You DO NOT need an extra ribbon cable if using the original LCD. Use EXP1 on the MKS and EXP3 on the display, however on the display end cut the small tab on the ribbon cable plug off and rotate the connector when plugging into the display. By doing this you can then use the EXP2 connector for a SD Card reader.
@@matejsokolec2973 Is that on an MKS 1.4 or an MKS GEN L as your video title says 1.4. It looks like your rotating the cable on the MKS end where as I rotated the cable on the LCD.
Just purchased a ender 3 off Craigslist with a burnt board.only $50 for the printer and $40 for MKS, drivers & lcd has allow me to have my first 3D printer for under $100 thank you immensely for you work! Sincerely from me and others of the lBBC (low budget builders community)
Really appreciate your whole in-depth approach. I have no choice but to do this upgrade (bed mosfet burnout and aggravation over limited storage capacity).
it's the detail that is explained here that is amazing. Having just started the 3D printing most of this stuff is over my head but after a while I can return to this tutorial with more confidence . Thank you
Very useful guide, thanks. At 8:13 you suggest connecting a mainboard cooling fan to the controller's 5v supply. Connecting a fan to the same power rail as digital logic may cause problems. The 5v regulator may not maintain a stable voltage if it's powering a fan and the sensor values (temperature readings) may fluctuate. The simplest solution is to connect the fan to the 12v/24v connector (connector G in the video), where you originally located it. A better (but more complicated) solution would be to allocate a spare digital pin on the MKS Gen L to CONTROLLERFAN_PIN in the Configuration_adv.h file in the Marlin firmware and use that pin via a 220 Ohm resistor to switch an external mosfet that drives the fan from the 24v rail via connector G. That will turn on the fan when any stepper driver is enabled and turn it off after the set amount of seconds from the last driver being disabled.
This is correct for the stock 24v fan that comes with the Ender 3, but he said that he took the opportunity to change to a 5v noctua, so he's not trying to run a 24v fan on 5v.
I just ordered a CR-10S board to upgrade my Ender 3. I was looking at the MKS board, but seemed too much work to make fit. I should have waited for this video. Edit: Just got the CR-10S V2.1 board working with Marlin 1.1.9 using the CR-10S config examples and changing the print dimension for the Ender 3, and the LCD config to be CR10_STOCKDISPLAY from REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER. The V2.1 (and probably V2.0) board does run fine with 24V, in case anyone was wondering. Mostly the install was as simple as swapping the boards over. The 10-pin LCD connector needs to be installed 180 degrees rotated, which means you need to cut the locating protrusion off the connector (done easily with the blue side cutters). Seems the Ender3 connector was wrong, now they have fixed it to be the same as everybody else. The hot-end fan was bare wires and I needed to crimp on a 2-pin connector to plug into the new boards VIN connector. You could pick up voltage for the fan from the PSU connectors, but I wouldn't try to double up on the hot-end or bed connectors as a lot of current flows through these.
this is the best channel on UA-cam about 3D printing, I mean it. the second was CNC kitchen. you are really good at teaching people to do sth. a very clear mind and step by step, you know which part is hard you have to emphasize and which part can just skate around.
What a fantastic instructional video for a really nifty and USEFUL upgrade! This is a much better mainboard to keep up with all the wonderful improvements in Marlin. These "hopped up" videos for low-cost 3D printers remind me of guys buying an old 1967 Chevy, and upgrading the heck out of it. :)
I have heard about this board many times in various forums. Thank you for doing a video on it. I would love to see a video from you about TMC stepper motor drivers, both the pros and cons of them as well as how to install them on this board.
Thanks for the video. I upgraded to a MKS Gen L and TMC2208 drivers today. Other than having to drill a hole for my non-pro Ender 3 in the new case and cutting off the tab on the display ribbon cable to flip it around, everything went smoothly and without any issues. The printer is so much quieter now!
