ELEGOO Neptune 3 Plus Review & Feature Build

These machines are becoming large enough to print some interesting things.
ELEGOO Neptune 3 Plus: www.elegoo.com/products/elego...
ELEGOO Neptune 3 Max: www.elegoo.com/products/elego...
ALABS HW501: www.amazon.com/ALABS-Over-Ear...
Enclosure Model: www.printables.com/model/4749...
Dayton TCP115-4: www.parts-express.com/--295-415
Homepage: hexibase.com/
Facebook: / hexibase
Instagram: / hexibase
Printables: www.printables.com/social/264072
Thingiverse: thingiverse.com/hexibase
SoundCloud: / hexibase
Patreon: / hexibase
Amazon Storefront: www.amazon.com/shop/hexibase
00:00 - Preface
00:15 - Title Sequence
00:25 - Unboxing & Introduction
00:58 - 3D Benchy
01:12 - Feature Project Introduction
03:04 - First Attempt
03:35 - Second Attempt
04:28 - Problem Solved
04:39 - Printing the Groove
05:53 - Pronting the Tongue
06:10 - Meanwhile, In the Garage
06:17 - Successful Prints
06:35 - The Electrical Stuff
07:03 - Trouble
07:45 - Don't Mind the Max
08:03 - Things Come Apart
08:31 - Salvage
08:53 - It STILL Works
09:08 - In-Room Demo
11:20 - Summary
11:39 - What About the Max
12:03 - A Whole Lot of Nothing
12:37 - Alabs
13:03 - Neptune 3 Max Guts
13:12 - How Weird
12:26 - Round Two for Max
13:46 - Conclusions
14:22 - In-Car Demo

[@FatBarsik]

It's wonderful when a wife can truly appreciate what you do! Great job!

[@Flibbittydibbitt]

I just made this subwoofer. It is unbelievable how good it sounds. I couldn't get it to print right, so I deleted the outer walls in your model and just printed the internal stuff. I then made the outer walls of MDF and glued the print in. Thanks!

[@doa_form]

You need an enclosure to prevent it from warping. It's possible to maintain dimensional stability if the ambient temperature is warm and stable

[@antoniorosario8233]

I have an enclosure is that I have 1 Tang Band W3-1876S 3" Mini Subwoofer and that box looks so cool. or can it be down scaled?

[@Dave_W861]

This is what I thought, I was also think as it is a split part anyway, adding in some break away supports into the model could also help, then remove, sand and glue the parts together.

[@skyak4493]

I was thinking that he could have clamped the two haves together between two flats and then left it a couple days at elevated temperature to let the creep properties relax the residual stresses of FDM away.

[@JB-fh1bb]

Is temperature-controlled enclosure the next upgrade for large printers?

[@GermanMythbuster]

@@antoniorosario8233 No it can't be scaled down.

[@mikeiver]

I work at a place where they 3D print everything you could imagine in a bunch of materials from most plastics to metals like stainless steel and titanium. Some parts are much, much larger than the area of this printer. They of course have modeling software to predistort the printed shapes and produce parts to final size.

[@JeremyDN]

I work for a printing company as well and we looked at software like that. Only down side is that it does take a long time to calculate the part depending on size. We stopped doing metals though. We used to do about 10 different metals, Ti64 being the hardest to deal with. Thermal variances is always annoying to figure out sometimes. Our builds are packed fairly tight so dense parts affect anything near them. Fun job can be stressful when machines and parts act up.

[@csdstudio78]

Awesome build! One trick to the warping would be to anneal it in the oven while clamping and curing the JB. That will release the stresses.

[@timmturner]

The clamps would sink into the plastic, you would simply place the two halves together with something heavy and flat across the entire top and anneal.

[@Blackinterceptor999]

@@timmturner two flat pieces of hardwood board with a heavy weight would work, the oven doesn’t need to be so hot that it would make the wood smoke as it would just melt the plastic at those temperatures.

