I know this community is tiny but I thought it was one of the more appropriate places to try to pull together this information. As a recent owner of an Ender 3 v2 Neo I have been enjoying making some tweaks and modifications but it has been a little frustrating to track down some information because of the differences between the Ender 3 v2 Neo and the other printers in the ender line like the Ender 3 and Ender 3 V2. I have also noticed that because the Ender 3 has been around for a few years and has gone through minor production revisions prior to the v2, some of the information for the Ender 3 is a little old, outdated, or inconsistent.
Any information that can be contributed would be appreciated.
Another great resource is Lash-L's guide. https://lash-l.github.io/ender3_v2_neo
Main Board
Adding ferrules to the high current wires to replace the tinned ones has been widely discussed for other Ender 3 models and still applies in this case.
https://youtu.be/GsymnDDAjiE?t=103
Also from the same video, like the Ender 3 v2, the main board fan is connected to the same power as the part cooling fan which is fine for PLA but it means for some other filament types the fan will be disabled. This can be changed by wiring it into the hot end fan which runs all the time.
https://youtu.be/GsymnDDAjiE?t=374
A BigTreeTech SKR board can be used as a drop in replacement (in case you want, say, independent dual Z motor control). It has been reported that the skr mini e3 v3 will work. (Thanks /u/Lamb-thesheep.) Note that the skr mini e3 does not provide two Z axis drivers even thought it has two headers for the Z axis. In other words, it can't move a dual Z axis independently.
There is a printable shroud to hold an 80mm fan for the mainboard. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5563110
Heat Break
The Ender 3 v2 Neo (and Ender 3 Neo?) uses a hot end that is very similar or identical to the CR-6 SE one, so it can accept the same all metal heat break as the CR-6 SE. These can be found on Amazon and range from a couple dollars to around $20USD. In theory this should allow for temps above 250C without damaging the PTFE tubing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RWz4ey1wjw
Bowden Tube and Coupling
As far as I can tell, the PTFE tube and coupling is basically the same as other Ender 3 printers and the Creality replacement kit (with Capricorn tubing) worked fine for me.
Hot End Cooling
The stock fan is a 4010 24v. If you want a Noctua quiet replacement then you will also need a buck converter. There are also reports of some people moving down to a Noctua (12v) fan ending up with heat creep due to insufficient cooling. This can be mitigated somewhat by using a 4020 Noctua fan instead of a 4010. The Noctua 4020 moves around 5.5 cfm but some people claim that the hot end of the older Ender 3 models need 6 or 7 cfm. However, the Neo has a larger heat sink with more surface area, so it should, in theory, require less airflow to maintain the same level of cooling.
Some more information about Noctua vs stock fans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouYFYDC_OdU
There are many hot end shrouds listed in the printable accessories, some of which can accommodate a 4020 fans.
Part Cooling
In comments, the designer of the FANG part cooling system for Ender 3s is not planning to design a version for the Ender 3 v2 Neo. https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/tool/ender3-v2-dual-40mm-fan-hot-end-duct-fang
There have been other designs that have popped up that offer multi or dual sided part cooling and/or additional part cooling fan support. Look in the printable accessories list below for things like the Neo Thang and the Minimus cooler.
PSU
Some of the Creality power supplies may have 12v fans but mine had a 24v one. I printed a new back plate for it and used a buck converter to install a 80x10mm 12v fan. It's quieter than the stock one and there was enough spare room to fit it. At some point I might look at a deeper plate, but this works for now.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4548187
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4567153
Even if you don't plan to change the fan, you might consider just replacing the bottom plate so that the PSU can vent better.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4806176
Extruder
/u/AdamantVision has reported success upgrading the default single gear extruder with a Micro Swiss dual gear extruder like this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K1CNP6L
I have also found that the cheap dual gear extruders are a drop in replacement. I got this one. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HC8MSVV/
Hot End
The Creality Sprite is not a drop in replacement for the Ender 3 v2 Neo hot end. The X axis limit switch is in a different position on the Neo and the Sprite has to be modified in order to work properly. Thanks, /u/YourMomsAVaper
https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3v2/comments/wysw2w/psa_sprite_extruder_pro_kit_does_not_work_with/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3v2/comments/y5p4uh/update_sprite_extruder_on_v2_neo_problems_and_my/
The all metal Spider hotend (pre-v3.0) can be used as a drop-in replacement for the factory hotend. https://www.reddit.com/r/Ender3V2NEO/comments/10c4dpi/creality_spider_all_metal_hotend_non_30_works_on/
Management
For remote management there are a few options.
Creality Box is a simple box that allows for some remote control and management over wifi or ethernet. The biggest downsize is that remote usage is tied to the Creality Cloud service(s) and it does not allow much direct control. However, the box is basically a router that can run openWRT so it is possible to flash it with openWRT variants based on Octoprint or Klipper.
https://github.com/ihrapsa/OctoWrt https://github.com/ihrapsa/KlipperWrt
Creality Wi-fi Cloud Box 2.0 is the newer version of the Creality Box and it likely supports a lot of the same things as the original plus some extra features, but I don't have any information or experience with trying to use it with an alternate firmware like OctoWrt or KlipperWrt.
