Elegoo Neptune 4 Max

[nomis38]

So, I just got a Neptune 4 Max and am pretty blown away initially. I hope it keeps it up. I am going to turn this into a thread but am also reviewing this printer on my channel.

Opened the box, put it together, and clicked print within 50 minutes and it printed a benchy off its thumb drive in under 20 minutes. The file name is 20min_Benchy haha so they knew it was fast. It sustained 500mm/s for a good portion of the print and the end quality was amazing.

I tried to do a overnight print, but it failed, I checked, and the z offset did not save. I will need to recalibrate that when I get home tonight so I can do another test print. Issue I've seen people have before.

My new test print will be a lightsaber stand that I slightly adjusted for better fitment of my own custom created gold saber. Major plus when comparing to my old printer is it's gonna be twice as fast lolol.

The Saber's were printed on my old printer BIQU BX.

First time playing with it I made a couple shorts you may enjoy. But the full unbox, build, and initial review is coming soon.

I will keep this thread updated as I progress and learn this printer more and more.

I am so happy I can do 2 prints at once again. I missed that big time!!

As always, all files are on my thingiverse for you all to enjoy. Print the items as is, or modify to your hearts content.

Thingiverse:
https://www.thingiverse.com/kuskye25/designs

 

[Tex Koder]

Sub'd

 

[nomis38]

Well re-adjusting the z-offset seems to have held the setting this time, I even power cycled it a few times to be sure. Again something i saw in videos before purchase so was ready for it. Also I got fluid working / wifi printing. Next I will set it up so i can print at work and stop/start. After using octoprint using a flash drive drives me nuts with the back and forth bringing files to the printer. Also I like to heat my bed often while im nesting my parts to gcode and uploading to the printer.

As a side note, I bolt my tables to my wall, this thing has no issue with vibrations, I saw a few people complain about that. I have a laptop on the same table and can barely feel it when im typing. So not sure why some had issues with that.

220 to 300mm/s average compared to my old 60 to 70.

It is laying fast and smooth man. omg... This is the 2nd and 3rd layer, it failed on the second last night do to bad z-offset. "shown below"

Delicious printing now. I really need a set and forget printer, and ill work on it till it is. I don't like watching layers and often like to design and start prints while im at work haha, don't worry they get their moneys worth outta me at work, mostly!! .


Something neat, meaningless overall. Look at how perfect it makes the line it does when it cleans off the nozzle right before print. It literally looks like a piece of a small ziptie everytime flawlessly. Perfectly rounded and pointed on the other side everytime. haha.

Well she is cooking, will post back in 4 hours when she is done, it would have been 8.7 hours on the other printer. Very crisp and clean so far.

 

[Dan B.]

The Saber's were printed on my old printer BIQU BX.

View attachment 341673

Dude, those are crazy cool. Which flux capacitor did you choose, and how did you hide them so well? Are you running continuous or variably pulsed laser cores? How thick of a torso can they slice through on a single swipe? Because I know a couple of fat bastards I’d love to introduce to one of these. They also make that cool humming sound too, right?
Seriously, too cool for school man.

 

[nomis38]

Dude, those are crazy cool. Which flux capacitor did you choose, and how did you hide them so well? Are you running continuous or variably pulsed laser cores? How thick of a torso can they slice through on a single swipe? Because I know a couple of fat bastards I’d love to introduce to one of these. They also make that cool humming sound too, right?
Seriously, too cool for school man.

LMAO!!

I actually built a Naquadah generator the size of a 18650 for it, its right inside the hilt portion!!!

​

This is an insane amount of material put down in 1 hour 20 minutes. Jesus!!

Sorry to keep posting but that is a ton of material for just over 1.5 hours and still sustaining high speed, it was set for 250 but its often sitting at 300, I think my slicer lied on the time its gonna take. In a good way. Pretty sure its gonna be considerably faster then it said it was.

 

[Dan B.]

LMAO!!

I actually built a Naquadah generator the size of a 18650 for it, its right inside the hilt portion!!!

​

This is an insane amount of material put down in 1 hour 20 minutes. Jesus!!

View attachment 341705



Sorry to keep posting but that is a ton of material for just over 1.5 hours and still sustaining high speed, it was set for 250 but its often sitting at 300, I think my slicer lied on the time its gonna take. In a good way. Pretty sure its gonna be considerably faster then it said it was.

