Phrozen Sonic Mini 4k

[JeffB]

I'm using Elegoo grey (standard)/Siraya Blu (original) - mixed together and the Monocure resin dye.
I think once painted the grain will end up being toned down.

Wow!  That's quite the concoction!

Hope everything works out for you in the end.

Jeff

[Wutter]

I'm using Elegoo grey (standard)/Siraya Blu (original) - mixed together and the Monocure resin dye.
I think once painted the grain will end up being toned down.

What exposure settings are you using for your blended resin (on both machines)? Just wondering if its closer to the Elegoo exposure settings since the resin is more opaque than it is translucent?

[Chris333]

On my Photon I have used a few different colors of transparent Anycubic resin along with Anycubic grey and mixed the grey with the transparent. I have also used Elegoo grey resin, but never mixed it with anything else. I have always used the same settings for everything. 8 seconds.

[narrowminded]

On my Photon I have used a few different colors of transparent Anycubic resin along with Anycubic grey and mixed the grey with the transparent. I have also used Elegoo grey resin, but never mixed it with anything else. I have always used the same settings for everything. 8 seconds.

@Chris333  At what layer thickness?  I have used more but at .05 layers.

[Chris333]

Mostly .05 layers. I tried .02 at the very start and thought it sagged a lot. Once or twice since I have tried .02 layers and didn't have a problem though. But I also didn't think that .02 was any better in the details for what I do. For I stick with .05.

Looking at most of the grey resins they all suggested around 12 seconds, but I've been fine at 8.

[PJPickard]

These resin blends...what is the purpose? I have enough trouble getting a single resin to print well, this seems to throw in another variable that might change the outcome.

[Chris333]

These resin blends...what is the purpose?

Finishing the bottle 

[JeffB]

Mostly .05 layers. I tried .02 at the very start and thought it sagged a lot. Once or twice since I have tried .02 layers and didn't have a problem though. But I also didn't think that .02 was any better in the details for what I do. For I stick with .05.

Looking at most of the grey resins they all suggested around 12 seconds, but I've been fine at 8.

For small details that don't have any overhangs, I've found that 0.02mm layers work fine.  I did a Westinghouse air brake reservoir/triple valve for HOn30, which looked pretty good at 0.05mm layer height, but looked much better at 0.02mm and printed without any sagging or deformation.  I guess it depends on the size, shape and features.

But for large items like locomotive cabs, boilers or car bodies, 0.05mm layers are more than sufficient (Chris333 clued me into that).

Jeff

[narrowminded]

Mostly .05 layers. I tried .02 at the very start and thought it sagged a lot. Once or twice since I have tried .02 layers and didn't have a problem though. But I also didn't think that .02 was any better in the details for what I do. For I stick with .05.

Looking at most of the grey resins they all suggested around 12 seconds, but I've been fine at 8.

With anything I've ever printed I haven't even tried .02 layers yet.  

For your bottom layers are you still going in the 1-2 minute range?  There again, I've been holding with about 1 minute 50 seconds for eight layers and have never had a failure using that setting.  That says it could probably work with less but I've been reluctant to even screw with it, especially being only the first 8 layers and zero failures.

[Chris333]

I use 100 seconds for the first few layers. I think it was Mark W. here that first suggested those settings and I just never changed them.

I forgot that I tired water wash grey resin as well... with the same settings.

[timwatson]

Wow!  That's quite the concoction!

Hope everything works out for you in the end.

Jeff

It's an amazing concoction. Strong like bull but great detail. Look up the sheer strength of Siraya Blu on YouTube it's fabulous stuff but it's not got the most fine detail.

What exposure settings are you using for your blended resin (on both machines)? Just wondering if its closer to the Elegoo exposure settings since the resin is more opaque than it is translucent?

These are my current settings. I had bottom settings at 9s and that was a bit too small - I had peeling from the build plate. 16s bottom layers is excellent right now so I'll hang out there for awhile. I am also using the VROOM settings (180mm/min) for peeling - YouTube that.

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When mixing resin:
Use the longest resin exposure time from one of the 2 resins. So if your normal exposure time is 3s for one resin and 6s for another, start with 6s exposure time and dial it back from there. So in the old Anycubic RGB LCD this same resin (Siraya Blu and Elegoo Grey) was 12s per layer. Now with the Phrozen I can get away with 5.5s exposure time per layer. This is for .03mm layers.

Mostly .05 layers. I tried .02 at the very start and thought it sagged a lot. Once or twice since I have tried .02 layers and didn't have a problem though. But I also didn't think that .02 was any better in the details for what I do. For I stick with .05.Looking at most of the grey resins they all suggested around 12 seconds, but I've been fine at 8.

Something to keep in mind there is a physical limitation on the LCD of how high it's resolution can go. The PSM4k can go up to 35 microns on the XY (or .035mm). The z axis can go .01mm ... so you have to keep things rounded to the .01mm so the z-axis won't have any rounding errors (or half steps). Half steps lead to inaccurate z-axis issues - usually in the form of banding. The lowest non-interpolated resolution this machine can get and be even on the z-axis is .03mm (even that is slightly interpolated). You can always go smaller but the image displayed on the screen will be interpolated or start to get fuzzy. It's like making a 72dpi image from the web bigger. That's the negative effect of interpolation.

These resin blends...what is the purpose? I have enough trouble getting a single resin to print well, this seems to throw in another variable that might change the outcome.

Strength, durability along with flexibility and detail retention. Blended resins can get you all of those things. Look up a video by the 3d printing dude about Siraya Fast and Tenacious mixed together. It's like delrin strong. I attached it below.

Here is the resin dye.
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This also came today from Merry Old England from Mr. Simon Jackson. Turns out it's drilled for the same hole spacing as our z-axis screws! Yippee. This is the Elegoo Mars version (Red Black)


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You want the one with the trapezoidal hole spacing. 37mm is our z-axis hole spacing.


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This forum hates apple photos.

[timwatson]

Also a few things to report that I haven’t reported on the PSM4K User Community.


1. The Regular Nintendo Switch (not lite version) Tempered Glass Screen cover should fit over the top of our LCD’s in between the vat posts.
2. To fix the uneven (front to back) difference in height of the LCD place a 2-3mm wide sliver of Kapton tape (.06mm thick)  under the LCD edge (at the back) between the glass and the LCD. This raises the gap of the back of the LCD to .47mm which is much closer to the .51mm gap at the front.


Don’t hang out and ask questions in the official Phrozen FB forum (unless you need an “official” answer) they will delete your post. Post it in the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4k User Community. That’s where the good back and forth can happen.

[Chris333]

The video made me lol. He is making 1" tall figures and worried about them being flexible.


What is the thing about the screen cover? I've seen other talking about this. Is a 4K screen surface different than the Photon screen surface? Or is the idea to get a larger perfectly smooth and level surface for the vat to sit?

[timwatson]

The video made me lol. He is making 1" tall figures and worried about them being flexible.


What is the thing about the screen cover? I've seen other talking about this. Is a 4K screen surface different than the Photon screen surface? Or is the idea to get a larger perfectly smooth and level surface for the vat to sit?

The screen doesn’t sit parallel to the base. It leans backward.it’s .35mm at the back and .51mm proud at front. The idea is to the get the screen parallel to the base so the leaning isn’t exasperated. It’s another cause of the prints not being square.

[Chris333]

These are back in stock on Amazon while I'm still waiting for a shipping e-mail from Phrozen.