Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K Help

[NDA]

Hello,

I've lurked around here a few days for 3d printer recommendations and ended up buying Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K. There aren't many digital cases for us to buy expensive 3d printers exclusively made for dental labs. I noticed the great reviews of this printer from some of you and decided to try our luck with Phrozen SM4K. I am thinking of it as a stepping stone to get more experience in 3d printing and actually try them on some of our digital cases. But I'm having a bit of an issue with the printed models.

I've been trying to print full arch models. I noticed that the side of the model came out like the side of a book. It looks like a bunch of flaps that ended up not being bonded when it's printed. I've researched the internet and was told to increase the exposure time, so I increased the exposure time to 4s and bottom exposure time to 40s. I've also replaced the resin and readjusted the z-axis. This tends to happen on the side where there's a fair amount of flat surface. When there are details, it seems to come out fine. I use Aqua Resing Gray 4K (Phrozen's standard resin). I didn't angle it because I was only printing one at a time and wanted to print one quickly. Angling it required like 5 hours of printing.

Is there anyone who had a similar problem? Are there standard parameters people use? What kind of resins do you use? I would really appreciate any help. Thank you.

 

[Affinity]

Ive been using envisiontec resins and it works out fine. Maybe post some pics of your models and parameters..

 

[RileyS]

I think it needs more light curing during each step/slice. Do you have settings you can tweak?
Also check out the dental 3d printing group on Facebook. They seem to talk about that printer a lot.

 

[tuyere]

Print a test/calibration piece and show us how it looks. I'm very fond of https://ameralabs.com/blog/town-calibration-part/, it's small and quick to print but demonstrates your exposure settings and other settings very well.

Things that will likely help: longer exposure times, heating the resin before printing, slower retraction after exposure, and using a longer delay before exposure. Just run the test piece without tweaking anything further, though.

 

[tuyere]

Also- I recommend switching to a resin with more support from its manufacturer and community, ideally a dental resin with a verified workflow and settings, but you don't need to start there and it's $$$. The generic resins from printer manufacturers are uniformly lousy, you can do better without paying more. I like Siraya Tech's products for something at a budget price-point that also has excellent manufacturer settings & live support on their Facebook/Discord page, plus a range of products tailored to your exact needs. ST Sculpt offers phenomenal fine detail and good surface hardness, Build is economical and low-shrinkage with comparable fine detail, Fast is, well, very fast to print, and Easy is very forgiving to print well and is low-smell + easy to clean.

 

[ztech]

Could you post your settings please.

 

[Sda36]

Hello,

I've lurked around here a few days for 3d printer recommendations and ended up buying Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K. There aren't many digital cases for us to buy expensive 3d printers exclusively made for dental labs. I noticed the great reviews of this printer from some of you and decided to try our luck with Phrozen SM4K. I am thinking of it as a stepping stone to get more experience in 3d printing and actually try them on some of our digital cases. But I'm having a bit of an issue with the printed models.

I've been trying to print full arch models. I noticed that the side of the model came out like the side of a book. It looks like a bunch of flaps that ended up not being bonded when it's printed. I've researched the internet and was told to increase the exposure time, so I increased the exposure time to 4s and bottom exposure time to 40s. I've also replaced the resin and readjusted the z-axis. This tends to happen on the side where there's a fair amount of flat surface. When there are details, it seems to come out fine. I use Aqua Resing Gray 4K (Phrozen's standard resin). I didn't angle it because I was only printing one at a time and wanted to print one quickly. Angling it required like 5 hours of printing.

Is there anyone who had a similar problem? Are there standard parameters people use? What kind of resins do you use? I would really appreciate any help. Thank you.

Ask Zero, The Pro on these printers!

 

[zero_zero]

Post some pics to see what is the issue. There was a sonic model which went on sale as a technology demonstrator some time ago. All the new light engine, B/W LCD screen, fast printing and such. The catch was the built in obsolescence, after a while the prints became unusable, the printer merged some cross-hatch lamellae to the print making it unusable and littering up the vat with debris. The fix was to change the date of the slice files (*.phz, IIRC ?) back to a certain date, easily done with a file manager. After some head scratching and copious amounts of beer, I was able to squeeze more life out of that printer

 

[mightymouse]

So if I recall I had the same issue when I first got mine. What I failed to do was the recommended firmware update for the slicing program. Chitubox is their free slicing software. Use the usb that came with SM4K. Go to Chitubox website. Download the version in the usb. Take that to the printer. Then update through the settings on the printer. I have to do this as the new version 1.30 just came out.

【New Release: CHITUBOX Pro V1.3.0】Super Bomb! Smart support made great innovations, boosting the efficiency of 3D printing!