View attachment 341708

View attachment 341709

Pretty awesome. My brother in law gave me a low end printer with a box of filaments but I haven’t messed with it yet. Looking forward to it though. I’ll probably cut my teeth on it for a few prints, and then upgrade to a better printer.

 

[nomis38]

Pretty awesome. My brother in law gave me a low end printer with a box of filaments but I haven’t messed with it yet. Looking forward to it though. I’ll probably cut my teeth on it for a few prints, and then upgrade to a better printer.

heck yeah man, they all print pretty much the same if dialed in, so tear it up man youll love it once you get the hang of it.

Main points IMO for a beginner.

Setting up the printer correctly in the slicer program, but most slicers have default profiles so i guess now thats easy. Learning to manually level a bed, yes most no days have auto leveling but i don't count on it, and its not near as perfect as your own mechanical setup. So bed leveling is the next challenge. Then bed adhesion IMO do your self a favor and skip the glue stick use hairspray its 100% guarantied. And use a brim setting in the slicer.

Once you get good at these any printer is loosely saying but serious too "easy"

 

[nomis38]

Just fyi for this review I really am trying to find negatives lolol. But so far only it not saving settings sometimes is it.

So lets talk cooling system. Its like a 3D printer nerds wet dream on this beast. More positives but im ok with that.

 

[Tex Koder]

Pretty awesome. My brother in law gave me a low end printer with a box of filaments but I haven’t messed with it yet. Looking forward to it though. I’ll probably cut my teeth on it for a few prints, and then upgrade to a better printer.

Dan,
That's the Perfect 3D gift- in the way that you Know it has printed before
and now you get to Beat on it like a redheaded step child and Not have to worry about "breaking it" because you didn't treat it 'right' (from the start..)

When you get a chance take a photo of what you got so we know what you're working with.

If you have anything questions -about its setup or how to get it going.
Don't hesitate to ask..

We'll be able to help you out.

 

[nomis38]

So I ssh'd into the printer to enable webcam and installed my obico software. If your not used linux thats ok i'm make an easy to follow video. Now I can print from anywhere....

I didnt mean to run it while it was printing whoops!! But it didnt seem to break anything. I'd assume I'll need to do a reboot though once the print is finished.

Ya'll know I roll fast on builds and this will be no different. We will have every little thing ironed out fast.

In short:
#1 - Connect your printer to your wifi with its lcd panel that controls the panel. Settings then wifi.
#2 - Record the IP it gave you on screen and go to your computer open a web browser and type it in. Now you are in "Fluid" your web interface and you can control your printer fully on your home network. "reboot the printer first, must do!"
#3 - Now you want to print when your not at home, view the print, check for errors or spaghetti, or even just stop a print flat out. Open CMD on your windows computer.
#4 - Type ssh mks@"printersIP" then at the password prompt type "makerbase"
#5 - Type sudo systemctl enable webcamd, this will enable webcam usage, If you webcam is connected then run, sudo systemctl start webcamd
#6 - If you use Obico like I do install the below package. Copy and paste the below lines.

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/TheSpaghettiDetective/moonraker-obico.git
cd moonraker-obico
./install.sh

#7 - Reboot printer
#8 - Log into your Obico online account via web browser and do the add printer wizard and your all set.

Dan,
That's the Perfect 3D gift- in the way that you Know it has printed before
and now you get to Beat on it like a redheaded step child and Not have to worry about "breaking it" because you didn't treat it 'right' (from the start..)

When you get a chance take a photo of what you got so we know what you're working with.

If you have anything questions -about its setup or how to get it going.
Don't hesitate to ask..

We'll be able to help you out.

Very valid points, gotta love a used beater that works man!!! Well said.

 

[Tex Koder]

So I ssh'd into the printer to enable webcam and installed my obico software. If your not used linux thats ok i'm make an easy to follow video. Now I can print from anywhere....

I didnt mean to run it while it was printing whoops!! But it didnt seem to break anything. I'd assume I'll need to do a reboot though once the print is finished.

Ya'll know I roll fast on builds and this will be no different. We will have every little thing ironed out fast.