A little late to the game, but I have installed the MKS Board. A couple of notes, I am retaining my stock display, in addition to the touch screen, as there are some features that I prefer, such as position and other information. You can also adjust the feed rate of the print from the original screen, even though you cannot enter the menus. It bears mentioning that if you do not use stock type 4988 drivers that you need to update the appropriate drivers in Marlin. I used DRV8825 stepper drivers and will see if the micro-stepping causes any issues. I also had to install a USB driver to communicate with the MKS Board to allow Marlin to upload. Even with these drivers, the machine is quieter, along with the fans not howling all the time. My next move will be to do the more sophisticated Trinamic drivers. So far, So good! Thanks Michael for a great channel.
Michael, I have ordered all the items in your purchase list along with a full list of other improvements including a genuine BL touch. Thanks for providing all the help and information.
Thanks for yet another great guide. I am up and running with the new board, you make it so easy. I did make a few changes based on other videos/sites. I added a 5v 20MM fan to cool the board (found the print on Thingiverse based on yours). I reversed the LCD connection by trimming off the plug, so I only needed one cable and I did not make the changes concerning display in the firmware to make it work this way. I also switched to 2208 drivers (again found a video on setting voltage on those). Finally, added BLtouch, I found I needed a drop of hot glue gun glue to get that to stay connected on the board. If I hadn't messed up setting voltages on the drivers, things would have gone smoothly. After smoking a couple of those, I watched some video's on how to best do that. I can't believe how quiet my printer is now with the 2208 drivers! Thanks again for great videos, I have done so much to my printer and improved my prints!! I can't decide if I want LCD touch screen or not, I would like to hear from others that have made that change if they like the touchscreen.
Thank you. I have subscribed and liked. I'm new to all of this, but you are one of the most rational, and understanding of how to be rational individuals I've viewed. Please keep the knowledge flowing. Thank you again!
I really appreciate your videos Michael. Been upgrading my printer over the last few months and just finished the cable management on the new mks gen l board today. Got the BLtouch v3 working, tmc2208s running and tried out the touch screen. The touch screen is gonna go in the spare parts bin. Losing the m600 function is just not gonna work for me. So far ive done a filament runnout sensor of my own design. The hero men gen 2, upgraded the hot end fan to a 40x40x20 noctua, and a 5015 blower. The ezr extruder and some lighting. With your new case that freaking board fan is obnoxious so a noctua is on the way for that as well. Thanks for all you do for the community.
After many Ender 3 upgrades, an idea come to my mind while watching this video.... build a Ender 3 upgraded clone, from scratch. This would be a great series for this great channel...
My compliments. If an old man of limited intellect, such as myself, can follow your guidance, you have done well. My ender 3 now has a bootloader and is happily running th3d firmware. Thank you!
Jesus you guys are impressive. I can't even change the firmware without rendering my printer useless and you are changing electronics, software, measuring stuff with meters, etc.
Another great video Michael. I've just purchased the MKS Gen L board and some TMC2208 drivers to replace the stock controller on my Anet E10. Your video helped a lot cause I wasn't sure where to connect the correct fans to, but pics really help. Thank you. I would love to see a video on adding a touch screen to the controller, even though I use octoprint, I still like to have the screen in place.
Thanks for this video. I already have the board and some TMC2208 stepper drivers and an LV8729. Getting ready to upgrade and this video is very useful.
Following this guide I ran into error when compling.. You need to go Sketch > Include library > > Manage Libraries and search for u8glib select install... It was driving me nuts as I watched this several times to make sure I didn't miss anything.. Keep up the good work!!
