Elegoo Neptune 4 Max Upgrades and Weekly Maintenance 

refreshing to hear a review from someone who actually tries to solve the problems and doesnt just cry about them, thanks! buying one tomorrow

Fantastic video! I need to order some of those silicone pads

Great advice! I've been knocking out some fantastic prints with mine and I'm a total noob at this. At the end of every big print or filament change I always check the rollers and belt tensions

Why not use "loctite threadlocker"...on the screws and bolts that losen....of course not on the adjustables

I have the same printer, and I absolutely love it. It's my first printer, and I find that it works really well. Every time I have an issue, I am able to solve it pretty easily with general maintenance. I dont really understand why the reviews are so bad. The one thing i did that improved my prints massively was to switch to Orca slicer. Im honestly not sure what it is, but my prints look better, and my machine runs a lot smoother as well.

This printer sounds like a nightmare

I can help you with the layer shift issue. In your printer.cfg for klipper find the macro that activates when the filament runout sensor triggers. Comment out the line that tells it to home during filament change. A proper filament change macro should tell the printer to move to the front center of the print volume thenm return without homing. Sesnorless homing is great but this is the primary shortcoming of it.

I really needed to hear someone say to just not try to level every part of the bed . I was driving myself insane trying to get every corner perfect and struggling greatly.

you may have solved the problem with my neptune2 that made me buy a neptune 4, thats coming in today and why im watching this video. i got to the end of my rope with the nozzle knocking prints and mostly supports over. im turning combing mode off and trying it again. thats probably why avoid printed parts and supports didnt seem to work even set to 1mm. thanks to your explaination of combing mode, stupid feature, whats the point of it

that printers runs on klipper right. The way it movies out for a filament change can be redon in the software. And you could even add a machine base measurement so it does not even touch the side. Klipper is awesome for that. And you can easy add or remove scripts.

One thing I just noticed on my 4max is that the bed is getting wobble, I need to figure out how to tighten that down

hay my neptune 4 max. is not printing good. when i start a print it comes out all string and dose not stick to the bed. and get stuck to the nosse?

Sounds like some blue loctite would help all parts from loosening up so you don't have to tighten them every week. Figured once the belts and v-wheels are broken in, it should be set it and forget it for awhile. Thanks for pointing all this out. Still on the fence about getting one. Hard to beat it for the price even with all the little issues.

Garbage printer

do you have an amazon link to the right white grease?

A guide for what to tighten would be amazing.

Would it help to slow it down a bit... slower is less vibrations

Would love to see a full weekly maintenance guide.

My problem with n4max is that it seems to ignore my mesh. I added screw tilt adjust. added center as base, because i cant align that. 6 corners are compared to center. i adjust all the screws so its max 00:01. i go autolevel. i get 0.4 tolerance. no idea how, z heights simply change from the screw adjust test to the mesh test. its okay, we have autolevel. i get my mesh, but it doesnt seem to apply it. if edges are ok (z height ok), middle is almost touching the nozzle. if z height is adjusted on the middle, filament wont touch the edges.

When you said white grease did you mean white lithium grease? Sorry I’m new to filament printing. Thank you for the video! Super useful.

Thanks Man!!! I Just Got Mine Sunday 6-23-24!!! Excellent Video!!! Also Thanks For The Links Much Appreciated!!! 👍😎💯😀

I replaced my pom wheels with linear rails. No problems.

Hey I wanted to say thanks you solved a lot of my issues… I was still having issues but the firmware update fixed everything now!

Go into klipper and find your pause macro in your cfg files. Then you will find the line that moves the print head to a safe location during the pause. My guess is the X value for the pause is at X0 and that's why it's hitting the gantry, change it to like X5 or something so it won't bottom out

Hey, can you please share your prusa slicer setting for Neptune 4 max?

I just got the neptune 4 pro and it is grinding when it goes down and then stops. Can't find anything getting in the way and updated all my firmware. All the belts seem perfect too and lubed everything up.

Can locktight be used on some of it?

Have you tried thread lock on the screws that aren’t supposed to drift (I.e. not the adjustment knobs)?

Where can I find the setting you talked about that you turned off in Orcaslicer? THank you so much

Mine will be delivered in a few days.. i was thinking about the silicone 😊bushings. I am also considering to get the oldham couplers for the z screws. I saw a huge improvement on my Ender 3v2 when i swapped them out.

