New Phrozen Sonic Mini 8k S

[JeffB]

Got the notice that my Mini 8Ks has shipped. A few people have said it is not as good as the 8K, but this guy after 1 month says it is the best printer he has ever had:

The guy even printed a suction cup to try and make it fail!

I'm just glad these printers are so cheap now especially at a time when a freakin' bottle of Coke is $2.50.

Great Chris!  Can't wait to see what sort of prints you get off the new machine. 

Completely agree on the absurdity of the price of a bottle of Coke (Zero in my case)...  WTF?!  Even the promo pricing (2 bottles for $3) has gone up (up to $4 for two bottles).

So when are you going to buy a lost resin/brass/metal casting set up and start casting your own metal parts?

Jeff

[robert3985]

Don't know if it's true or not, but thought I read how the Anycubic M5 does not have the auto leveling that the M5s has. To me that would make the M5 the better of the two. That springy screen is why I didn't buy an M5s. Yeah I was going to buy both-8Ks and M5s.

Those new ACF films might make older printers even better, but they seem pricey. Like $70 for one ACF film, funny because you can buy a whole machine with ACF for the price of 5 ACF's. But hopefully the film price will come down once more places have them in stock.

Looks like the M5s is noticeably less sharp than both 22micron and 28.5micron printers.  Seems the problem isn't with the self-leveling feature, but may lie with the ACF and its lack of transparency...so Chris, looks like you made the right choice!...unless yours has ACF also!

One reviewer is going to review the Anycubic M5 and use its identical vat (not equipped with ACF) to see if it really is the film that's keeping the M5s from producing prints that are at least equal to the 22micron and 28.5micron machines.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[sd80mac]

I’m kind of sweet on the Elegoo line right now, currently printing on the Saturn 2. I really like the look of the Saturn 3 Ultra but the rectangular pixel shape of the 12K screen is kind of a downer. However, I will likely purchase a Mars 4 Ultra 9K (18um square shaped pixels) to augment my Mars 3 4K. I will say that the Phrozen Mini 8K/8KS is probably the sharpest printer out right now with the Anycubic D2 and Mars 4 DLP hot on its heels albeit not withstanding the price of either. The Mars 4/4Ultra 9K should give it some fierce competition!

Donnell

[Chris333]

Printer still has a couple more days to get here, but they dropped off the bottle of resin that came with it today. It is "Phrozen Aqua Snow-Grey 8K" resin. The sheet that came with it and the their site does not list how to clean the resin. The word "aqua" makes me think it is water wash resin, but maybe it is just water thin so they call it aqua. Either way I have no idea what is even is. Not that it really maters, but they give you a long list of all the different specs of the resin. And nothing about how to wash it.

https://phrozen3d.com/products/phrozen-aqua-8k-resin?variant=44220488188091

And how is resin 8K?

[Erock482]

Chris,

I've been using the Phrozen Aqua Gray 8K resin, alcohol was is what I have been using. Haven't tried water. Didn't thing it was a water washable resin.

As for what makes it "8K" I'm not sure. it allegedly "shows detail better" and looking at it I kinda believe it, but that might just be the dark gray color the stuff I use has.

[Chris333]

Cool at least I can give it a try. Don't really like water wash resin.

[robert3985]

For my N-scale parts, I was thinkin' they needed to retain fine details, not shrink much, and be durable...soooo...after a bad experience with plain old Anycubic "Standard" resin...which was extremely brittle, I decided to go with one of Anycubic's new resins, their "ABS-Like Resin Pro - Grey" and my printing with it has been fabulous!  It retains a high level of detail, prints relatively fast on my Anycubic M3 8k Premium, and so far, I have had zero failures, and I've printed several thousand parts and other model railroad stuff in the last two months.

Although it is relatively expensive, it has more than made up for the extra cost by its predictability, and having no failures...at all.

Here's the latest batch of parts that I printed on Saturday morning...1,008 parts, all at once...in 2 hours and 11 minutes...

Photo (1) - Ditch Lights & MU Hose Assemblies, Left & Right before washing while still on the build plate....


Photo (2) - Ditch Lights & MU Hose Assemblies after washing and curing...


Next, I'll be trying out some AC "ABS-Like Resin (non-pro)" Translucent Green and Clear for some other parts I'll be finishing up the 3D models on this week.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Chris333]

After printing I hang my build plate at 90 degrees and let it drip so I never get that puddle.

[wazzou]

After printing I hang my build plate at 90 degrees and let it drip so I never get that puddle.

That would be over the vat?

[Chris333]

Yeah.  After dripping a while I pop the prints off and put the plate back on the machine.

The old Photon was great because the build plate fit right back on the machine at 90 degrees. On the new machine I rigged up a bracket to hold the plate. On the Mini 4K I printed a bracket.

[Chris333]

Well the 8Ks is here and Son of a ***** now I need to make a drip bracket for it 

First print is running now just using the stock Chitubox settings as I have no idea what to try. And the FEP is a FEP of some sort (it is clear) no ACF to try out.

[Chris333]

Well this thing absolutely sucks! The USB port is on the side not the front 

Ha just kidding. 

It prints exactly the same except for no dead pixels. FEP still deforms the edges. The default Chitubox settings had it stuck like chuck to the build plate so I need to lessen the base layer exposure.

Now that I have a printer I will buy a ACF film and see if that helps or makes things worse. $55 bucks for a 3 pack of ACF film, $20 of that is for shipping

The old 8K makes a nice drip tray 

[robert3985]

Well the 8Ks is here and Son of a ***** now I need to make a drip bracket for it 

First print is running now just using the stock Chitubox settings as I have no idea what to try. And the FEP is a FEP of some sort (it is clear) no ACF to try out.

Show us what your "drip bracket" looks like.  On my printer, I can't flip the built plate 90deg.  Although the "puddle" looks like quite a bit of waste, it isn't that bad with four layers of paper towels on my silicone mats to clean up, but I'd prefer to let it drip back into the vat rather than having to toss it.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[haasmarc]

This is the drip bracket I use with the Mini 8K:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5206548

[Chris333]

This is mine. It ain't pretty, but it works. Replaced the clamps with screws.