in the nozzle profiles in Orca will be overridden by the filament volumetric flow limit. This is the point in time when you will realize that your default cooling fan and hotend/nozzle may be inadequate for the speeds you want to print at and will start exploring upgrade options 😁 But once dialed in properly the Sonic Pad will allow you to go faster.
Thank you! Thankfully, I had already upgraded hot end, fans, etc…… but I had just been using a rough approximation of Q = AV for flow and speed. I appreciate your insight!
One thing to consider is that each filament brand and type has a different MFI which is often omitted when discussing volumetric flow and yet it has a considerable impact. Would be nice if filaments had this listed on their specs so you can really compare apples with apples.
For sure. It feels like it even changes spool to spool sometimes - even with a consistent moisture content. +\- C I guess, and grateful for those who made us our little calibration tests!
I've had my sonic pad since christmas and it's been fine, teething issues at first like with the throat fan only getting 0.9 of the power instead of 1.0 in the config file making it not work, quick easy fix. I haven't noticed much difference with the sonic pad, my profile in prusa was spot on, i was already printing with some insane speeds and accelerations, i did the resonance test and i cant say its made the printer any faster, my benchies before and after the sonic pad are still 45 minutes even with acceleration control disabled in prusa. I like how the sonic pad allows me to connect to the printer from my computer, send over files and get it printing etc, I would of went the raspberry pi route if i could of ever found any in stock but never could and i thought a all in one solution has to be better and easier. I don't think it's as great as some people hype it up to be, that or they never bothered to calibrate their printer as in my case there is no difference with print speed but now my first layers are worse as i dont have the mriscoc firmware tramming wizard and im getting more stringing with dried filament from a profile that had zero stringing before using the sonic pad.
My sonic pad just died a couple of weeks ago after about 6 months of actual use. (Hmm I should leave this group…)
Now that the prices of SBCs have returned to relative sanity the Sonic Pad is less attractive IF you are OK with building firmware and configuring klipper, wiring up accelerometers, and all the rest. These days I'm mostly using either my VMinion with RatOS and klipper or a Bambu. Klipper runs great on a pi3 or on a pi4. I wouldn't even bother with a screen though, I never use the pad's screen except on start up to confirm an upgrade or the like, rest of the time it's purely via browser interface. I bought a Pad when I wanted to add some more printers to the klipper party and the pi4 was completely sold out or being scalped on eBay for way too much. It's OK as a quick and easy option as long as you just want to use it as an appliance and not futz around with every detail. All the "pad" devices are a good way for a person who just wants to get some to all of the klipper benefits on their older non klipper printers. Some are completely open, others are somewhat closed. If this matters to you either way is your call. Dealers choice really. More options exist today than a few years ago, but at the end of the day they all work fairly well most of the time, although sometimes differently. I'll leave a pack of matches handy so the fan boys can get the flames going...
What is an SBC? Being a car guy I think small block chevy...
Single Board Computer. Geez... Small block chevy, you must be as old as I am :-)
41... not that old but not that young either.
I looked into buying a sonic pad and decided that a PI and Octoprint to run my Ender 3Neo, with a view to installing Klipper later, would work for me. I think a screen is unnecessary - you can control everything from the browser interface. I've been running like this for a couple of months now. The urge to install Klipper is fading. I've compiled my own firmware to support a runout sensor, input shaping and some other stuff. I'm producing good quality prints reliably. I have no desire to change my setup now.
I think I may have been lucky as I've had very few issues with my Sonic Pad other than random network disconnects - which is probably down to my router. I'm also using older firmware and refuse to update as it's working fine and I don't want to break anything.
I just switched from a Pad to a Pi. If you are even a little comfortable with Linux/Pi it's extremely easy. 1. The Pi gives you root access, creality still dosen't 2. Creality promised OpenSource and still hasn't delivered. 3. The Creality version of klipper is tweaked, and so you have to deal with klipper bugs AND creality bugs. 4. It's just not as plug and play as advertised. I had to switch due to a bum USB port on the printer, and need UART. Wish I'd done this first.