awesome video !!! thank you for sharing. Always a pleasure to receive a notification about your new videos..!!! Means I am always learning something new and always have a new project to undertake. lol
First of all a huge 'Thank You!' to you Michael. Another great guide for a noob. Thank you as well to the folk who have added helpful comments and questions here - it's all good stuff for a noob like me. I've just completed the swap on my Ender 3 and have a couple of minor notes. These apply to my machine which is quite new, so perhaps Creality have made a few small changes of late?. The stock Z axis ends top switch cable is too short to reach the MKS board socket - easy enough to extend but just a heads-up. The top and bottom M3 fixing screws for the new case have moved - I had to add new holes 7mm further away from the 'hinge' edge of the case parts. No big deal. Thanks to all for the tip on the stock LCD/single cable. As noted by others below, DON'T un-comment REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER or comment out CR10_STOCKDISPLAY I have yet to install and set up the BLTouch I bought...and have just ordered an MKS TFT28 and TMC2130 drivers. On a car forum I frequent, this is known as "Upgradeitus" :)
I recently dropped my Ender3, and completely bolloxed the frame.. Fast forward 2 months, and it's been rebuilt with a RAMPS1.6 / Mega2560, MAHOOSIVE linear rail and slider for the Y axis, Completely new frame, mosfet boards for the bed, extruder and all fans. Auto bed leveling and electronic sensors for all three axis using my XYZ-THING io board. My own power splitter with dual buck converters for PI's or additional LEDs, fans etc.. I've used vanilla MARLIN, had a few issues with the thermistor type (it's 5), but now that's sorted, all is good.. I reckon I've swapped 90% of the original ENDER3 to make the DefENDER3-HD beast!! Your video's have really been a help in configuring the firmware and other bits.. BIG THANKS!! :-D
Great video, as always. I'd certainly be interested in the touchscreen and SD Card mods. This represents such a major hardware change that it seems logical to go the whole way...
Great video. I have had no luck getting my EZBL to work and have been avoiding the bltouch because of the memory issues on the stock board. This looks like the perfect solution. Great work.
You are awesome, thank you! This also works on a CR-10S5, albeit just swap the examples for CR-10S and change the bed size. The whine from the motors was killing me. Just went through your tutorial on this, Vanilla Marlin, and rounded it out with the TMC2208. The beast is running completely silent now!
Guys having tried this a while back here's a couple of tips. Do not connect a 5v fan directly anywhere on the board's 5v rail. The regulator on the Gen L will not keep a stable supply voltage and will cause your sensors to fluctuate. Basically you're temp sensors will start to have some hysteria :P (You can compensate in the firmware but that's weak) A nice trick is to connect two 12v quieter fans in series to the E1 connector on the board with some Marlin modifications you can get these fans to start at a certain temperature. Play about with the software PWM to reduce the pulse noise. These two fans are the cool end fan and the motherboard fan. Basically means you're printer is silent until it starts working if you disregard the power supply fan or have a silent supply. Also have a go at software serial to manage your TMCs which gives you almost silent workings. I went for TMC2208s all round however you can make use of the TMC2130 on X and Y with CrashGuard. This eradicates the need for X and Y end stops. With less sound and vibration the prints just get better and better.
Awesome video, thanks loads. After a day watching all of your Ender 3 videos, I have a 3 pro being delivered tomorrow to give me more build space than my Flashforge creator pro :) Thanks for all the info and great upgrade tips This is going to be fun :)
Thanks for the tutorial. I managed to install the board, along with the TMC2208 driver, no problem. Well, at least I thought there was no problem. Until I turned it on and had the printer preheat for PLA. Those temps ran wild up and down! Back to the original Creality 1.1.4 board again.
Have you tried adding a capacitor to the MKS board on the 5v supply side? A lot of research revealed a few forums where those with temperature issues have managed to gain stability by adding a capacitor. I'll try and find the post and link you.
Very helpful video. I am considering buying an Ender 5 and it doesn't seem too different as far as the electronics are concerned. Nice tip on measuring the driver current on the factory steppers and then duplicating it.
Nice. I upgraded mine with the v2.1 Creality board (for the CR-10S etc) which has the advantage it fits the existing metalwork unmodified on the Ender 3, but it doesn't have upgrade-able stepper drivers and that MKS Gen-L board does look better. One thing I would recommend; when modifying connectors like you did for the end-stop connectors, try the flush cutters that come with the printer rather than a scalpel - found it very easy and safe. My fingers survived unmodified... (in my case it was needed to turn the LCD display connector around)
im building another prusa i3 clone and will be initially setting it up with the ramps 1.4 that i already have but after seeing this, I have just ordered this board with the touch screen and 5 TMC drivers for £65. Will look forward to installing it all once it arrives!!!