"Great video, thanks. I have a question: when I am calibrating the bed and it's calibrated in Klipper, I see that the mesh is not completely flat. How can I calibrate it? When it starts printing the purge line and moves toward the print area, I see that it scrapes the bed a bit. How can I fix this? Thank you very much for your response."

Elegoo is just a bad company in general. I tried sending back my max 4 because I just can not get it to work right. I have to pay shipping. Cheap printers that work as well as their customer service.

I am looking at buying one and your video is very helpful. Definitely getting one when there's a deal, Thanks!

Great vid, I agree with most things but I'd add a couple of things that slightly change your process. I also hadn't though about the amount of vibration kicking things out of alignment and so will be checking those more frequently but like you I got into a per print, weekly and monthly check of the machine when I had an Ender 3v2NEO until it finally broke (motherboard power fire) but post repair it kept having intermittent issues. First, don't bother with manual bed tramming, alternatively set and use Screws_Tilt_Adjust. Do an internet search for it. You can get the machine to go to the six tramming points, it then works out the amount of clockwise and counter clockwise turns needed to get it trammed. The only thing to watch is that it is based of the first screw point. You can, as a result, get a ridge as the level screws pull the sides down over the ridge (the carrier plate). It is so much quicker and without the need to use the nozzle and paper, as it uses the in built probe. So my MO is 1Tram the bed using screws_tilt_calculate (you need to set up screw_tilt_adjust first). 2 Do a 36 point bed mesh, review to see if vaguely flat (no ridge or hollow in the mddle of the bed). If not ok adjust all points equally up or down to remove issue, then check, repeat 2. Then go back to 1, if needed, and retram the bed and then check mesh again until happy. 3 Change bed mesh granularity to 121 points and do a final bed mesh 4 Review new bad mesh and confirm you are happy, if not jump into process again but I've never needed to. 5 Recheck your z offset 6 Save and you're done My Neptune also arrived with Orcaslicer linked. In Orcaslicer they have a series of calibration prints for the machine and filament. I've used those as well as the website Ellis3dp to tune the printer and filaments. I'm getting stunning prints, used it for just over 2 weeks (> 260 print hours) and it's like night and day between it and my old Ender 3. So much quicker and better (the better comes from having a fast machine and thus not spending 24 hours dialling in an new filament). Dialling in new filaments can now be done in a few hours. Finally although not neccessary, I had issues when stitching large models together when using the Ender 3, there were skew errors, x,yand z not being perpendicular to each other. So I used calilantern. It uses a calibration lantern to determine skew. It gives you adjustments for the config file. It rates your printer on a scale of 0 to 1000. My Ender 3 started with 450 and I got it to 850. My EN4P started at 573 and currently sits at 926 after 1 iteration. On a 100mm print the biggest error I have in any direction including diagonals is now 0.15mm, most are 0.05mm or less. I've put the corrections in but haven't reprinted the lantern to verify, I trust it and needed to get some models out.

would Loctite benefit many of these issues?

Do you use elagoo cura or cura?

I have the 4 plus but that tip on turning off combing really helped. I also had a few prints get kicked off the bed before making the adjustment.

I change filament while it’s running so I don’t get layer shift I did find like ur self that rollers loosen often

Which slicer do you take? Bambu Slicer? Was there a preset?

Would locktite not help that things dont loosen up by vibrations?

Would it help to add loctite to some of those nuts you mention that keep loosening?

Your Y axis wire chain is not really working the way it is supposed to. Because its basically floating in the air, its only bending your wires in one spot which will damage the wires much faster. You should also put a little oil on your roller wheels to prevent them from chafing and turning white like they look in the video. I use superlube with ptfe and i put a tiny drop on my finger and then just roll the wheel while i smear it on. You just want them to look a little glossy so they glide along easier in the v slot.

Would lock washers fix the nuts becoming loose without causing any other issues?

I thought the Neptune 4 Max came with a big fan assembly on the back of the print bar? Did you remove it?

Hey man, just bought a neptune 4 max. I also looked at the files which you dropped the link but I saw there are more than one file. Which one am I gonna print?

is there a reason you dont put blue locktight on it

I have bought this printer last month, but from a week or something more I my prints have some layer separation, on the other printers that i have I haven't experienced this problem yet, is it a common problem? how can i fix that?

