Well I've been a little quite on the 3D Printing venture of late, but earlier this month things took a positive step forward with the arrival of my new printer.
The Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K, has a bigger build area, and double the resolution of my previous Mini 4K printer. It's resolution is 0.022mm compared to the older 4K @ 0.035mm.
The bigger build plate has finally allowed my to print my first project at full HO Scale size. The RDG - FWd Depressed Centre - Flat Car.
I can now fit the 54' (HO scale) flat car into the build area, at the correct build angle, and both sets of trucks. The build time is a little over 16 hours.
I can now fit the 54' (HO scale) flat car into the build area, at the correct build angle, and both sets of trucks. The build time is a little over 16 hours.
This is was the first print, and also a test print after dialling the settings of the new 8K resin & Phrozen print setting.
I was amazed at how well the first/test print turned out, there was no warping of the main body, there was no failures of any of the prints, and the flat car deck was super smooth too.
The flat car is strong and when flexed slightly did not snap, and maintained its shape. The trucks are flexible enough to get the Intermountain 33" wheel sets in too.
Underneath showing the three recesses for the stick in 1/4oz wheel weights.
Next stage is to install some Kadee #158 - Whisker Couplers, screws for the truck bolsters and test out on the layout track.
Stay Tuned...
That looks great! I've been printing Monon flat cars, gondolas, and wood cabooses on my little Qidi Shadow 6.0 (2k 6" lcd with 47 um x-y resolution) and they've been acceptable, but that 8k printer looks really nice. Do you use a different resin for the higher resolution printers? What resins have you had good success with? I'm still trying to find one with minimal shrinkage that maintains the finer details of my parts.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew,
DeleteIt's turned out really well for my first full print/test print. Printers have jumped leaps & bounds, I already have the Sonic Mini 4K and you can see the difference already.
The resin I've used for this was supplied in the printer bundle, it's Phrozens - Aqua 8K Grey resin, which is designed for this printer. It took awhile to dial in the 4K equivalent but the 8K was pretty much Phrozens recommended settings from their website. It's quite rigid/strong, but still has some flex in it too, small parts are somewhat brittle and care needs to be taken when handling them...
I haven't had any major issues with shrinkage to date, but then I haven't measured this model to check yet either.