VirtuMax - A Max Neo Mod for the VIRTU Printer

--- Preamble ---

These instructions and files are provided as-is without any form of warranty. For all I know they may not work at all and accidentally conjour a hellbeast when assembled.

You are your own problem and ClockworkIdiot does not accept any responsibility or liability for any losses, injuries, harm, gallstones, or miscellaneous foul things that may befall you in relation to this project.

ClockworkIdiot does accept responsibility for your lottery win and seems to remember that you promised him half.

All design is shamelessly pinched from the excellent RH3D and his Virtu E3 here:

https://www.printables.com/model/1476283-virtu-e3

The donor machine was a Creality Ender 3 Max Neo of unknown provenance. I have found in my disassembling of Max Neos that the machines do vary slightly in the extrusion lengths - Thanfully these tend to be the ones that we will be cutting down for this project, but please measure your donor extrusions and check they match the one in the list below.

It should be evident which files these replace from the 'standard' ones in the Virtu release. If it is not clear, think about it a bit more and it'll come to you I'm sure.

You should consider everything in this release as being in perpetual beta - Its worked for me, I hope it works for you.

--- Extrusion Cut List ---

This section uses the references to extrusions in the attached diagram.

Numbers in brackets are the lengths of the extrusions I measured from my donor machine for your reference.

It would be wise to check yours are the same or very close, even more so on the extrusions that are not being cut.

Its not critical to get your cuts for the B and C extrusions precisely square as the end of these are not blind jointed to anywhere else.

It is critical to get the cuts of the extra 2040s used for the verticals bang on or you're gonna have a bad time.

--- X/Y Axis Rails ---

The bed on the Max Neo is 310 x 320mm, vs 235 x 235mm for the OG ender.

Consequently, the X and Y dimensions of the build are 75mm and 85mm longer respectively.

I have only remixed the XY joiners for 'C' type carriages. If you want 'H' type then you're gonna either need to fire up fusion, or cut yourself a new 2020 for X.

For the X and Y rails, you will need to buy 3 x 400mm long and cut them down to fit. Hope you have an angle grinder, cause a hacksaw ain't gonna cut it (get it?)

Final lengths:

• 2 x 385mm MGN12C (Y)

• 1 x 375mm MGN12H (X)

--- Z Axis Rails ---

Scaling the original design in the Z axis is entirely optional, although you will then need to do some more remixing for some parts.

In my build I just added 100mm to the measurements in the BOM for Z and called ti a day.

I used:

• 3 x 400mm MGN12C (Z)

--- Panels ---

Rear panel tested in meatspace with 3mm of laser cut 6082 T6 Alu.

Base panel tested my printable version (also included) in meatspace.

I have not tested any of the other panel DXFs in the real world. However, they do fit in CAD. Good luck, it'll probably be fine.

--- Additions to Base BOM ---

N.B. this is not an exhaustive list, but I think it's about 95% there

==Heat Inserts==

• M3 Heat Insert (L4 x OD4.5 mm) x 8 - Frame Extenders & Electronics Sides

• M4 Heat Insert (L4 x OD6 mm) x 4 - XY Joiners

• M5 Heat Insert (L5 x OD7 mm) x 2 - Frame Extenders

==Screws==

• M3 SHCSx8mm x 24 - lots of different parts

• M3 SHCSx12mm x 2 - Rear Panel

• M4 SHCSx25mm x 4 - XY joiners

• M5 BHCSx40mm x 8 - for bottom side 4040 Extrusions

• M5 BHCSx55mm x 8 - for bottom rear 4040 Extrusions

==Nuts & T Nuts==

• M3 Nuts x 2 - Rear Rail

• M3 T-Nuts x 17 - lots of different parts

==Other Changes==

• Z Extrusions 400mm x 4

• DIN rails 375mm x 4

• Z Rails MGN12C/H - 400mm x 3

• Y Rails MGN12C - 385mm x 2

• X Rail MGN12H - 375mm x 1

• A/B Belts - 2M x 2

• Z Belts - 1.3M x 3

• Bed Cable Chain - 15 Links

--- Other Stuff You Should Know ---

• To reuse the 2020 for the gantry, we need to lose a bit of X travel - this is where I have used M4 SHCS instead of M5 BHCS. If you want to use the stock joiners instead, you'll need a 420 mm piece of 2020 and will gain about 3mm for your effort.

• There are some CHUUUUNKY spacers on the rear 4040, again, if you want to skip these and go straight to a direct blind joint, 345mm is the magic number.

• We are reusing the C14 power socket from the Max Neo, along with its corresponding massive hole in the bottom extrusion. This seemed like a much cleaner solution than having it come out the electronics backpack and a gaping hole in the side of the printer. You should probably use a slot cover over the top of this, and may want to consider a right angle C14 cord if your printer is going to be in a tight space.

• PSU brackets are reworked with a dual voltage printer in mind, but should still have enough meat to them to cantilever a single PSU off the side if needed. There are optional 'bridges' included that you can use between two PSUs to stiffen up the whole thing and provide additional support to the base panel. I've even provided a mount options for a baby 5V PSU if you're so inclined! This plus the having the power inlet in the basement as well has the advantage of keeping all mains voltage stuff kept well away from the lov voltage electronics. Yay! Safety!

• Electronics sides - for the tops, use supports for the little overhangs. I'm not fancy like RH3D so you're gonna have to paint these on yourselves. Its character building.

• Electronics sides - As with the OG variants, split these to objects in your slicer and apply a modifier to the 'panel' section for 0 top and bottom layers, then pick your pattern with the infill options available to you. For Orca users, the 'Fill Multiline' setting is good here to thicken up the infill lines and make the whole thing a bit more durable.

• Electronics tops - versions are included both with and without the cutout for CPAP. I've also made some tweaks to the spacing around the logo for printability and visibility when using multicolour.

• Bed drop. Oh she do drop. See my Firmware thread on discord for some macro-based solutions/mitigations.

• Holes for the 'D' extrusion are not quite where you think they should be - Drill guide is included to help you locate these correctly.

• Build process is otherwise exactly the same as stock VIRTU. My build's total build volume: 307 x 318 x 329 mm

• Sample .cfg for my build can be found in my user mod thread on the RH3D discord.

• Got questions? Post them in my user mod thread on the RH3D discord.

--- Version History - This Version: 1.0 ---

1.0

• Initial Release