With a number of new features and better slicing performance, 15 new printers added.

www.chitubox.com

This should solve all the exposure print failure issue. It did for me, especially if you’re using a resin already preset on the program which Aqua 4K is. You should be good to go after this. If not then it could be something else like suggested earlier earlier post. Keep us posted.

 

[Sda36]

Post some pics to see what is the issue. There was a sonic model which went on sale as a technology demonstrator some time ago. All the new light engine, B/W LCD screen, fast printing and such. The catch was the built in obsolescence, after a while the prints became unusable, the printer merged some cross-hatch lamellae to the print making it unusable and littering up the vat with debris. The fix was to change the date of the slice files (*.phz, IIRC ?) back to a certain date, easily done with a file manager. After some head scratching and copious amounts of beer, I was able to squeeze more life out of that printer

Exactly what I was thinking

 

[NDA]

Thank you all for your quick responses. Sorry, I only got to the conversation just now. This is the setting I have at the moment. I altered a little from the original setting such as exposure time.

I forgot to take a picture of the problem when it first came out. It went straight to the trash can (I was dumb). The only picture I have with the problem is the below picture. It's not for the work. I noticed that the more detailed version seemed to print fine, so I was having a little fun with it and noticed this. It has a similar problem I mentioned when I created this thread. The dental model I printed had those little flaps on the side. It was a lot shorter, but a lot more flaps. For comparison, when I blew it with an air compressor, it looked like algae in moving water. And the part was still very sticky after drying and curing.

I'm printing test cases right now. I'll post pictures of the model by the end of today or tomorrow after printing more models for the test. I'll also print the calibration piece too and I'll try updating the firmware. Thank you all and I'll try to get back as soon as possible with the update.

 

[NDA]

Update:
I'm adding some photos of my models and calibration pieces recommended yesterday. Walls tend to be not smooth and those surfaces tend to be sticky even after thorough cleaning with brush and alcohol. Also, the holes I made here are deformed. The pins that are supposed to be perfect fit don't fit at all.



I tried updating the firmware with the Phrozen manual and now it's having a white screen and I can't seem to print anything now. I couldn't find the solution online, so I reported to Phrozen for help and am waiting for their response. If anyone has a solution to this issue, I would greatly appreciate your help.

 

[mightymouse]

Sorry for the headache. My experience with Phrozen support is plan on at least 1-2 days before any response via email. Since they are based out of Asia they get the emails when their off work then it goes in order of people who responded before you. Before they were pushing into dental heavy I emailed just about everyone letting them know that a German resin company (Pro3dure) I contacted had a denture resin validated for their printer and just needed them to do whatever a company does to sign off. No word. Just plan on waiting at least a day before they get back to you on the support side of things. In terms of fixes they have a great but basic (won’t get to heavy into the weeds) tutorial page.

https://helpcenter.phrozen3d.com/hc/en-us/categories/6453530331417-Sonic-Mini-4K

 

[Gru]

Nice articulator attachment. Which is it?
I've an 8k that I haven't tuned in yet so I'm watching this thread!

 

[Toothman19]

If I can remember, I'll screenshot my resin settings tomorrow. If your models are still feeling tacky its cause they aren't fully cured. What curing unit are you using and for how long? What percentage isopropyl are you using?

 

[grantoz]

i think thread is the reason i buy asiga printers ,plug them in calibrate and away i go.

 

[tehnik]

I just wanted to say the same, if you are not tech savvy or don't have time to play with settings, then you should keep away from cheap tech with really no support. The printers itself are very good however.

 

[Car 54]

View attachment 42985
Nice articulator attachment. Which is it?
I've an 8k that I haven't tuned in yet so I'm watching this thread!

It's for the iTero articulator.

 

[bigj1972]

Good Thread

 

[NDA]

Sorry for the headache. My experience with Phrozen support is plan on at least 1-2 days before any response via email. Since they are based out of Asia they get the emails when their off work then it goes in order of people who responded before you. Before they were pushing into dental heavy I emailed just about everyone letting them know that a German resin company (Pro3dure) I contacted had a denture resin validated for their printer and just needed them to do whatever a company does to sign off. No word. Just plan on waiting at least a day before they get back to you on the support side of things. In terms of fixes they have a great but basic (won’t get to heavy into the weeds) tutorial page.

https://helpcenter.phrozen3d.com/hc/en-us/categories/6453530331417-Sonic-Mini-4K

Thank you. Yeah, I noticed that they tend to be slow in their response when I first inquired about the printer before buying it. I'll wait one more day before trying their hardware troubleshooting tutorial. I can be clumsy, so I don't want to touch sensitive parts in case I break it. If I don't hear from Phrozen, I'll have no choice but try everything I can.