[@brawndo8726]

Besides annealing after printing, using an enclosure will help avoid warping during the print. Anything from a cardboard box to an insulated grow tent will help avoid uneven cooling. It's especially important for printing tall objects on bed slingers since it's getting wofted with cooler air the higher it gets.

[@EngineeringEssentials]

The best thing the bandpass enclosure has to offer is the low amount of distortion that comes out.

[@ryankitching5936]

I see what u did there 😂

[@Waltkat]

Another great project from the master. On your smaller 3D printed 3" woofer cabinet, in addition to dividing each half into two to allow printing on my Ender 3, I designed in screw bosses to allow screwing the two halves together. So along with the glue, I got a very tight seal between the two halves. It's on Thingiverse. Also, I use a PEI sheet on my printer too but find that I sometimes need to give it a coat of hair spray in order for pieces to stick and not lift off.

[@cranky1812]

Same enclosure design with a 15" sub would be nice.

[@rafaelking]

Will be printing one of your small form factor subs very soon! Thanks for the content!

[@bigboydrz]

I love how you’re so good at this by now that you have a hunch where inside the enclosure the leak is likely located just by the graph.

[@joshuacaylor881]

You have a really supportive significant other. Great job on the build. Your knowledge of audio engineering is impeccable

[@NiliMoto]

I religiously consume your content. Thanks for the time and effort you put into every single video.

[@mrraimundo130]

The sudden choir sound effect at 8:52 made me laugh out loud 😂 Superb content, as always!

[@marcuskaiser2236]

He makes it more about the printing process when the real skill here is the ability to design that 7th order geometry!

[@thistledewoutdoors3331]

I don't know much about speakers but, seeing everything being built is pretty cool.... In autobody we use a 2 part urethane when we need something seriously glued together

[@Flashbang_Photo]

is that the same stuff used for windshields? i may or may not end up investing on something like this.

[@michael.bruton]

Keep up the great content! Love your designs and reviews!

[@ElijahAndrade01]

Tcp115-4 is fantastic. Ive used it in Parallel for a build and it was surprisingly clean and had umphh.

[@chrisperrywv]

Holy crap! Those animations were amazing!

[@PhilLesh69]

In the early to mid nineties I was into high end custom car audio systems. A guy I knew paid the installer he and I used to build an eighth order bandpass enclosure for an eight inch woofer. He used it for a few months until he went for something even crazier and I bought it from him. The new 8 inch driver I put in it was rated for about 65 watts but I had a really clean precision power 400 watt mono amplifier that I ran an active crossover filtered input into, and the speaker and enclosure handled the 400 watts with ease. It was the punchiest and thumpiest sub I ever owned. I installed it under the rear deck of an 1987 jetta and had six inch speaker grills installed to cover the two perfectly spaced ports so it looked like there was only a pair of midrange speakers in the rear. I think I glued some fake silver decoy tweeters to make it look like a cheap triaxial midrange speaker. People were baffled by the deep base from nowhere. The entire system was stealth or hidden behind stock grills, etc. But that was the centerpiece. Fake six inch speakers producing windshield shattering bass.

[@vinylcabasse]

dig the track that was playing at the very very end.

[@One_Guy]

these designs are so awesome! love these videos!

[@alexcrouse]

I have a Dayton Audio PA460-8 18" and a 4'x12' CNC router. And a LOT of amplifer. Now i'm tempted.

[@mcbeenb]

Splitting the surface was good, but it also helps to round off all your corners. Pointy corners lift. Brims can sometimes help, as in your case. Highly recommend updating the model.

[@germanigortsev1361]

You need to add 10 degrees for bed if you have some adhesion issue. Will work only for PLA, for another you need to youse some glue for adhesion

[@andrewwatts1997]

Something I do with the PEI sheet before printing. Wash it with water, soap and a sponge. Do not dry the top layer with a cloth, shake off the water and let the heating of the bed dry the sheet. You can dry the bottom with a cloth. I CANNOT get a good print otherwise. It HAS to bee fat and dust free. The adhesion is crazy good all over the platform when you clean it that way.

