Phrozen Sonic Mini 4k

[timwatson]

Looking for better resolution and faster cure times @Chris333 and I started down the same path separately. We ended at the same place looking at the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4k printer.

• It has 720PPI or 35 microns per voxel.
• It's approx 25% larger than the original Photon.
• 2 seconds per layer using Phrozen "4k" resin.
• It's a ChituBox based board/system.
• It appears to be more expensive than it was in September. $300 vs $400 now.

Here is a review from MakeUseOf.

Here is a review from UncleJessy.

Here is a review from 3dPrintFarm.

Post your impressions if you end up getting this machine.

[timwatson]

I found a resin printing spreadsheet as well. Impressive layer times.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eQ0ifTlMXSxCr-EaFGtyJiFeyUOb9WYDEz1wFuE7oJQ/htmlview

[C855B]

My question: how well does it do with technical prints? It's a bit of a pet peeve that folks demo'ing 3D printers seem to pick human and animal figures as quality examples. Yes, maybe they show improved anti-aliasing, but how do you determine if are they dimensionally correct (output = CAD), and how are the build lines on a flat surface or subtle curve? And how repeatable are results at the edges of the performance envelope?

[Chris333]

I think 99.99% of people with 3D printers use them for war game figures...

Here is a review that isn't so good:

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Toward the end he talks about the tape around the screen (I guess a lot of newer printers have this) and the print head flexing. After watching the video I thought it was a simple upgrade to a Sonic Mighty 4K, but then you find out that the term 4K means nothing. The mighty with a bigger screen has less resolution. So I ordered the mini just for it's pixel size.

Last night I replace the screen on my OG Photon and it is back running great again. But I'm still hoping this new printer has crisper prints.

[wazzou]

Chris, when you say "screen", is that an LCD?  How expensive are they to replace?
I see where this Phrozen model says 2,000 hours.  In terms of what you're doing, is that a pretty long time?

[Chris333]

Yes the LCD screen. Who knows... 2000 hours is a lot of game pieces 

I read that the OG Photon screens only last a year, but I got over 2 years out of mine and I think I use it a lot. There is no hour meter. The old screens were color and wear out quicker. New screens are B&W. That plus the light under them is getting brighter now. So now you can set the light to 80% brightness and get even more time out of the screen.

So new mono screens with a brighter light means less time to expose so less wear on an already better screen.

As for my screen. I think there was a hole in the FEP and resin got in the gap around the screen and seeped into the screen layers. There were round dots that showed up in the light test and when I pulled the screen and held it up to light I could see those round dots. My prints had those round areas missing. So really my screen didn't fail, it got damaged. The new screen was about $30

Also in some of the screen replacement videos I see folks machines covered in resin with finger prints all over. My 2+ year old machine looks brand spankin' new. If I get a drop of resin I clean it right then.

[wazzou]

Ah, sheesh $30 isn't so bad.  I'd say amortized over 2 years, that's pretty good.
I just thought they'd be more than that for some reason.

[Chris333]

And the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K is $349.99 if you order it direct, plus $49 for shipping, so $399.99 You can get it on Amazon for $409 with free shipping so yet another example of how Amazon prices are not the lowest. 

But on the other hand for the extra $10 Amazon might deliver it the next day on a Sunday.

[peteski]

These LCD screens are similar to, and probably made by the same company that make screens for smart phones and tablets.  So I quess the price is not out of line with those other type screens.  Actually Chris mentioned that the original screens were color (but obviously all the color pixels were passing UV light).  Those were likely standard screens used in smart phones and tablets.

Now with monochrome screens used it appears that the 3D printer manufactures need large enough quantity of screens to have the screen manufacturer custom make them without the color filter matrix, so they are now black/white (since no color capability is needed for passing UV light).

[Chris333]

My new screen is for an Elegoo printer and it fits my Anycubic Photon so yeah the screens are pretty much all the same.

The original crowd funding I saw for this type of printer used a vat that sat right on a smart phone.

[timwatson]

@Chris333 looks like there are many who have taken the plunge on the 4k in the Phrozen Reddit forum. Looks like there are some QC issues with the z axis.


https://www.reddit.com/r/Phrozen/

[Chris333]

Yeah I joined the Facebook group. I think no matter what printer you get you'll find people having problems with it. I'll just wait till mine gets here and see how it goes.

What exactly is wrong with the Z rail?

[timwatson]

Yeah I joined the Facebook group. I think no matter what printer you get you'll find people having problems with it. I'll just wait till mine gets here and see how it goes.

What exactly is wrong with the Z rail?

Looks like a few users said it just stopped working. Sounds like a loose connection or bind. Also that comment from the video you posted is really valid with regard to the gap between the screen and fep. On the photon we take that for granted since it's completely flush. So that will be something to check.

[Chris333]

Ah well I have a spare Z rail sitting right here in my spare Photon. And maybe if the Photon had tape around the screen mine wouldn't have failed. I bought some Kapton tape to redo mine when it gets here. That part of leveling the screen with tape seems easy to do.

[Erock482]

Chris I saw you ordered one of these Phrozen units, when do you expect it to arrive? I'm eyeballing a new larger printer and higher resolution would be a bonus as well as faster print times. I had been considering the new Photon Mono X but the slightly lower resolution is a bit of negative in my book. I'd be curious to see how the results look with the Phrozen