Add a drop of clear nail polish to the threads before putting the nuts on. They won’t loosen on you anymore.

fix the homing issues without messing with firmware: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aZOgE5m1ruQ.html

I wonder if for the screws for some of that could be maintained by putting some low level lock tight.

hmm, my 4 max randomly stops printing mid-print...then i upgraded the firmware it seems to help. but it still stops sometime for some reason...but no one seems to have the same problem..

Any chance we can have a instruction or tutorial on how to replace the springs with the silicone bushing upgrades? I just got my N4max and haven't assembled it yet. or is it hard to replace? thanks

What type of grease do you use to lubricate?

Where is the back fan?

Would you be kind enough to share your print profiles? Is not for me,i got a bambu but for a friend and maybe for other people as well,thanks and great video

today screw that held filament sensor unscrewed during the print :D

I got the N4+. Is my first journey into printing and so far has been pretty good. I have had a couple of failed prints but due to user error and we all have to learn sometime. I am still running stock firmware I think like .28 and have not upgraded the firmware yet as things just seem to be working nice. I do have an issue when I turn the printer off and later back on and also when I change filament, I have got into the habbit rightly or wrongly of doing a small first layer test prob 10cm diameter and find that the first one i do every time looks like the z is too low and for a while i would go up and down until I found it good again but it sometimes took a good few tries. Now I run a small first layer and rather than making adjustment I wait till it's complete and then run it again straigt away or just start a print and get a great first layer every time. Sorry for all my woes. Anyway thanks for the informative notes to take heed of. I am curious as to whether there is a specific type or brand of white grease you recomend and also I have noticed the pom wheels on the gantry wearing a bit and wondered when they need replaced and whether the generic vpoms like the unes used on creality printers would be the thing to get or are they manufacturer specific? cheers, look forward to more ;)

can u do a video of installing the silicon heat bed bushing upgrade Please

How many links did you print for your max?

While I expect that printers of a certain price range seem to fall into the "hobby spec for upgrades" end, having that happen either out of the box or within a week of ownership means the thing was adapted from a smaller platform with the same parts and is wearing itself out Real quick. I have a fairly steep maintenance regime with a 6 year old delta that's two meters tall, at this point it burns through hot ends about once a year and is due for a bottom-up rebuild this year. If I were getting _that_ experience from new, I think I'd be swinging an axe or flaming pitchfork too!

I added the M600 macro and tried a color swap that would work all day on my Cr10 but got the same layer shift you mentioned. I'm going to try the M600 with and without the filament runout sensor enabled and see if it makes a difference.

Where is the setting called Combing... I've looked everywhere - klipper, orca slicer, settings I can't find it :D!

WHAT SPEED DO YOU USE IN YOUR PRINT?

Great video- I have a 3 MAX and almost no issues. The SUNLU pla+ I got off Amazon is great and settings between black and silk copper are basically the same. I put my pla in humidity controlled boxes - which could also effect people’s prints. Week one - fresh pla then week 2 the pla could be full of humidity and dust…so one other thing to watch for. Great tip on the belt dial locks and cable chain. There’s a z axis cleaning tool to get crud out of the big up n down screws. Still trying to find the slicer settings for the supplied Buddha print cus those print perfect every time. Gonna watch more of your videos now.

Hi, where buy is nozzle for him?

can you please make a video showing how the tight your belts are? This would be so so so helpfull

Even if you pause the print, it will do a layer shift!

I am still setting up my new Neptune 4 Max printer but I also have been watching various videos such as yours. When I ordered the printer I also ordered Multi-Sizes Nozzles for Neptune 4PLUS/4MAX. I am wondering if you would be willing to do another video talking about the advantages and disadvantages when using the different sized nozzles?

Good video. I took my large fan off too. It causes clogs. If a print started to fail it would hold everything right by the nozel. I felt like it was safer to run without out it and just go a tiny bit slower.

Thanks for this! Wish i'd seen this sooner, never heard of the "blob of death" or any issues with the neptune 4 series, I got my neptune 4 last friday, come monday night I do a long print and now my print head is fucked :/

I updated my firmware and I’m having more issues than BEFORE updating it. When I do get it printing, it seems like its doing great, then my print pops off and causes it to fail. I’m using their same textures pei plate. I have it on all my other printers and had zero issues. Any suggestions?

which nozzle do you use?

