Our 3D printing journey thus far has had us utilizing the Bambu Lab A1 to print out cool, distinctive models for our good video games room however what if you’d like one thing bigger than a normal 3D printer can deal with?
The Bambu Lab A1 is a good printer that requires little or no effort however typically you’re going to want to get your fingers soiled with a extra conventional 3D printer, particularly if you’re trying to make and even promote cosplay gadgets that look wonderful.
That’s the place the Neptune 4 Max from Elegoo is available in. The behemoth of a 3D printer wants a number of issues – first, it wants quite a lot of house. It’s a giant, heavy unit. On high of the precise house the unit itself wants you want to consider house in entrance and behind it as a result of, as it’s a mattress slinger, that construct plate goes to hearth forwards and backward.
Up to now, so apparent, however right here’s one other one that you could be not have fearful about fairly a lot you probably have solely had a smaller printer till now – a sturdy desk.
The Neptune 4 Max runs on Klipper and meaning it’s quick and will throw the construct plate round at breakneck velocity.
The primary floor I put it on was a standing desk, so due to this fact the legs have motion in them because it wants to go up and down, and I genuinely thought it’d fly off the desk. You want one thing sturdy right here. And if it’s mounted down, a lot the higher.
The Elegoo Neptune 4 Max is what’s also called a ‘helmet-class’ printer. Meaning it has a large enough print quantity to have the ability to print a full-size helmet, large enough for a human head for cosplay functions. It has a construct quantity of 420 x 420 x 480 mm, which is barely lower than the Max 3, however that is due to the large cooling fan strapped onto the gantry.
Even with a quick printer, these take some time so right now we’re simply going to print a full-size cosplay masks, and then print one thing bigger out for our game room – a big bust of Walter White from Breaking Unhealthy to add somewhat Heisenberg to the place.
Beginning with the masks we selected this low-poly full face masks as a result of it seems to be each sinister and cool. This was my first huge print try and watching the 4 Max do its factor was a pleasure to behold. I had to go away it printing in a single day as I didn’t begin it till late in the day however awakened, checked the Fluidd interface by way of my cellphone whereas nonetheless in mattress, and was delighted to see it had printed completely. The one helps right here have been on the hooks for the ears and they have been eliminated simply.
Subsequent up is our second piece, the Walter White bust from Sid Naique. I needed to print this a lot bigger however plumped for a smaller than I needed dimension just because I used to be delay by the two-day print time to make it a lifesize head. At some point although when deadlines aren’t as urgent.
Once more the bust printed flawlessly and even with the barely tough help round the beard, this all got here away simply and the Elegoo PLA+ in gray labored a deal with.
That is one in every of my go-to prints once I need to showcase the 4 Max, the degree of element is insane even with the 0.4mm commonplace nozzle (will someone please let me purchase different-sized nozzles). This is able to look nice on any shelf in your video games room. I feel I’m finally going to print him once more with a marble PLA to make him look that bit extra, er museum!
So let’s take a look at the print expertise as we did with the Bambu Lab A1 in our final 3D mannequin function.
What’s the Neptune 4 Max like?
My time with the 4 Max has been a little bit of a blended bag, however luckily, all of it appears to have turned out alright in the finish. From the off it printed nice, placing out actually high-quality prints. After every week or so out of the blue nothing would stick to the plate, the Z-offset was throughout the place and no quantity of leveling appeared to assist. Then I had a huge drawback with the extruder as when the print reached a sure a part of the axis the temperature studying would drop from round 180C to 0. Clearly, this was a false studying however it will trigger Klipper to crash mid-print.
With some glorious assist from Elegoo Help, we established there was a dodgy connection in the cable from the fundamental board to the print head in order that they organized to change that. As all this was occurring although the Neptune 4 Max suffered a huge clog that destroyed the whole hotend and warmth block. Luckily, Elegoo changed the whole print head for me, however I did have to wait for that to arrive from China which delayed this web page. It appears to me as if there could also be a slight design flaw in the method that if a clog begins and you don’t discover it, it gathers velocity and runs away to self-destruction below the silicon sock and that’s just about the finish of that, you want a spare half as the thermistor and different wires are encased like Han Solo in Carbonite. The issue is at the second, with it being a brand new mannequin and utilizing a proprietary nozzle, you may’t simply get them on Amazon and want to undergo Help, which is irritating whenever you simply need to print stuff.
I need to emphasize although that Elegoo Help is amongst the greatest there’s in the 3D printer world, it’s simply that submit from China, even UPS isn’t all the time the quickest.
Now nevertheless, after a few firmware upgrades and a change of the cable and hotend (which was a ache in the rear), the Neptune 4 Max is working flawlessly like a attraction and I can belief it to do what I would like. It’s a extra hobbyist printer although than say a Bambu Lab, so that you want to have some 3D printer expertise to get the most out of it and get it dialed in completely. I used to be undoubtedly unfortunate, however huge printers usually are not essentially supreme as your first little bit of 3D printing equipment. Now it’s working superb would I like to recommend the Elegoo Neptune 4 Max for this type of undertaking?
Completely, for the value the velocity and construct dimension are nice, and if you’re trying to get into printing props, cosplay, and giant gadgets for your game room, you may’t do significantly better for the value. Additionally, the nice buyer help is reassuring, there’s an energetic discord, and hopefully, spares might be obtainable in Amazon warehouses quickly which can take the ache out of the nozzle challenge.
Ending our printed models
We used a glittery filament for the masks and in the fundamental it genuinely doesn’t want a lot sanding down, such is the high quality of the print. We did somewhat work the place the helps on the eyes and mouth however usually that was it. Once more, with Walker White issues got here off fairly clear however we are going to sand down the areas the place the arms can be for a clean end earlier than priming for portray. As a result of the element on the mannequin is so good, Walter’s beard, stubble, and shaved head don’t want sanding as a result of they’re stubbly, which cuts down post-work lots.
Neptune 4 Max slicer settings
We didn’t use something aside from a primary 0.2mm later top in both mannequin. You possibly can, in the event you had the time cut back that for the bust however the masks definitely doesn’t want it. We sliced and printed the models in Orcaslicer, which is the present go-to slicer for the 3D printing game at the second.