I got a RMA from Creality after my board fried during it's first print. Already spent effort replacing the oem board, but the Gen L was my alternative if they didn't send me a replacement. Might do this upgrade in the future anyway! Happily printing for now! Thanks for all these tutorials :-)
Many thanks for this very good instruction. I did this modification on my ender 3 this weekend and it works perfect. I bought TMC2208 drivers and use them in uart mode. Now the printer moves absolutely silent. I had to change the wire for the Z endswitch (too short) and drill new holes for the screws on top and bottom of the new case (seems that my ender 3 has the holes 5mm nearer to the left side).
If you add 2 9mm Clip-on Ferrite Ring Cores on each axis and the main power cable you will greatly reduce noise and ringing. Prints will come out smoother. Also adding 1 32x3 mm round n52 magnet to each 2 cores completes for perfect walls. Stabilizes the stepper motors.
Interesting. I'm familiar with the use of ferrite cores, but could you please provide more information or external links regarding the use of magnets for this purpose? N52 are neodymium magnets, correct? These are pretty powerful magnets and can sometimes be dangerous... I also want to verify where you suggest we use these magnets - are you saying attach one 32x3 neodymium magnet to each ferrite core? Can you please clarify and explain how that helps?
FYI - The kit listed in the description will NOT come with a touch screen. It comes with a standard LCD screen with the SD reader, rotary encoder and beeper on the top. I have contacted the seller but doubt I will get it resolved. I will place an order for the touch screen from a different seller and eat the LCD screen.
Very nice helpful vid! Probably make a continuation video with the touch screen installation with the wifi module. Im an idiot with these sort of things. Your video is the go to guide for me. I dont mind blowing a few of coins building my ender 3 pro with more bells and whistles. Its just my bad habit of modding things to its peak performance.
It looks as if the stepper motor plug is a JST plug. I make balance plug extensions for my RC lipo batteries which use the same JST connectors. They are cheep and can be ordered through Hobbyking. Simply pry up the locking tabs on the top of the plug, keeping the wire orientation correct so do it one at a time, and pull the wire out and reinsert the wire into a 3 plug JST.
Just an FYI not all 1.1.4 board have the updated stepper drivers. I bought one on eBay because creality was out if stock and it's just as loud as the 1.1.3 board I had. I need to pull heat sink off and check what drivers they are to confirm
He's measuring the voltage on the stepper drivers. Turning the small trim pot on each driver allows you to adjust the voltage going to the stepper motors ua-cam.com/video/AVlee67TQxs/v-deo.html If you're not familiar with electronics at all then you really shouldn't do this upgrade. A single slip-up will ruin a board when doing this.
Ian it's essential. Too high and motors run hot, meaning a fire risk and or parts failure. Too low and you'll get skipped steps. It's not hard to do, there are tutorials on UA-cam.
i did the same, but with the Fysetc F6 board and TMC 2208 drivers. Almost the same als the MKS but it has slightly more features and all pins are accessible. Got the original display working too :)
@@Eewokney I've been meaning to do a write up about it but I'm afraid I won't get around to that. However Michaels video is excellent, so I recommend following that but with a different board and do some freewheeling along the way. If you're not confident about that, I wouldn't not start a project like this. I've spent/lost more hours debugging than I care to admit :D
Great tutorial! I changed my board with a Creality V2.1 and even the SD card and USB slots are in the same place. This board is the one which cames in the CR-10S. But I do not have replaceable drivers, they are on board.
@@drewd423 From Creality Aliexpress Store. I made an adapter to have just one cable to the screen, but the easiest way is to add a second cable like Michael did.