[@lilypower]

As always, awesome video! Someday ill bulid one of your enclosures! Until then m, thanks for the great videos!

[@jonjonr6]

For funzies, i put one of those little 4" drivers in a long pvc tube, i think about 5 foot long. Was really fun to hear how much output from such a small driver. I actually have 16 in my home theater (four for each l/c/r, and for in the rear), matched with some 2.5" tweeters, infinite baffle. Sounds pretty darn good. But I'd like more midbass punch. In-wall enclosures would be nice.

[@creativitybyph]

Great video!!! A little request thou: increase the design a bit, and make holes for some nice M6 bolts all the way thru. It increases the chance of succes when assembling it and it looks cool...

[@adamhunter1979]

I absolutely love this mans videos!

[@Schnippen_Schnappen1]

I bet this thing kicks some low bass! I printed two of your single tang bands and hooked them up in stereo on my 4runner sounds awesome 🤟🏼 Also you should build an enclosure for your printer to eliminate warping or excessive shrinking. Makes a day and night difference with hard to print filaments

[@light12a]

Great video! I'm really impressed with the performance of the subwoofer design you're using. I was wondering if you could tell us a bit more about the group delay on the box? Also, have you considered using FIR filters or rephasing to achieve a consistent phase in the subwoofer's operating range? I think it would be a great addition to an already impressive design. Would love to hear your thoughts on this!

[@mandfmarine]

Best channel on this platform

[@LukeRT]

Love these 3D printed boxes with small drivers. Been watching you for years now always the love the content. Hope all id well with you and the lady.

[@soiltek2015]

Dude, the real life shield surfing part was AWESOME!!

[@szekerespista3758]

Amazing! You are a genius! 👌

[@VIP-ry6vv]

You know. I built a box for a JL 13w7 and i really tried to understand the principles you're employing here. But i simply don't, so I built a cube. It's really cool that you were able to pull so much performance out of such a small woofer. It makes me think of what's possible when/if you scaled up.

[@eremundo]

You are my idol since 2007

[@TheSocialPraxis]

I want one of those boxes. You could do giveaways to people that have been subscribed for a while. Love the fact that you can feel the bass from such a small enclosure. So awesome!

[@smiththers2]

I am so jealous of the larger print sizes lol my 220x220 bed just can't keep up. Btw you're looking better too sir!

[@SammyM00782]

Dude...I need this in my work van like, yesterday.

[@russellburgan9023]

Great content. I'm sure there's lots of advice in the comments, but I'm guessing you know most of it already. You're showing us what these printers will do in an everyday situation. I appreciate every video you produce. Thanks for sharing.

[@spyker_aileron]

I still have one of those Bose systems in my living room!! they sound great.

[@lazerusmfh]

Honestly my favorite part is seeing you share fun moments with your spouse

[@pete1320]

If only my gf was this impressed by 4 inches.

[@justforlaughs8988]

Dude literally you blow my mind everytime dude you build! Would you please consider doing a pod cast with Aaron and talk about where your passion started and how you go to where you are today ? Please Peter that would be so epic! Love your work!

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Maybe some bolts going thru the enclosure would help reinforce it from warping

[@matthewf1979]

I’m always impressed with your enclosure designs. Seems like you need a heated build enclosure to minimize the print warpage. That or toss it in an oven for a bit while it’s clamped together to relieve the stresses.

[@Blackinterceptor999]

Clamps and soft hot plastic doesn’t mix well however sandwiching it between two glad boards with a heavy weight would work great.

[@JeremyDN]

@@Blackinterceptor999 Actually heating them up with clamps is the easiest way to flatten them back out. You don't need the material to melt, just slightly warm so it can tweak a little bit. We do this all the time at my work to correct warp in parts that are not flat.