In short:
#1 - Connect your printer to your wifi with its lcd panel that controls the panel. Settings then wifi.
#2 - Record the IP it gave you on screen and go to your computer open a web browser and type it in. Now you are in "Fluid" your web interface and you can control your printer fully on your home network. "reboot the printer first, must do!"
#3 - Now you want to print when your not at home, view the print, check for errors or spaghetti, or even just stop a print flat out. Open CMD on your windows computer.
#4 - Type ssh mks@"printersIP" then at the password prompt type "makerbase"
#5 - Type sudo systemctl enable webcamd, this will enable webcam usage
#6 - If you use Obico like I do install the below package. Copy and paste the below lines.

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/TheSpaghettiDetective/moonraker-obico.git
cd moonraker-obico
./install.sh

#7 - Reboot printer
#8 - Log into your Obico and do the add printer wizard and your all set.

View attachment 341716

Very valid points, gotta love a used beater that works man!!! Well said.

Appreciate the Cliff Notes
for the Login &
Moonraker



And got to say.. Those speeds you're seeing on your new printer are INSANE!
I'm still trying to digest those numbers you posted.

 

[nomis38]

Appreciate the Cliff Notes
for the Login &
Moonraker



And got to say.. Those speeds you're seeing on your new printer are INSANE!
I'm still trying to digest those numbers you posted.

Well i got some more for ya haha!!

Its done, and it did finish faster then the slicer said. Usually it takes longer then the slicer says. You will see in my full video review I accidently ran it out of filament and it paused and let me put in more filament then you just hit continue. It did muck up some layers after that but thats my bad.

So average of 120 to 250, often sitting at 300mm/s. This print on my old printer Timelapse shows just under 9 hours. This one just under 4 hours lol. The quality is as good or better at that speed.

 

[Tex Koder]

Well i got some more for ya haha!!

Its done, and it did finish faster then the slicer said. Usually it takes longer then the slicer says. You will see in my full video review I accidently ran it out of filament and it paused and let me put in more filament then you just hit continue. It did muck up some layers after that but thats my bad.

So average of 120 to 250, often sitting at 300mm/s. This print on my old printer Timelapse shows just under 9 hours. This one just under 4 hours lol. The quality is as good or better at that speed.
View attachment 341726View attachment 341725View attachment 341724View attachment 341723View attachment 341722View attachment 341721

That's rare indeed to have a physical print come in Under the splicers estimated times...


I have currently gotten my Ender 3 S1 up to ~150mm/s relatively "consistent"..
Still have a few fails -mostly prints separating from the print bed..
>> when it reaches at the upper heights of the printed item..
Even though they are kind of short in stature... (Barely a quarter of the height volume. ) Not sure if it's the filament itself or what.

But even at that speed my Benchy takes about 1hour 31 minutes to print.....
Painfully Slow.

 

[dure16]

That's rare indeed to have a physical print come in Under the splicers estimated times...


I have currently gotten my Ender 3 S1 up to ~150mm/s relatively "consistent"..
Still have a few fails -mostly prints separating from the print bed..
>> when it reaches at the upper heights of the printed item..
Even though they are kind of short in stature... (Barely a quarter of the height volume. ) Not sure if it's the filament itself or what.

But even at that speed my Benchy takes about 1hour 31 minutes to print.....
Painfully Slow.

Those are solid speeds for a bed slinger

 

[nomis38]

That's rare indeed to have a physical print come in Under the splicers estimated times...


I have currently gotten my Ender 3 S1 up to ~150mm/s relatively "consistent"..
Still have a few fails -mostly prints separating from the print bed..
>> when it reaches at the upper heights of the printed item..
Even though they are kind of short in stature... (Barely a quarter of the height volume. ) Not sure if it's the filament itself or what.

But even at that speed my Benchy takes about 1hour 31 minutes to print.....
Painfully Slow.

I gotcha. I honestly want to say I may have bought at the right time. There were so many firmware issues im thinking all of that was finally worked out and they got it dialed in really well finally. It does seem stupidly fast. But I will say the amount of material and the quality of the print at 1hr 20 min was mind-blowing proof of the legitimacy of this beast. Enough material for prolly 3 or 4 benchy's lol.


Major edit:
So I have just made a odd discovery. I tried to use a default profile for N4M in orca slicer and in prusa slicer. Absolute trash. When i generate Gcode for the same item it shows 8 hours in prusa slicer, and 11 hours in orca slicer. And i matched settings as best i could.