Just watched a few of your other videos - would this board make enabling thermal runaway protection easy? If so I may just buy one instead of an arduino to flash my current board! Thanks
First things first, great video and I will acknowledge every build is different, so pardon my critical thinking in advance. I did this upgrade before this video came along, it is condensed for viewing and kinda excludes a few things. I got passed most of the hurdles and the only problem I have left is calibrating the center of the bed and the size of the print. I upgraded to different stepper motors with dampeners which means you need the adjustable sprockets/gears on the end of the stepper shaft. I assume once I changed those it changed the ratio at which the belt was moved in respect to stepper angle. So I attempted to fix that but need to try a few more things. There are a few snags I ran into along the way to include: The color coding of the limit switches doesn't correspond to the the colors displayed in Cura on it's virtual axis, so I miss wired the limit switches, next the comp port you choose for your firmware upload to the control board isn't always going to work the same, sometimes you need to unplug it just seconds before you load the stuff or you will get a time out error, also I wasn't aware that with this board, although you can choose a display, the MKS display needs it's firmware put on the SD card and it will load from there with a longer boot on the first power up. If you want to do an ABS only machine like I want to then you need extra long wires and different unit to hold this because an ABS set up is a hot environment that is no good for the control board, I imagine mine will be like the CR-10 set up. As far as the wiring goes, it is simple IF you do not use the separate board for the power to the heated bed. The MKS MOS25 is this device, it complicates things although I you can save a butt load of time by looking at the wiring of the FLSUN QQ because it has ALL the stuff already set up. If anyone messages me I can send you a picture of mine, I won't leave a link because most link comments are subject to review. Another side note is that you can save money on that borosilicate glass bed if you just go to a place that cuts glass for pictures or windows and ask for a 9 1/4 by 9 1/4 by 1/8 piece of normal glass.
These are additional steps I had to do to get my new MKS Gen L board to work with my Ender-3 Pro running Marlin 1.1.9 (the latest plain vanilla as of this writing). I upgraded my board from the original because after only about 5 machine hours the stock Melzi died from ESD events. Partially my fault for placing my E3P on a plastic table (E3P sucks air into the controller enclosure from the bottom), in a house with air conditioning (dry air) and carpets. The E3P framework and controller board are also not grounded (Earthed). 1a) Placed an ESD mat under my E3P and connected it to the main power supply case, which is properly Earthed. 1b) I connected a wire with a 1Meg-Ohm in series from the same power supply case screw to the negative power-in terminal on the MKS board (along with the black lead from the PS) 2) Before applying Michael's changes to the code I REPLACED the configuration.h AND configuration_adv.h files in the main Marlin folder with the two from the Marlin\example_configurations\Creality\Ender-3 folder. I found the stock files in this release of Marlin to be VERY different. It's probably the cause of many problems that people are seeing. For example, the PID setting: a lot different, the default filament size, motion parameters, Japanese character set!? 3) copy _Bootscreen.h and _Statusscreen.h files from the same Ender-3 folder into the main Marlin folder. 4) I did not comment out the #define CR10_STOCKDISPLAY and uncomment the alternate because I kept my original display and went the single ribbon cable route: Placing the cable in backwards on the MKS ETX1 socket and in the correct direction on the display's EXT3 socket. 5) Applied all the other changes Michael calls out in his video. However, I think the Invert DIR setting are already OK in the configuration.h file copied from the ender-3 folder. I ended up with true,true,false,true for X,Y,Z,E0 respectively. 6) I am now printing Michael's original board adapter because I have an E3Pro, which requires that I only have to cut a hole on one side of the metal enclosure, which I am prepared to do. I "think" I am going to prefer the fan on the bottom. I'll at least try this first and see if I like it. I also prefer to keep the metal if I can.
7:22 using electrical tape to tidy up wiring... Do not do that with electrical tape. It will be nasty and sticky after a while. You may use zip tie or cotton thread
Hi there, Love your channel, you are very clear and informative! Clearly shows that you are a School Teacher keep up the amazing work! I just have one small critasism, I am currently upgrading my Ender 3 with the MKS GEN L board, tmc2100s, bl touch, tft32 and EZR extruder. When it comes to the firmware I'm a complete idiot and am trying to follow all your appropriate videos that include the fw instructions. I am finding it soo hard to follow though as the fw alterations are scattered across so many videos that are not specifically fw videos! Would be soo great if you could edit together a single video solely on vanilla marlin fw changes, rather than referencing "we did this in another video" but dont put a links to those in the description! I hope that makes sense lol Keep up the outstanding work 👍👍
I found the video to be very successful, but I think it would have been much better to include the use of the sd card for people like me who aren't profesional. Congratulations on the video very successful. and wish you success
The board reaches its maximum if used on delta printers in combination with a touch TFT. The atmega2560 is an 8 bit controller. Delta printers should better stick to 32bit processors so for example the MKS V1.3 which uses LPC1768 or boards with an arm STM32 processor. Bonus, also higher clockrate, DMA that can speed up alot , the atmega's don't have that. note, use marlin 2.0 for any of the 32bit boards.