[@andrxito]

This is insane! Truly the work of a professional. Have you ever attempted an underseat subwoofer? I think all of these "how much bass can I get out of a small speaker" work quite nicely with your channel... and well because I'd like to print something like that 😆

[@AlexJoneses]

an enclosure this size might benefit from a dual extruder printer using a 5kg roll of pla on the first extruder and a roll of soluble filaments as supports so you can print it all out in one piece

[@toma.cnc1]

A joy to watch, as usual. Thank you. Have not done any proper audio in 25 years! 😒

[@AlexJoneses]

Okay this is genuinely an amazing enclosure, and please please PLEASE for the love of god release the step files if you can so I can redesign this to add on housings for a battery and a small tweeter (whatever works best for off axis), so this can be a proper Bluetooth speaker because its so close!

[@eEnzo0]

The TCP115-4 is a small beast. I have them also in a bookshelf project of mine, it's in a bass reflex combo but ffs, it's a gold mine for cheap

[@HopeThisWorks]

One trick that has kept me happy with my PEI build plates is to clean them with acetone instead of alcohol. Alcohol always leaves residue behind.

[@_XRMissie]

I'm using these drivers "as intended" in a pair 3D printed midwoofer+tweeter desktop enclosures, standard 4th order bass reflex. Of course I cannot design enclosures anywhere near as complex as you so I couldn't get the response down to below like 50-60hz without making the enclosure absolutely gigantic, so hearing them punch well above their size is absolutely amazing. I don't care what anyone says, Dayton Audio provides an EXCELLENT cost/performance ratio. However I can't imagine that the group delay of this enclosure is very good haha

[@DevinAWhiting]

Hey this sounds great .I can tell it low end is great.

[@benwhittle7204]

Get a relationship like these two. Love your videos man and love you guys!

[@deathjunior7755]

That's the same kind of bed I have on my anycubic vyper, had the same issues. Glue stick has solved it for now but after seeing this I'm looking into a new build platform. I have the elegoo Naptune max on preorder. I'll be interested to see my own results. 😊

[@snytty]

We need a video series from you, visually explaining what is happening with the waves in your builds.

[@ygalion]

smart guy making high level videos, good job

[@gumbywwf83]

Man, out of a 4" mid. Very cool setup using both movements.

[@JunkieVirus]

awesome video!! finally something else then a boat model.

[@archeebookingagent1909]

my suggestion for you is to use enclosed chamber .. the cooling of large prints usually requires more adhesion .. use Elmers Craft glue.. it bonds great.. especially petg .. if put over survival blanket and then after finishing print lower the bed temp to 30 C and leave it there for 6-8h basically it will let you print large prints PLA and PETG, ASA and ABS

[@McStebb]

That filament change at 5:12 was some Indiana Jones bag-of-sand level trickery. I'll have to try that on my Sidewinder.

[@blech71]

I’ve jonsing for a new build vid man! So glad it’s here! Been here since the box days way back when u had the shack out back in I think it was New Mexico?

[@blorby]

Very cool! wanna build it myself!

[@chrishenderson6500]

Yes to all the glue sticks and other ways to make it stick and i know this was a review of the machine etc. But honestly, now i am wondering if a 3 part print instead of a 2 part print would be better/ easier/ more reliable to glue together. Great video and thanks for doing these, i am so tempted to build one of these, but i dont have a printer that big! One of the other problems is where to put a sub like that, the trunk of my car usual has tools and work stuff in it. How about a design that would fit under a seat of a car? Maybe running 2 drivers, super thin. That should be a challenge for you!

[@DevinAWhiting]

Very well done.

[@FEDGEZZ]

I missed hearing what you printed this with but there are options that would WELD the PLA (ABS or ASA also) together better than JB weld. 3M Scotch-Weld Plastic & Rubber Instant Adhesive PR40 works incredibly well and almost instantly melts and bonds the mating surfaces. Another option is SCIGRIP 16 Acrylic Cement , which is simlar to 3d Gloop.

[@tHaH4x0r]

You dont need to buy expensive bottles of this stuff. Just get dichloromethane (DCM) for PLA or methylehtylketone (MEK) for ABS from a local chemical supplier, its way cheaper. A tip for ABS, get some MEK, and throw in some old abs offcuts/parts to let them desolve over time, creating a kind of abs slurry the consistency of jam. That stuff works wonders fixing cracks or reinforcing abs parts.

