Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K 3D Printer Overview

The Sonic Mega 8K photopolymer 3D printer from Phrozen has one of the largest print areas you can find in the desktop 3D printer market.

The Sonic Mega 8K has a build area of 330 x 185 x 400 mm and is the first desktop printer equipped with a 15-inch monochrome UV 8K display. This allows it to print at a stunning 43 micron resolution, which is twice as accurate as other large photopolymer printers. This is a very high level of detail for desktop 3D printers with such a large assembly area.

The price of this printer is about $1,600.

Pros of

• Exceptionally large print volume
• High quality printing
• Industrial-grade printing

Cons

• Higher print volume creates some cleaning and maintenance problems
• Lacks some convenient features
• Prints very slowly

There are other printers with similar 3D print volumes, but they don’t have 8K screens, so the highest resolution they can provide is around 90 microns. In addition to this obvious advantage, the Mega 8K’s price tag of about $1,600 sets it apart from other players in the industry.

So, if you’re looking for a large photopolymer printer, the Mega 8K is by far the most affordable than its current competitors. However, having such a large build volume creates some maintenance issues.

Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K 3D printer device

Large volume 3D printing

The Sonic Mega 8K from Phrozen is a large machine. With a build volume of 330 x 185 x 400 mm.

You’ll have to work hard to find a 3D printer with a large print volume for reasonable money. At the time of writing, only the Peopoly Phenom L and Epax X156 duo exist. Both are slightly larger than the Mega 8K, but both print at nearly half the resolution and cost more than $1,000 more. However, the ~$1600 price tag can hardly be considered a budget price.

15-inch 8K LCD display.

The Mega 8K really stands out. At the time of this writing, no 3D printer has as many pixels as the new Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K, which is 7680 x 4320 to be exact. On the 330 x 185mm monochrome screen, the print resolution in the XY region is 43 microns.

Phrozen’s Sonic Mini 4k or the recently released Elegoo Mars 3 achieve 35 micron resolution, but they are much smaller in size. Prior to the release of the Mega 8K, 4K displays were considered top-of-the-line with a print resolution of about 75-90 microns, depending on size.

The bigger the screen gets, the more space a pixel has to take up, resulting in less detailed resolution. With an 8K Mega screen, it can improve 3D printing detail by about twice as much as on budget mid-size photopolymer 3D printers, whose resolution typically ranges around 70-90 microns.

In addition to high resolution, the screen is also monochrome, which means it can cure resin layers quickly and have a longer usage life before you have to replace it.

As for the speed of 3D printing, although the layer curing time is still only 2-3 seconds, we will come back to that later, but this printer is very slow .

The build platform for 3D printing

Resin 3D printing literally depends on the quality of the printing plate, or more specifically, the adhesion to it. Every time the printing plate separates from the bottom of the reservoir, there is a suction effect or peeling force on the prints, which can cause the prints to partially peel off or come off completely. Phrozen has taken some steps to counteract the laws of physics.

The Mega 8K comes with a perforated 3D printing platform. First, this means it will be lighter, but more importantly allows excess resin to flow back into the reservoir, minimizing the total weight and therefore effort of the printer process.

If you’ve used medium-sized photopolymer 3D printers, you’ve probably seen an inclined printing platform that essentially does the same trick of allowing excess resin to drain back out. Even though the holes allow some of the excess resin to drain away, there will always be a film of resin on the surface of the mold that you have to remove.

Another noteworthy feature of the platform is that it comes pre-aligned at the factory. Pre-calibrated printing plates were usually for professional, more expensive printers, but they have recently appeared in the budget sector on machines like Nova3D’s Bene4 Mono. Calibrating platforms on photopolymer 3D printers can be a very tedious task.

The two handles allow you to hold the plate, and the mechanism that holds the plate in place is convenient and straightforward.

Sturdy mounts

With such a large 3D printer, the print platform has to be really stable to support its own weight and the weight of the prints hanging from it. For the Mega 8K, Phrozen chose dual-rail guides and a ball-screw design along with a sturdy print platform mount. Wobble – negatively affects 3D printing and the heavier the weight carried, the more likely the wobble effect will be greater.

Tank

By volume, you can pour about 1,500 ml of resin into the reservoir.

Case

The exterior of the Mega 8K is simply gorgeous. Measuring 400 x 470 x 680 mm and weighing 35 kg, it is made of sleek black aluminum with doors that open outward like the Phrozen Transform. A large 5-inch touchscreen and USB connector are around the details on the front, while two fans, a power switch, and an Ethernet port are on the back. Since this is a device, we would have preferred the power button to be in a more accessible location, but it is what it is.

You need quite a bit of space left and right to fully open the work chamber doors, but once you do, you get the convenience and it’s definitely a better design choice compared to doors that open sideways, for example.

3D printing and usability of the Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K

The Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K is a heavy 3D printer, in terms of lifting this 35-kilogram printer. Once you find a suitable location for it, a pre-calibrated printing plate comes into play, meaning no alignment is required and you can start printing right away.

