There are so many great 3D printers out there that can offer good print quality depending on what you want to get. For those who are looking for a detailed result, resin printers Phrozen Sonic Mini Vs ELEGOO Mars are two great options which are not only reliable but also affordable for more users to purchase. If you are also interested to buy one of these popular machines, do check what they can offer below and which of them will be the better choice.
In this article, we are going to give you information about:
- What to Know about Resin 3D Printing
- What are Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars
- What Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars Look Like
- How are the Specification of Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars
- How are the Z Axis on Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars
- How are the Performance of Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars
- Phrozen Sonic Mini Vs ELEGOO Mars
3D Printer
Technology has come in such a long way from the invention of the telephone now when people are carrying various devices in their bag to communicate with each other and to complete various tasks or just getting some entertainment. Our printers are also getting more capable and not only words or images on papers, now we can also print an actual object from your computer on a piece of machine called a 3D printer. This once niche technology is getting more popular and widespread today.
| Phrozen Sonic Mini | Elegoo Mars | |
|---|---|---|
  |   |
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| Product Dimensions | 18 x 12 x 11.75 inches | 15.75 x 16.54 x 7.87 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 11.7 Pounds | 16.8 Pounds |
| Best offer | Check price | Check price |
As the name suggests, this is a machine in which the purpose is to create an actual object or three-dimensional object based on your digital file; in this term your digital design of something whether it is a model or prototype and parts of your items. They are very convenient to have because now we can make lots of items right at home and it opens a new world or creativity where you can both design and realize it in such a short amount of time.
For the machine type itself there are two types of technology we can choose that are common for home printing; FDM and SLA. The FDM is faster to print and also easy to use or less messy since the material is solid but for those looking at better details or small and thin prints, SLA which uses liquid material will be more ideal.
Designing for SLA Printing
Designing is crucial with any printing method but it is more prominent with SLA due to the nature of its working mechanism. First thing is the supported walls should be at least 0.4mm thick and unsupported walls must be at least 6mm thick then filleted at the base. When printing without supports, the overhangs must be kept less than 1mm in length or at least 19 degree from level. If you print embossed details, they should be 0.1mm in height above the surrounding surface.
Printer Setup
Not only do we need to use the designing software, we also need to prepare the machine first. Just like your FDM printers, a resin 3D printer will need bed leveling too and the ability to create finer details also means small discrepancies will result in huge problems or even separating the model from its build plate. Additionally, the resin tank and resin must be clean or not expired as well as within the temperature range.
Slicing the Model
Just like any FDM printers, slicing software is needed to print your design and it is different from the one we used for filament machines. To build the model, we usually avoid filling them to 100% to save material and time but the honeycomb type of infill which we often use in FDM is not ideal for resin printing because it causes excess liquid resin to be trapped in hollow areas that requires you to drain it after printing.
About Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars
We indeed have to deal with more things when printing with resin printers but they are also more ideal for certain tasks and purposes so it is more like the correct machine for the correct task and if you have specific preference then it may affect the decision as well. If you are here then resin printing is a great option to choose for and just like FDM, despite being less popular you can shop from plenty of options out there.
If you have no preferred brands yet, it is quick to shop based on what other similar users are going for since it will save your time to browse around and among those many brands, Phrozen and ELEGOO are two ideal options you may want to consider. They are the choice of many so there must be a strong reason as to why they are so popular and the correct answer is because they both offer good products in a good price range as well.
For those who want to keep the budget very low or just start jumping into the resin 3D printing to see whether it suits their application or not, Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars are two amazing models you will love to see. These machines are very affordable or cheap if we may say and usually, we are always concerned about their performance in such cases but not with these printers and this is why they are a hype in the market when first released.
We love these machines for their printing quality and since they are different printer from different manufacturers, we can also expect to see some differences yet, personally we don’t think it will affect the buying decision as much since the core of Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars are the same including type of technology as well as machine system.
Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars Design
The first thing we want to talk about is their design and people may have preference but we are not a big fan of this type of housing where you have to lift the whole cover to open the printing room as it is not convenient than just built-in housing that can be opened on the front and top only like Photon or Photon S for example. The cover is tinted red to enclose the light while printing and since their build volume is small, the machines themselves are very compact as well.
The connectivity is put at the back of the machine and just like any resin printers out there, your Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars will have a small LCD screen at the front to provide menus and various printing settings. We have to say that these screens are rather small but still comfortable to use and the touch response is fast as well while the display is bright enough to see and read.
Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars Specification
Moving further, let’s see what these printers can offer and as you may already know, both of them are masked SLA printers so the XY axis resolution will be decided by the LCD screen they are using below the printing surface and for the Phrozen, it is a HD 1920 x 1080p screen while the Mars is a 2K screen or 1440p screen; the same to Photon S that you can check in our Photon S Vs EPAX X1 here. As for the Z axis thickness, they are 0.01-0.3mm compared to 0.01-0.2mm.
For the build volume, they are almost the same but your Mars will be able to offer a slightly taller model in comparison with 4.7-inch long by 2.6-inch wide, and 5.1-inch tall while the latter is 6.1-inch at maximum capacity.
Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars Z Axis
Since Sonic Mini is more expensive than Mars, at first we thought this machine will have a dual Z axis rod which is used to stabilize the building plate but this seems not the case because as you can see they are equally using the single rod design. There is nothing wrong with this system since mostly we just want to upgrade for stability in case it is a problem when printing but since both Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars don’t have such issues, it is not something we are concerned about.
Phrozen Sonic Mini and ELEGOO Mars Performance
Moving to the performance side, let’s see how these machines work while printing and the single rod design has no problem indeed for consistency. What some users seem to experience is steel ball design that holds the building plate together may have issues in consistency as well as in ability to hold the plate. For those who wonder whether the smaller pixels are affecting the printing details, worry not as it is not the case here and what’s so prominently different between the two is actually the speed itself.
Resin printers are known to be slower when in work but as the name suggests, your Sonic Mini is defying this common knowledge by finishing at a very quick rate or even about twice faster than Mars. This can be affected by some factors but we do think the HD LCD may play a role yet, for details they are pretty much the same seen with naked eyes.
Phrozen Sonic Mini Vs ELEGOO Mars
These are amazing machines in this price range and both of them are very reliable as well in terms of performance. They are quite different however from the build volume which is slightly taller on Mars and the fact that Mars also use 2K screen for XY axis details but for the speed your Sonic is indeed faster and for the print detail they are actually pretty much the same to each other tool.
Conclusion
All in all you can pick any of them as they are equally good choices yet among the two, as long as you are not putting speed as the first concern, we will recommend going with Mars because not only is it far more affordable, it uses a 2K screen already.