I used elegoo's premade custom cura-elegoo install they gave on the flash drive for all of this. I'm assuming this is the same one they made the 20 minute benchy in. The fine tuning was done by them in this slicer profile. I cannot for the life of me figure out what is set better or different. Maybe someone smarter at slicer programs can figure it out. It's the slicer profile they give with the printer thats making it lightning fast. But I have to look at the result as well. Same settings same great quality. WTF is the difference.

I had planned on switching to orca but helllllll no now... I'm going to contact elegoo and see if I can get some answers.


New Edit:
I also tried to setup my BIQU BX in orca slicer and it shows its going to take way longer then my old version of prusa, I have fine tuned a lot, I even have many lines of added Gcode and did a lot of edits in the Pi software.

Profiles and tuning make apparently more of an impact then I thought, I don't remember half the crap i did to my BIQU. This is really odd. I cannot for the life of me get the BIQU in orca slicer to do anywhere near as good as my profile in my old version of prusa ive used for like 2 years now. Again im comparing and matching all settings.

 

[nomis38]

So im doing my first overnight print on this N4M. Darth Revan's mask.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3070738

It's pretty clear they have this cura-elegoo N4M profile dialed the F in....

First on my BIQU with full support. Painful!! 1 Day

Next N4M Orca-Slicer with completely maxed out speeds and same other settings. Trash!!! 2 Days

Elegoo Cura N4M custom from the manufacture... Amazing 10 freaking hours with full supports!! So what gives lol. I'm lost but butting my head against a wall. I guess I don't care It's fast and looks great. Done deal to me!! I am not a Guru here at all but I can say I don't care at this point. Doing a hole mask in 10 hours with full support and it looks great. What else can I ask for.

 

[Tex Koder]

So im doing my first overnight print on this N4M. Darth Revan's mask.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3070738

It's pretty clear they have this cura-elegoo N4M profile dialed the F in....

First on my BIQU with full support. Painful!! 1 Day

View attachment 341740



Next N4M Orca-Slicer with completely maxed out speeds and same other settings. Trash!!! 2 Days
View attachment 341742



Elegoo Cura N4M custom from the manufacture... Amazing 10 freaking hours with full supports!! So what gives lol. I'm lost but butting my head against a wall. I guess I don't care It's fast and looks great. Done deal to me!! I am not a Guru here at all but I can say I don't care at this point. Doing a hole mask in 10 hours with full support and it looks great. What else can I ask for.

View attachment 341743

I know there are Hundreds of tiny fine tuning adjustments in Cura that can be tweaked..
I'm sure Elegoo went through all of them to optimize the sh!t out of it -to make the Neptune 4 Speedrun the way it does..



Here's a possible way for you to "see"/figure out exactly what Elegoo did >>>

Goto the Elegoo Cura
(Current) Fine Fast Profile
> Export Profile

Then open a "stock" copy of Cura
And do an profile Import

Usually the next screen that pops up will warn/state what settings are different from default.
This should give you some clues on what's been modified..

 

[nomis38]

I know there are Hundreds of tiny fine tuning adjustments in Cura that can be tweaked..
I'm sure Elegoo went through all of them to optimize the sh!t out of it -to make the Neptune 4 Speedrun the way it does..



Here's a possible way for you to "see"/figure out exactly what Elegoo did >>>

Goto the Elegoo Cura
(Current) Fine Fast Profile
> Export Profile

Then open a "stock" copy of Cura
And do an profile Import

Usually the next screen that pops up will warn/state what settings are different from default.
This should give you some clues on what's been modified..

Very true I have done that in both of there others but never in this elegoo-cura. Good call. Imma head off to bed and hope for the best. It's not monitored by spaghetti detective yet. But It seems good to go though.

20 minutes in and it has laid a lot of really nice lookin material...

 

[nomis38]

Well im super excited to say its a reliable beast. And it's speedin' through the mask and the quality of the print is great. So happy!! Popped out and took a look before work. 300mm/s and mask looks mostly done.

@Tex Koder - Can you take that Revan mask file, pop it in your slicer, put at .3 layer height and 30% infill, whatever speeds you want, supports on "everything" and let me know what it says it'll take ya. I wanna make sure im not just hallucinating this crap lol.

 

[nomis38]

Almost done, viewing from work.

I also set up my BIQU BX so I can print if I want something else today while im working.