The Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K 3D Resin printer – let’s give it a review.
Hey guys,
I’ve had lots of folks writing to me about this one, so I guess there are a lot of
people out there that are as excited as me to see Phrozen’s latest creation.
The box arrived, slightly crumpled from its journey,
but the well packaged interior remained unharmed, and whilst removing the protective wrapping,
I noticed that the Mighty 8K has adjustable feet, to help level the printer perfectly.
The outer casing is plastic, as pretty much all companies are doing now it seems,
but everything up from that is robust metal. In fact, whilst dimensions and print sizes are
very similar, the Phrozen is 3Kg heavier than the Elegoo Saturn 2 that I reviewed a few weeks ago.
The Mighty 8K comes with a built-in video camera that can connect through an App allowing
remote viewing, etc. Unfortunately, at time of receipt, the App was not available for testing,
so I can’t comment on it yet. Hopefully I can revisit this on another occasion.
The print plate has the funkiest pattern etched upon it that I’ve seen to date,
and personally I’ve not found it brilliant with adhesion, but time will tell.
This fixes firmly on the Z arm with a single knob and slides smoothly on
widely spaced dual linear rails. The resin tray is metallic,
secured with two removable bolts and has a clear max level indicator.
The underside has four quite prominent metal feet that position the tray within corresponding holes.
Beneath the tray lives a noteworthy 8K Monochrome screen, which produces
an impressive XY resolution of 28 microns, which is not quite as remarkable as the 22
microns on their Mini 8K, but close enough that prints should thrill us.
The front houses the first of 2 USB ports, with the second being at the rear, right next to an
ethernet port. This second USB port can be used to plug in a provided Wi-Fi dongle. But as I
mentioned, I haven’t tested connectivity – yet! The front USB is obviously for uploading print
files and the provided thumb drive contains a user manual, test prints and slicer software.
Now if this has happened previously, I haven’t noticed it, so I was very
pleased to see Phrozen providing not only ChiTuBox software, but Lychee as well.
That leaves just the 3.5 inch colour touchscreen. And wow, do I love this.
The colours are sharp, clear and complementary to the design of the printer.
It may look blue in this recording, but in real life the background is a dark grey with orange
accents – and it’s very pleasant on the eye. Genuinely, this is the best printer User Interface
I’ve personally seen, so forgive me if I ramble excitedly about it for a moment.
From the moment you plug it in, the Mighty 8K
takes you by the proverbial hand and makes printing easier.
Initially it gives you the option to name your printer, which is useful if you own more than one.
Then it wants to test and calibrate things, starting with the LCD screen.
It quickly moves on to levelling the build plate, taking you through the process, step by step.
Finally, it wants to run a print test and sure,
it’s hoping you’re using Phrozen Aqua 8K resin – and if you are, it’s just waiting for a click
to get you started, but it will allow you to print using other resins too.
Look at this menu screen. Watch this… a QWERTY keyboard. That’s just great.
Want to move the Z Arm? Use this slider if you’re in a hurry.
And if you ignore it for a few minutes, it plays this funky screensaver.
Yes, I know, I’m easily entertained. It’s beautiful, it’s clear, and it’s
an absolute triumph for Phrozen. This is the way User Interface’s should be done.
But does it print? Now, to begin with,
yes, I did use Phrozen Aqua 8K resin, but I have to confess it’s my personal favourite resin,
and you’ve seen me use it a number of times, regardless of the brand of printer. Now it’s not
compulsory to that you use this resin, but I have it and I like it, so it’s the one for me here.
I set out to run the Phrozen XP exposure test print as you’ve seen me describe
in a dedicated video. I started with these settings using Lychee, my favourite slicer,
but I got a nasty shock. I panicked, and I’m telling you so you don’t have to.
Lychee are aware of this problem and are sorting it out right now. By the time the Mighty 8K
is in the hands of Phrozen’s first customers, I’m confident Lychee will have this sorted.
So I reverted to ChiTuBox, but I found the print didn’t stick all that well to the plate.
Eventually I ended up adjusting the base layer times to 40 seconds and what you see here
are the settings I used for the following prints, all without anti-aliasing.
The AmeraLabs Town Test print was every bit as good as I expected,
so I cracked on with a few other prints. I’ll mention briefly at this point, Phrozen
have sent me their Saber Ultra Sonic Knife to try. Its function is to cut away resin supports,
and I’ll probably do a mini review on this in a few days. So look out for that video.
For my jewellery designing buddies out there,
I printed the Open Source test ring with great success.
Last week you may have seen me design, print and cast in bronze this Cyborg Skull ring.
I used the Mini 8K for that, so it seemed only fair to let the Mighty 8K have a go at printing it
too. It’s hard to pick flaws. It’s a great print. And then, of course, I then turned to our buddies
at ArchVillain Games to print something detailed and impressive. The Mighty 8K didn’t disappoint.
So what do I think of the Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8K.
Well, let’s not beat about the bush, it’s expensive.
It’s a couple of hundred dollars more than its Elegoo rival and that can hurt your wallet.
The question is, is it worth the extra spend. For the most part, that extra money comes down to
Connectivity. Unlike the Saturn 2, the Mighty 8K has both Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity, allowing
you to access your printer remotely via an App. It also has a built-in camera so you can remotely
supervise your print. Of course these features remain untested at the moment, but frankly I’d
be surprised if Phrozen didn’t get the App right. Then there’s that fantastic User Interface.
Whilst I wouldn’t want to spend $200 on that alone, believe me it’s a true asset,
making printing easier, especially for those that have never 3D printed before.
In terms of quality, there’s no issues that I can see. Well, maybe just the build plate,
which I think I’ll personally end up sanding down for better adhesion.
And when it comes to prints, remember that it was Phrozen who were the first to bring us 8K printers
and personally I think that experience is showing through here, with excellent quality prints.
In my opinion, anyone buying this printer is unlikely to find themselves having regrets.
It looks great, it’s easy to use, it will have connectivity and it prints brilliantly. In short,
Phrozen have impressed me. So that’s it for this review guys.
Take care and thanks for watching.