an Elegoo Neptune 4 Max extruder assembly covered in orange gunk

3-D printing is cool as hell, and I’m happy to own both a resin printer and the large format Elegoo Neptune 4 Max.

Between the two machines, I’ve turned out tabletop miniatures, bedside tables, plumbing fixtures, outdoor fountains, repeating crossbows, can crushers, fishing equipment, prototypes and more.

In the almost seven months since I’ve owned the Max, I’ve had the usual run of problems: warpage due to temperature gradient, noise, models being knocked off the bed. The most irritating one is the jammed extruder.

If not detected quickly, filament can build up quickly and surge from the top of the hot end. This is the wrong end of the hot end, and I’m not looking forward to seeing the damage causef in the picture above. New parts for certain.