Thanks for the video. I'm in the process of setting this board up on my cr10s. I have all the hardware and i'm just getting the courage to tearing my control box apart lol
Another fantastic video, thank you :) Might do this along next year - if the stock ender-3 pro board doesnt get the magic smoke coming out in the meantime haha
In my case - I change stepper motor drivers on both X and Y axis on my stock Ender 3 board. And maaan, it's crazy silent now :P Good job Michael, nice modification. For now I'm facing with BLTouch for my Ender 3 and then I will remove bed springs. Later on maybe Titan aero or at least better extruder (titan or bondtech) and V6 hotend.
@@janhofmeister7373 it is not a problem. Tmc2208 fits perfectly instead of a4988. I used hot air, soldered out stock drivers. Then soldered in tmc2208. You also have to change one capacitor and remove one resistor for each driver set. Trinamic have very good manual for changing drivers :)
A couple of weeks ago I was thinking that Creality should make a PnP MB and touch-screen update for the Ender3. Since they went open other manufactures have already done this, so it would be a good upgrade for people with std Ender3's.
Hi Michael I should point out the solution that totalretributioncouk works nicely. I think you should add that as a comment to this video or add to your next one. In short, one just need to reverse the cable at the display cutting the little tab that prevents this inversion, connect the other to EXP1 at the MKS board and don't edit the display part as you instruct in your video. That makes the change even easier.
You DO NOT need an extra ribbon cable if using the original LCD. Use EXP1 on the MKS and EXP3 on the display, however on the display end cut the small tab on the ribbon cable plug off and rotate the connector when plugging into the display.
By doing this you can then use the EXP2 connector for a SD Card reader.
This is what I did on mine too and it works perfectly fine.
Mine doesn't work. It just lights up but displays nothing.
ua-cam.com/video/OsJKF2UkJFA/v-deo.html
Do you know why?
@@matejsokolec2973 Is that on an MKS 1.4 or an MKS GEN L as your video title says 1.4. It looks like your rotating the cable on the MKS end where as I rotated the cable on the LCD.
@@totalretributioncouk It's a 1.4 board but the motherboard was flashed correctly. I will try to rotate. Thanks for the info.
did u finish with the marlin isntallation as i see it's still in the builds?
Just purchased a ender 3 off Craigslist with a burnt board.only $50 for the printer and $40 for MKS, drivers & lcd has allow me to have my first 3D printer for under $100 thank you immensely for you work! Sincerely from me and others of the lBBC (low budget builders community)
That is awesome, well done on being so resourceful.
Switching to a Gen L was the first thing I did on my Ender 3. I switched over to a Gen L on my Tornado before they became stock, and I loved it.
Really appreciate your whole in-depth approach. I have no choice but to do this upgrade (bed mosfet burnout and aggravation over limited storage capacity).
it's the detail that is explained here that is amazing. Having just started the 3D printing most of this stuff is over my head but after a while I can return to this tutorial with more confidence . Thank you
Very useful guide, thanks.
At 8:13 you suggest connecting a mainboard cooling fan to the controller's 5v supply.
Connecting a fan to the same power rail as digital logic may cause problems.
The 5v regulator may not maintain a stable voltage if it's powering a fan and the sensor values (temperature readings) may fluctuate.
The simplest solution is to connect the fan to the 12v/24v connector (connector G in the video), where you originally located it.
A better (but more complicated) solution would be to allocate a spare digital pin on the MKS Gen L to CONTROLLERFAN_PIN in the Configuration_adv.h file in the Marlin firmware and use that pin via a 220 Ohm resistor to switch an external mosfet that drives the fan from the 24v rail via connector G. That will turn on the fan when any stepper driver is enabled and turn it off after the set amount of seconds from the last driver being disabled.
This is correct for the stock 24v fan that comes with the Ender 3, but he said that he took the opportunity to change to a 5v noctua, so he's not trying to run a 24v fan on 5v.
