The Phrozen Sonic 4K – let’s give it review.
Hey guys. I’ve never played with a Phrozen printer before
so I was thrilled when Phrozen sent me their Sonic 4K for an honest review.
I didn’t film unboxing it as it was so easy, but I was instantly struck by this… this
clear plastic protective wrapping. It was so tough and strong. Genuinely, it’s hard
to rip and it struck me straight away that any company that cares so much about the quality
of its wrapping must surely care a great deal about quality as a whole.
The casing backed up this theory immediately. It’s smooth, sturdy and fully metal. Look
at these hinges… they’re here to stay. I flipped open the lid and… hang on…
“Okay it has a lift off lid and maybe dedicated Photon users would prefer the hinged variety.
But I much prefer the lift off variety. Pulling off the top to get to the goodies inside is
something I’ve long enjoyed.” That’s what I was going to say… but this
lid is fully metal, and not flimsy tinny metal either. Like the hinges, it’s meant to last,
and most importantly it provides plenty of access to the interior.
The accessories were sensibly stored inside. I’ve always wondered why other companies
don’t do this. Amongst the usual paraphernalia is a metal
handle which easily screws in place. The USB port is located on the left side of
the machine, together with an ethernet port for those that fancy networking their printer.
Wifi might be a nice option as many folks find that easier to set up, though personally
I prefer the reliability of cable. But in honesty, for true reliability, stick with
the USB, that way updates or crashes won’t interrupt your printing.
The right side gives us a blank, so the rear of the printer houses a very quiet fan, the
power point and, annoyingly, the power switch. Now I like groping around the rear as much
as the next guy, but I prefer my switches on the side where I can get to them easily.
Inside we find the build plate, which is not that usual I know. But it is surprisingly
light in weight. The top is nicely angled to help shed resin, and look at these notches.
These engage with these location points and really help to lock the build plate firmly
into position. It feels very secure. The dual rails are the widest I’ve seen,
even wider in fact than those on the plus sized Anycubic Mono X, and this serves to
ensure extra stability, reducing the risk of plate wobble.
This printer has metal everywhere and that includes this lightweight but solid resin
tank. And watch this… why doesn’t everyone do this? What a great way of locating the
tank perfectly every time. Sure there’s a slight risk of stabbing or
damaging the FLP if you’re not careful, but if you can’t manage that, you really
shouldn’t try handling a small resin print. Now I didn’t like these, you’ve guessed
it, metal fixing lugs. Anything small and removable will quickly be dropped and eaten
by the dog in my house. But watch closely. Brilliant.
The majority of the thread is removed from the upright bolts, meaning just a couple of
twists fixes things quickly and securely. Under the tray is the heart of this printer,
a 4K Monochrome LCD screen. Monochrome screens print much faster than traditional printers
and last much longer. The Phrozen website reports a guaranteed 2000 hours of use. It
also lets us know that 4K is ultra-high definition, printing at 35 micrometres with 722 pixels
per inch, their highest yet. So we should expect some nice quality prints…
The display screen is wonderfully large, the largest I’ve personally seen on a printer,
which makes the menu pleasantly clear and easy to use.
The provided USB stick contains some useful files, including ChiTuBox splicing software.
A simple click of this will have it installed and almost ready for use.
At least until the next ChiTuBox update, it will be necessary to manually add the printer
to ChiTuBox and thankfully there’s a very clear PDF instruction guide to tell you how
to do that. there’s even a 4K resin configuration file
which can be imported to ChiTuBox. Now Phrozen said they’d send me some of
their Aqua-Gray 4K resin which apparently gets the best results, but it didn’t come
with the printer and won’t arrive for another week or so. There’s just no way I could
wait that long, so I opted to use some Anycubic Standard Grey resin which I already had.
Unfortunately that meant I had to a guess at these settings. You can just the results
for yourself in a while. It’s time to calibrate the printer, so that
means trawling through the instruction manual or trawling the internet for instructions.
Not with the Phrozen. You’ve got to love that. Why don’t all
printers do this? It’s such an obviously useful idea, why haven’t I seen it done
before? Well done Phrozen. On the USB stick is a test print, a ring.
It adhered nicely to the plate and after a little clean-up… nice. I print a fair bit
of jewellery and I’m very impressed with the crispness and definition I can see here.
There are teeth on these little skulls that I can’t even see with my naked eye.
Next I did my usual AmeriLabs print test. I wasn’t at all surprised to see all these
little pins had printed, though I think I flattened some whilst cleaning it. But what
did immediately grab my eye was the tiny windows on the buildings. They seem so vivid and clear.
I was so impressed I wanted something packed with detail to really put the printer through
its paces. So I turned to Archvillain Games. These guys
make some amazing miniatures. I fell in love with love with this Berserker
Bear. Perhaps because it reminds me of my wife. But whatever the reason, I had to give
it a go, and the great thing about Archvillain Games is that for their Patrons, they provide
fully supported models. This of course takes all the guesswork out of things.