[@EricAdamsonMI]

Just use Oatey ABS or All-purpose cement from the plumbing section of your hardware store.

[@NikoAbston]

flipping amazing

[@drrock5356]

PEI is a low surface energy plastic. Sanding the bond surfaces will increase the bond area. It also may be helpful to print "undercuts" for the bonded joint, or worse, thru-bolt holes so the "clamps" remain in the assembly, with the adhesive. Adding outward draft to the 3D model may help even the outer boundary WRT the material vertical shrink gradient. Other than that, awesome and inspiring work! Midbass is the most difficult region for me to add to my otherwise awesome car stereo systems. So much midbass is hidden in the music that I like to jam.

[@EricAdamsonMI]

Nice content -- Thanks! In the plumbing section of most hardware stores you can find various Oatey brand cements suitable for ABS, which will weld the two halves of the enclosure together. Might work better than epoxy. I used it to repair an ABS 3D-printed part from my old Lulzbot that had split apart -- worked a charm!

[@EricAdamsonMI]

Now hearing that PLA was used, so I cannot vouch for Oatey cements -- perhaps their All-Purpose cement would work. I'm not sure that PLA would've been my first choice, although ABS would warp even worse than PLA. I'm personally fond of HIPS.

[@matthewbennett]

This dude audios. Great work!

[@brynyard]

Warping of large PLA prints is mainly because they need to be cooled down uniformly. This is very hard to manage on an open frame printer, but you can "bake" the print afterwards, I just finished 20 tiles of cityscape that was 30x30cm each, and 5 of the tiles had warped because I didn't let them col down slowly in the print chamber afterwards. I fixed it by putting them in the oven at 55 degrees for about half an hour and them slowly cooling them down again. You can also fix a print with a heat gun/hairdryer, but it may require a bot more practice.

[@TankErdin]

I'm sure others have suggested it, but I would try something that will weld whatever filament you're using. 3D Gloop would have been a great decision here.

[@justforkiks29]

Perhaps building an enclosure around the machine and using a heater to keep the area up to temperature would keep the piece from cooling unevenly like it did and warping?

[@christopherfrawley2560]

Enclosure, masking tape the build plate and put a thin layer of glue stick down, bake or dehydrate your filiment, and if all else fails slice and print each side as 2 parts so you will have to put 4 parts together at the end.

[@jeffd8465]

beside an enclosure I think it could also help if when you were glueing it together you kept it somewhere warm so the plastic would be able to flex easier. When the adhesive is dry it'll be better adhered and the plastic would be molded to be flater. Or you you could sand the connection points so everything would be flat, but that would take awhile.

[@overkill1994]

It's so nice having a significant other that's enthusiastic about audio.

[@voxelmaniam]

Enclosures, enclosure, enclosure! After encountering part warping/delamination when printing near to full build plate size parts on my Prusa MK3 I invested in a 3D SOURCERER Universal 3D Printer Enclosure. It made a huge difference. I also have a Elegoo Neptune Max still in the box and the one thing that is holding me back is finding the space where I can put it along with an enclosure. It will also probably include thermal control and circulation fans.

[@dinosoarskill17]

I have to print flat parts for work out of PETG, for some vacuum fixturing, but I highly recommend Vision Miner's Nano Adhesive.. The stuff works amazing, order a cheap sample size, if you're iffy about it, i think its 5 bucks.

[@ZoeyR86]

If pla is doing that and is brittle it has moisture. Also warm to room to around 85-88f

[@MiDnYTe25]

I was really hoping for you to say that the Max has a build height of 690mm 😂

[@Delzra]

so... depending on orientation.... this sub has a Hexi-Base? :D

[@MrEndzo]

Sounds really good in my headphone.

[@michaelberg7201]

Some slicers like Prusa support a feature called a draft shield, which is basically a wall around the entire model, which is printed along with the model itself. The idea is to keep the air inside the shield stable and uniform to reduce warping. I'm not sure how it might have helped with this gargantuan build, but I felt I wanted to mention it in case someone out there can use it with smaller prints.

