Review on Enhance Your Printing Experience with PHROZEN Sonic Mini Printer: High-Quality Printing at Its Best by Jonathan Clark

[UPDATE 08/16/2020]Having used this thing consistently for several months I can tell you that this is a good printer. I received a defective unit, but I'm increasing this rating to 4 stars because despite the flaws, it's still a workhorse. ---------- After using the Sonic Mini for a week, I can tell you this: [INTERFACE] Familiar things here, the printer uses Chitubox software and user interface, so you can see things like that remaining time and layer exposure settings directly on the device during printing. You can pause and resume printing, manually level the desktop, etc. Phrozen 3D claims that the device is already calibrated when you receive it, so you can start printing right away, and in my experience that's true. However, you should have one go through a simple desktop alignment process so that you are familiar with it. I should note that the instructions for leveling the tabletop state that the sheet of paper must remain still when the tabletop is fully lowered, but I could still move it with some force, similar to other machines like the Elegoo Mars. It printed well. [DESIGN] Every crazy roboticist these days makes their own version of a resin 3D printer. The Sonic Mini isn't much to look at, but it sure is impressive! It whispers softly when you're not typing, but once the cantilever begins to move, it emits a loud mechanical hum that changes in pitch as it falls and rises. It even physically vibrates the machine, although I haven't noticed any negative effects on the prints from the Sonic Mini or the prints from my other resin printer next to it. positioned so that it fits properly. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to tell which side it's on, so you might have to twist a few times before you get it right. The black case is made of plastic, with metal plates on the top and bottom. This is a solid car. It's a great little printer, although I think if you make the body out of plastic you might as well give it a cool tech, robotic, futuristic design to make it stand out (and do justice to the crazy noise). Maybe Phrozen3D could share a 3D model of the inside of the machine so we can design and 3D print our own plastic cases for it. a ton of UV light is thrown through the vents. [METAL TANK] Yes, all of these Sonic Minis now come with an upgraded metal resin tank. The tub's design is simple, functional and neatly mounted on 2 threaded rods. It is held securely by two adjustment nuts that can be tightened or loosened in 2 seconds or less by turning them with your finger. Some hedgehogs might argue that the metal version isn't always better, but we'll agree to disagree. [BUILD PLATE] The printer comes with a flat metal plate that can be used as a build plate. It is leveled by adjusting 4 small screws and attaches to the top of the console with a large button head screw. When you remove the finished print you will need to hold the plate aside to allow any resin that has collected on the flat surface to flow back into the tub. I haven't had any adhesion issues, use the correct dwell time and you should be fine. DO NOT MANUALLY LOWER THE CONSOLE OUT OF REACH OF THE LCD. For example, if the mounting plate is 7mm above the LCD screen and you manually lower the cantilever 10mm, it will try to push through and make a horrible grinding noise and bend the cantilever up! Keep this in mind if you like moving your worktable up and down to mix the resin. [PRINT TIME] If you drool at the thought of printing 4x faster because layers dry 4x faster than the competition. Excuse me. Grandma doesn't. Note that other settings such as stroke speed/distance will greatly affect print times. Still, you save a lot of time, especially if you print several times a day. I regularly save 1-1.5 hours per print session with something like Elegoo Mars, which in my case is about 4 hours of time saved per day! The black resin benefits greatly as it reduces the typical exposure time from 15 seconds to around 4-5 seconds. Specifically, for that magical 1-second normal layer exposure, you need to use a "fast" resin that cures quickly. But "standard" and "ABS-like" resins also harden quickly. For example, for an ABS-like Elegoo white, you only need 2.3s. [PRINT RESOLUTION AND QUALITY] People who post "reviews" of 3D printers (and I use the term loosely) say that they don't see any difference in the notice quality. print quality. The difference is actually very clear. If you know what you are looking for. At first glance or on the shelf, there's no noticeable difference in print quality between the 0.0625mm and 0.047mm XY resolution screens (Sonic Mini FHD vs. Mars 2K). However, if you print small items and are used to working with small items frequently, you will notice a slight "pacing" or "ringing" along the XY axis. Yes, the Sonic Mini has a lower XY resolution of 0.0625mm (meaning noticeable "side resolution"). In the attached image, when these heads were printed, the XY axis went from ear to ear, nose to back of the head and as you can see there is a ringing effect. at the head 0.0625mm (XY) along this axis, while the head 0.047mm (XY) is smooth on all sides. On a painted head, the lower resolution is very noticeable. It's like ordering a chili dog, but you find out the meat inside the chili is actually tofu. a printer for quick prototypes and models that don't need to be perfect, but not the best choice for miniatures due to XY resolution.