So I loaded up the build plate, fitting everything on nicely. I reduced the layer height to .035
and at the advice of Archvillains halved the Lift Speed, as some of those supports are
pretty thin. The print took a little over seven hours.
Everything stuck to the plate perfectly and printed without issue.
The supports came away with absolute ease and I used a little sandpaper to clean up.
After a little spot of glue, here it is. Believe me, it’s excellent. My film making doesn’t
do it justice, nor do the blemishes left by my sanding. So I decided to add a little primer.
Yes, I know, black primer, not the cleverest idea. But I hope you can see the incredible
detail here. The bear stands at 70mm tall, which is hard to believe when you can see
the hairs on his head, the rope belt around his waist and the incredible definition in
his armour. Can resin printers produce the same quality
as a mould injection? Well this is a miniature from the Warhammer Age of Sigma range. To
me this printer is easily capable of matching the detail.
Now I know miniatures aren’t everyone’s thing, but they are a great way to demonstrate
print quality and definition, and this Phrozen seems to exude that. For me this is the best
print quality I have personally produced. And I know it’s easy for me to say that,
so I’d better put it to the test. Let’s compare it with the only other 4K machine
I have, the Anycubic Mono X. Unfortunately I’d run out of grey resin,
but this is just standard Anycubic blue resin. The only difference should be colour and I’m
happy with the settings I’ve used here. It was certainly looking good but the only
way to truly compare would be by priming both. Hmmm… well that’s hopeless. I can see
a clear winner, but I don’t think you can. Try these stills instead.
It might seem subtle but focus on the rope belt and the straps across the chest.
Now look at the crispness of the armour on the leg and the fur on the hand.
Again the rope belt and also the stitching below it.
Here it’s the armour on the shoulder. Compare the definition and the clarity.
If you haven’t guessed, the left figure was printed using the Mono X and the right
figure was printed on the Sonic 4K. And before anyone complains, I know it’s
not a perfect comparison. The Mono X has a much larger surface area to span it’s 4K
across, resulting in a lower Pixels Per Inch print, but for print quality I’d still say
it was the better than the other printers I own.
So yes, it’s subtle, but for me it’s also very clear. And if you’re serious about
print quality, whether it’s for miniatures, jewellery, dentistry, engineering or whatever,
then this Sonic 4K with it’s 722 PPI is very, very impressive.
But quality comes at a price and if you’re looking for a budget printer, you should look
away now. Yes, it’s not cheap. It’s not expensive,
believe me, as there’s plenty of five figure printers out there, but for an amateur or
small business, this might seem pricey. But if printing quality and indeed build quality
is important to you, then it’s actually a bargain. I’d love to test it up against
some of those five figure printers – I genuinely think it would kick some backside.
The good news is Phrozen also now do the Sonic Mini 4K which also prints at 722 PPI, though
it is apparently a little slower than the Sonic 4K. I have tested it be no doubt there’s
lots of plastic to keep the costs down, but if it prints as well as the Sonic 4K, it’s
sure to be a winner. In fact, our friends at Archvillain Games
are giving one away in a painting competition, but you’d better be fast if you want to
enter that as the deadline is just a few days away.
So, what do I think of the Phrozen Sonic 4K. Well I’m annoyed the switch is at the back
and I just know I’m going to drop those little fixings and end up chasing the dog.
But I can live with the switch and I certainly need the exercise.
I’ve always expressed a preference for lift of lids, but this one is metal, it’s sturdy,
and it gets out of the way, giving you plenty of access. So do you know what, I now prefer
this lid… not all hinged lids, but this one, this is my new favourite lid.
It could do with Wifi for those that don’t like cables, but honestly, is it so hard to
plug in a USB stick, and a dedicated cable is more reliable anyway.
But then there’s quality…. This printer oozes quality. There’s more metal here than
in the average scrap yard. Everything is solid, well engineered, sturdy, perfectly fitted
and reassuring in its substance. There’s clever ideas here that should be on every
printer and for that alone Phrozen deserve a big bag of praise.
However, for me it’s all about the printing… and I just can’t get over how well it prints.
I wish I had the camera equipment to do it justice. And I know you guys have heard me
say this before, but to date this is the best printer I’ve used.
If you own one of these, you’ll be delighted with its build quality, its print quality,
its quietness, its smoothness and its general all-round metallic assuredness. It’s a printer
that deserves to stand apart and for me it really does.
Is it the best out there? Are there better, cheaper, higher quality and all round sexier
printers on the market? How would I know… I’m just an average Joe. I’m a user, not
an industry specialist. But as a user, I can say this printer has me grinning like a kid
at Christmas. I love it and I’m sure you would too.
Anyway, that’s the end of this one guys. I hope you found it helpful.
As always, feel free to ask me any questions and post me your comments.
So take care guys, and thanks for watching.