There are settings in the printer setup where you can set the distance the head travels so that it wont hit on the side when it homes. These machines where not properly set when it came to dimensions.

I’ve got the plus and max. Straight outta the box my eccentric nuts on the bed was all out of what. Middle ones was severely over tightened. Took days but my max is printing now. I about threw the wrench in lol.

I am having the z offset issue super bad, did you tighten up the bolts that hold the little brass pieces that the Z rods run through? Originally tightened mine up because they come loose.. When I started having issues I loosened them up back how they came and my problems are worse than ever. I can have a layer perfectly level and uniform looking then half way through its seems like the Z offset is way too low. Sometimes I go to print and the z offset is way to high sometimes its way too low. could these problems be associated with the bed being unlevel because those knobs under bed are coming loose?

Wow, a lot goes into this one. I will be honest, I am horrible at maintenance. My last printer I ran it for over a year straight and did not do any of this. I releveled it a few times, maybe once every few months, and aside from the nozzle that was all I did. If it wasn't for the machine getting water damage and messing up the main board (I think) I would still use the N2S.

I turned off combing because my print got knocked down, but then I got a mcu shutdown error. What can I do to fix this

I bought Neptune 4 max recently whatever i tried there are layer shifts for every print not able to print anything

I wonder if a removeable thread locker like Vibra-Tite would help? I am an aerospace engineer and we used to use the stuff to secure bolts on stuff we made to ride into space on the Space Shuttle in the payload bay. Therefore I think that it is a good candidate for keeping stuff tight under heavy vibration.

Did you put silicone spacers in the center or just leave the metal ones? Also did you have to trim the insulation to get the spacers in there? The holes in the insulation look smaller than the spacer and would possibly crush the insulation.

This is a great video and has helped me with my Neptune 4 Max

wow, great advice..... after almost 2 months of owning neptune 4 pro I just realized the wheels and some screws weren't tight enough.

Did you find the wheel bushings work better than the springs to hold the bed level ? Ty

Thanks for the video, I am starting to gain some experience with an Elegoo Neptune 4 Max, and I experience 3 or 4 issues, now I will apply what you teach in the video to reduce the future issues.

Hello I'm have Neptune 3max and very 😅😅😅 no level correctly, spaghetti filament party, gantry perfect impossible very frustrating with my elegoo

Thank you for your insight

What size silicone bushels did you buy?

Add some jam nuts under the wheels to lock in your bed level.

Hm I'm getting ready to get into 3d printing would this one be a bad printer for a first one?

This is so spot on! I think, one of the major problems is, that manufacturers suggest to their customers that 3D printing is as easy as 'normal' printing, but there is so much more to it. 3D printing is high maintenance. Next to the daily and weekly routines come tasks like replacing the nozzle or the ptfe-tube where you can easily destroy parts of your printer if you are not careful enough (i.e. breaking the ceramic heater when grabbing the hot end in order to unscrew the nozzle... been there, done that, no T-Shirt...). And yes, there are tutorials from Elegoo for those tasks here on YT, but yeah, if you got two left hands, all thumbs you end up breaking things. But that's not a marketing message to increase sales ;-)

Great video! Curious what slicer you are using.

first thing i did when i got mine i ran it made a great print then i put the blue loktight on all screws

Holy crap, yours is flying!

Thanks for the feedback, I think I might have to pick up one of these.

Agree 100%

Thanks for the video, this is great! I recently bought a Neptune 4 plus as my first printer and this is very helpful. Are there any videos or guides on installing the silicone buffers? I think I would like to try that but am nervous to mess around too much with the hardware.

I learned from motorcycles and RC helicopters that blue locktite is pretty much required for all metal-to-metal bolts if you don't want them shaking free.

Excellent video!, I like the frame stickers that are there for checking the cross leveling situation. Can I ask what skull model you have in the background?... looks cool :)

good god look at those print lines and overall quality..... Neptune 3 seems to be 2x better.

Would you recommend updating the firmware? Mine came with the .21 and It always does an extra bump on the x and z when homin and grinds just a tad. Other than that the prints were amazing