After 1 year of playing with the 3D printer Ender 3 Pro I decided to do some upgrades.
Changing the controller to improve accuracy, speed and noise, changing the display to better locally control some options and add the BLTouch, to simplify the leveling.
This article is about changing the controller and the TFT display
The controller is the brain of the printer.
The Ender 3 Pro stock controller is not bad but it can be improved, a lot.
The main improvement is a much less noisy printer and this is achieved with better stepper motor drivers and a firmware that control better the motors.
Another improvement is due to the possibility to use latest firmware with more options and safety, like the thermal runaway, a safety features that monitor the extrusor temperature pattern and block the printer in case a big variation of temperatures or if a temperature is stuck (broken sensor or broken heating element).
Choosing the board
The first task is to choose the replacement board.
In my case I opted to research Ender's forums and ask for suggestions.
The most voted/suggested replacement board for the Ender 3 Pro was the BIGTREETECH SKR Mini E3 and on Amazon it was available, so I did buy it.
This board is available in two versions, the 1.x and 2.x. I opted for the 2.x version even if little bit more expensive because it solve a couple of problems present on the old one and offer better performances.
I don't plan to upgrade the printer every year, this is supposed to be a one-time upgrade so better choose a good board.
Preparing for upgrade
Before to start the upgrade is better to do some preparation.
First of all download the instructions for the board, in my case from the github there is the guide for the board I did ordered.
The new board already has some firmware in it, however is important to remember that it is strongly suggested (aka DO IT !) to review the configuration and upload it on the new board before to start to use the it !!
Every printer is different, better be sure the settings are correct !
Read all the instructions before to proceed, then before to start, unload any filament from the printer.
Move the printer on a table where is comfortable to work and ... go !
Upgrading
Once opened the box where the controller is connected I immediately found the first problem.
Almost all the connectors were covered with hot glue !!!
I understand why they did that, to reduce the possibility to have connectors moving and thus causing bad contacts.
But I had to spend quite some time painfully removing the hot glue from all the connectors before to actually start to work.
After that fortunately I didn't find other problems.
Resources
- github - SKR Mini E3 repository
- Youtube - review SKR mini E3 V2.0
- Youtube - Ender 3 Pro upgrading for SKR mini E3
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