[@ronnetgrazer362]

I did it "by hand" in Cura, because it doesn't have that option last time I checked, and it doesn't like overlapping objects that it considers to be separate. Just build the shield into the STL file (or whatever you're importing into Cura) in your favorite mesh editor, and give it a thickness of 1 line.

[@haydenc2742]

Use some purple elmers school glue...it really helps Also putting your printer in an enclosure to regulate the temperature really helps Very cool! clear Silicon 1 or shoe goo might be a better adhesive for holding the shells together Keep em coming!!!!

[@aaronb1138]

All of those adhesives would not survive the pressure cycling (vibration) / wave propagation across the seam. Enclosure remark only makes sense if the temp is regulated, otherwise it is just volume + energy luck that a given enclosure maintains dimensionality (same bad principal as heated print beds that frequently fail - instead HAVE a fixed enclosure at a specific temp instead of shitty gradients). And really if this was a manufactured product, the adhesive would be sonic welding stronger than any layer adhesion. Similarly, hot air jet layer welding should be the next step in filament printing along with cold jet curing.

[@jayleno2192]

I'd go with something like Momentive RTV108. It's a silicone adhesive that's often used for aquariums, so it can hold a substantial amount of pressure. Really high performance stuff, but also quite expensive.

[@aaronb1138]

@@jayleno2192 For a speaker / sub enclosure, a post cure flexible sealant is not ideal, especially with no fasteners. Though it would be pretty reasonable for a "toy" project like this sub, RTV would not be good for use as primary adhesive in speakers otherwise. That said, the design would be pretty easy to add squared corners and sides to add fasteners at each exterior and interior (waveguide turns) corner.

[@pen25]

i use gluestick(pva) which is white elmers glue. 1 if it sticks too well to the plate elmers glue will stop it and if it doesnt stick well enough elmers will help it stick. dont care what material it is i always use glue.

[@ColdNightmareHell]

PCB FR4/G10 laminate without copper layer or anything. Best possible printing surface. Sticks like crazy.

[@user-hh6mr7br7m]

My next print. Just done with the Base Tube 2.0 and it is an absolute monster....

[@user-zs3cj5sc9d]

Great video, you got my subscription.....

[@matthewm4927]

Great content! Wondering if it's possible to make an enclosure that will make those instant speakers (surface speakers) sound more impressive

[@andymuzzo8568]

You’re making me want to build a new enclosure for all the electronics for my Samsungs soundbars sub

[@evilutionltd]

I'd be tempted to print it an extra 1mm height and then block sand both sides flat before construction, just to removal any warping.

[@myboxissharp]

something you could try is using a heat gun while its clamped together to help relieve some of the stress and unwarp it.

[@BearMeat4Dinner]

I need one of theeeGreat video Buddy!! great videoz

[@eamonnosullivan1563]

Great videos. I love the technical level you talk to. It's really impressive. I'm about to machine a version of this out of MDF. Do you think the internal chambers would benefit from stuffing or not?

[@pedrocostalins8041]

Awsome! Even if you put two of these in a bedroom, they would take no space, and shake all of it! What was the name of the in-room demo song? It shook some places in my house I did not know could shake lol.

[@atticchopshop8180]

How many times did Sophie say WOW during that demo? LOL

[@HexiBabe]

Only 3! Not enough to start a counter 😅

[@drayko-okamidirewytch5542]

best solution to the seperating issue would have been to toss it in the oven at just a high enough temp to relax the plastic. theres a full range of temperatures with plastic that offers varying characteristics within each of them for this task the heat from a hair dryer could have worked wonders for allowing the 2 halves to reshape to each other.

[@maxpower700]

You need some primafix. Used a few squirts for a project that took 8 days to print on my ender 3. Also use it on my 410x410 Chiron. Never had anything no matter the size pop up. And Yes Ive maximized the chirons bed. Even printed a shelf on the diagonal😀