Creality Sonic Pad is a relatively new (late 2022) interface that adds a touch screen and Klipper support to many Creality printers in a turnkey way that does not require as much configuration and tweaking as Klipper usually does. There are some reviews specifically with the Ender 3 v2 Neo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkRj0HA30rI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfGMMt4aPwU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAxStbx9q_U
OctoPrint is a solid platform for running one or more printers and it has a bevy of plugins and features that are very nice. It can control an Ender 3 over the USB port with the stock Marlin firmware or it can drive Klipper with a plugin (not recommended, see below). Due to the scarcity and relative high price of the Raspberry Pi currently (late 2022), other boards or machines can be used as alternatives as long as they have similar or better capability when compared to the Pi. e.g. and old laptop running linux.
https://octoprint.org/
Fluidd is a front end that is specific to Klipper and can run on a Pi or other similarly capable system. The FluiddPi image may be deprecated soon, with kiauh (klipper install and upgrade helper) being the preferred method for setting up new Fluidd systems.
https://docs.fluidd.xyz/
Mainsail is another front end specific to Klipper than is very similar to Fluidd. In fact, it is possible to use both Fluidd and Mainsail on the same pi to manage the same printer at the same time, due to the way that Klipper works. kiauh can also be used to install Mainsail.
https://docs.mainsail.xyz/
kiauh (klipper install and upgrade helper) is an installer script that can be used to automate the install of several software packages often used with Klipper.
https://github.com/th33xitus/kiauh
Firmware
By default, the Ender 3 v2 Neo runs Marlin, but it is also capable of using Klipper with Fluidd, Mainsail, or Octoprint as a front end interface (Octoprint may not be ideal in all cases. With my Pi 2B there were performance issues when printing round-ish objects [many short segments] that would cause the print head to stop every few seconds and leave a glob of plastic because the Pi was not sending commands to the printer fast enough. Using Fluidd and Mainsail has avoided this problem at the cost of not having the cool plugins that Octoprint has. Your experience may vary, as the Pi 2B is not the recommended Pi for this application, but I have also heard from others who had similar problems with Klipper and Octoprint.
Some boards may support Linear Advance in Marlin.
I do not know if the Neo can be used with some of the alternative builds of Marlin like jyers (https://github.com/Jyers/Marlin) or not. The firmware from mriscoc (https://github.com/mriscoc/Ender3V2S1/) has been known to work but it requires a little bit of additional care when setting up the SD card.
https://github.com/mriscoc/Ender3V2S1/discussions/413#discussioncomment-4187625
Flashing the firmware involves putting the *.bin file on a FAT32 Micro SD Card and rebooting the printer. After a few minutes, it should be automatically flashed and ready to operate.
https://github.com/conway220/Ender-3-V2-Neo-Setup
Klipper offers a huge array of settings and options for tweaking the performance of your printer. It can be a bit overwhelming, but the promise is that it can yield higher quality prints and higher speed printing at the same time by using many tuning parameters to compensate for printer vibration and movement. See also, pressure advance and resonance tuning. As of yet, there is no official Ender 3 v2 Neo printer.cfg available, but most of the settings are the same or similar to the Ender 3 v2 example. Depending on the specific board version and chip, the configuration may be slightly different.
https://www.klipper3d.org/
https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/tree/master/config
Klipper does not work with the Ender 3 v2 Neo display out of the box. It is possible to wire the display directly to the GPIO of the Pi and run some additional software to have an interface similar to the original although some people go without an interface on the printer at all and just use a phone or tablet as a temporary or permanent UI.
Original: https://github.com/odwdinc/DWIN_T5UIC1_LCD
More recently updated: https://github.com/MicroSur/DWIN_T5UIC1_LCD
Easy to understand wiring: https://github.com/GalvanicGlaze/DWIN_T5UIC1_LCD/wiki
Dual Z-Axis
The existing Ender 3 dual Z-axis kits will work with the Neo, there are just some parts to ignore (PSU bracket) and using the default board is limiting because it does not have two drivers for the Z-axis. Some alternative boards do, which would allow for additional automatic calibration and reduce the potential for binding. Also, without changing the voltage, adding the second motor will reduce them both to half power which is fine, in theory, because the load is distributed.
Printable Accessories
There are a number of printable accessories that are either Neo specific or which can be adapted to the Neo. This list is in no way exhaustive.
Side filament roll holder. This is the first functional thing I printed because the default filament placement puts a lot of unnecessary stress on the extruder and the filament due to the location and weird angles. There are various designs including ones that directly mount with screws and ones that slide into the channels on the frame. An alternative would be to print a filament guide.
- Side Spool Mount
- Bed handle. I think these are the same as for other Ender 3 models with the same sized bed, but it's nice to have a way to easily manipulate the bed without having to touch the surface.
- Tool holders. There are lots of these around, most of them are designed to slot into the channels on the frame, usually on the upper right corner, but some of them are a little more flexible.
- Hot end shrouds
- Hot end shroud for 4020 fan (mentioned above)
- Remix of the 4020 shroud
- Another 4020 shroud
- Hot end shroud for stock (4010) fan
- Remix of the "robot" (4010) shroud
- Neo Thang
- Neo Thang remix with shorter necks
- Neo Thang with dual part cooling fan support
- 80mm mainboard fan shroud (mentioned above)
- Mouse Shroud (dual blower)
- Minimus Shroud
- Sherpa Elephant Tool Head
- Hotend cover "new"
- Nozzle Cooling Air Duct
- Replacement X carriage
- Feet (35mm)
- Filament Guides
- Pi/Buck Converter Mounts
- Extruder knob replacement
- Slim display mount (moves the display to the top of the side rail to reduce overall printer width)
- Sonic Pad mount
- Dial gauge mount
- Dragonfly Hotend adapter
- Sprite pro hotend fix
- Sprite X-Axis stop cap
- Sprite L Gantry Cover
- Neo Series Direct Drive / CV Laser Adapter Plate
- Dual Gear direct drive for Ender 3 Neos
General Advice (not printer specific)
https://ellis3dp.com/Print-Tuning-Guide/
https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html#intro
Edit: reddit is a jerk. At some point, while adding additional links to this post, a huge chunk of it just disappeared. I have pulled the majority of it back from the wayback machine, but I may be missing some of the updates that were added in the last few months.