Preparing for 3D printing

CBD-Tech, the OEM of the printer control board and mother company ChiTu Systems, has scrambled their latest controller, making the ChiTuBox the only slicer you can use for the Mega 8K. In fact, it’s now two slicers, as you can choose between the basic, free version and the Pro version if you want to pay ~$179 a year and get access to some extra features, such as convenient auto-restore and print orientation features.

However, the basic version works just as well. Even if you choose the Pro version and use some features such as automatic orientation, you have to use some of the resin 3D printing capabilities as it can’t always find the best or most appropriate alignment or support placement. In general, proper 3D printing preparation is vital to successful 3D printing.

A definite disadvantage that should be mentioned is the enormous amount of RAM power that ChiTuBox requires when running. True, there’s not much Phrozen can do about that, but it becomes clearly visible when working with large 3D models. ChiTuBox unfortunately requires a lot of processing power, especially when you have multiple objects or large models on your platform.

What’s handy is the many settings already provided with the Mega 8K profile. You can choose print settings for different Phrozen resins to get the best results. The company also has a detailed list of 8K resin profiles for more information on its website. The two liters of Phrozen resin provided used up fairly quickly, printing with photopolymer resins, third-party manufacturers did not pose a problem. Remember, if you need to refill the photopolymer reservoir in the middle of printing, you better stir enough resin separately to gradually add and keep the color and temperature uniform.

What you should pay attention to is the printing temperature. No, we didn’t go into FDM by accident. If you’ve worked with medium to small photopolymer printers so far, you may not be too familiar with the effect of temperature on 3D printing success, especially if these prints tend to take dozens of hours or even days. We definitely recommend installing the printer in an environment protected from temperature fluctuations or drafts. Temperature fluctuations can cause the resin to simply not stick to the surface.

Printed 3D Models

We did the math, and it ended up taking about half a minute for each layer. Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. Again, your print ~12-15 cm high will have about 3,400 layers. By comparison, printing the same size model on the Elegoo Mars 3 took less than 3 hours, whereas on the Mega 8K (standard settings) you would have had to wait half a day. Obviously, using the Mega 8K is only viable for 3D printing large objects.

The real strength of the Mega 8K in any case lies in its high printing accuracy. And let’s not forget that the mono screen also lasts about four times longer, which means you need to spend less money on its maintenance in the future.

Now back to print quality, which combined with the huge print volume makes the Mega 8K a rare commodity. With XY 43 micron accuracy, the Mega can produce massive but very detailed and detailed prints.

3D printing Bitcoins.
Now you can print with even better quality and even more print volume, allowing you to print tabletop “miniatures,” literally an army of 300 pieces, or even entire masks and costume parts at a time.

Nevertheless, the Mega 8K carries its name for a reason, as the possibilities seem almost limitless. We have encountered several 3D printing defects, which are mostly confirmed by improper preparation, namely orientation and supports.

Who needs a Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K 3D printer?

The Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K combines several polymer 3D printing features that might tickle your imagination. It has an absolutely huge 330 x 185 x 400 mm print volume, prints at a high resolution of 43 microns, and costs less than many comparable machines, $1,600.

This price makes it particularly attractive to consumers in need of a large build volume. At the time of writing, printers of comparable size could be found starting at $2,200 and you would have to settle for lower resolution for that as well. Thus, the Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K wins in almost every way. If you need an extra-large and inexpensive polymer 3D printer right now, the Mega 8K is a definite recommendation.

If you really need a large photopolymer 3D printer, you have to ask yourself up front: do I really NEED that much build volume? Large printers tend to create their own problems, and if you’re only printing tiny figures anyway, there’s absolutely no benefit to a 15-inch printer compared to the average 6-inch screen. In fact, the disadvantages may even outweigh the benefits, especially because the printer takes much longer to print compared to your small to medium sized machines. In addition, you’ll be using more resin, and consumables will be much more expensive.

If you’re almost certainly never going to print large objects, you don’t need this printer and we really don’t recommend shelling out $1,600 for it.

Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K 3D Printer Specifications

MAIN FEATURES

Technology: LCD
Type: Photopicture
Year: 2021
Assembly: Fully assembled and calibrated
Manufacturer: Phrozen
Country: Taiwan
3D PRINTING CHARACTERISTICS

3D printing assembly volume: 330 x 185 x 400 mm
Layer height: 10 microns
XY resolution: 43 microns
Z-axis positioning accuracy: 0.00125 mm
Printing speed: 70 mm/h
Bed alignment: Precalibrated
Display: 5 inch touch screen
Third Party Materials: Yes
Materials: 405nm UV resin
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

Recommended slicer: ChiTuBox
Operating System: Windows/macOS X/Linux
File Types: STL
Connectivity Options: USB, Ethernet
SIZES AND WEIGHT

Frame dimensions: 400mm x 470mm x 680mm
Weight: 35 kg