Thanks, I didn't catch that he changed to a 5v fan. I've edited my comment accordingly.
I just ordered a CR-10S board to upgrade my Ender 3. I was looking at the MKS board, but seemed too much work to make fit. I should have waited for this video.
Edit: Just got the CR-10S V2.1 board working with Marlin 1.1.9 using the CR-10S config examples and changing the print dimension for the Ender 3, and the LCD config to be CR10_STOCKDISPLAY from REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER. The V2.1 (and probably V2.0) board does run fine with 24V, in case anyone was wondering.
Mostly the install was as simple as swapping the boards over. The 10-pin LCD connector needs to be installed 180 degrees rotated, which means you need to cut the locating protrusion off the connector (done easily with the blue side cutters). Seems the Ender3 connector was wrong, now they have fixed it to be the same as everybody else. The hot-end fan was bare wires and I needed to crimp on a 2-pin connector to plug into the new boards VIN connector. You could pick up voltage for the fan from the PSU connectors, but I wouldn't try to double up on the hot-end or bed connectors as a lot of current flows through these.
I've never been into anything that parallels current uploads on UA-cam, the world is really grabbing onto 3D printing. Thanks for helping us.
this is the best channel on UA-cam about 3D printing, I mean it. the second was CNC kitchen. you are really good at teaching people to do sth. a very clear mind and step by step, you know which part is hard you have to emphasize and which part can just skate around.
What a fantastic instructional video for a really nifty and USEFUL upgrade! This is a much better mainboard to keep up with all the wonderful improvements in Marlin. These "hopped up" videos for low-cost 3D printers remind me of guys buying an old 1967 Chevy, and upgrading the heck out of it. :)
I have heard about this board many times in various forums. Thank you for doing a video on it. I would love to see a video from you about TMC stepper motor drivers, both the pros and cons of them as well as how to install them on this board.
Me too, it's the only part of the guide I didnt understand
What are the benefits of this?
This was a fantastic tutorial Mike! You really go above and beyond my friend!
Thanks for the video. I upgraded to a MKS Gen L and TMC2208 drivers today. Other than having to drill a hole for my non-pro Ender 3 in the new case and cutting off the tab on the display ribbon cable to flip it around, everything went smoothly and without any issues. The printer is so much quieter now!
A little late to the game, but I have installed the MKS Board. A couple of notes, I am retaining my stock display, in addition to the touch screen, as there are some features that I prefer, such as position and other information. You can also adjust the feed rate of the print from the original screen, even though you cannot enter the menus. It bears mentioning that if you do not use stock type 4988 drivers that you need to update the appropriate drivers in Marlin. I used DRV8825 stepper drivers and will see if the micro-stepping causes any issues. I also had to install a USB driver to communicate with the MKS Board to allow Marlin to upload. Even with these drivers, the machine is quieter, along with the fans not howling all the time. My next move will be to do the more sophisticated Trinamic drivers. So far, So good! Thanks Michael for a great channel.
Michael, thank you for the time spent so we can upgrade our machines. Board ordered last week.
Michael, I have ordered all the items in your purchase list along with a full list of other improvements including a genuine BL touch. Thanks for providing all the help and information.
We need a SkR1.3 guide just like this!
Thanks for yet another great guide. I am up and running with the new board, you make it so easy. I did make a few changes based on other videos/sites. I added a 5v 20MM fan to cool the board (found the print on Thingiverse based on yours). I reversed the LCD connection by trimming off the plug, so I only needed one cable and I did not make the changes concerning display in the firmware to make it work this way. I also switched to 2208 drivers (again found a video on setting voltage on those). Finally, added BLtouch, I found I needed a drop of hot glue gun glue to get that to stay connected on the board. If I hadn't messed up setting voltages on the drivers, things would have gone smoothly. After smoking a couple of those, I watched some video's on how to best do that. I can't believe how quiet my printer is now with the 2208 drivers! Thanks again for great videos, I have done so much to my printer and improved my prints!! I can't decide if I want LCD touch screen or not, I would like to hear from others that have made that change if they like the touchscreen.
Thank you. I have subscribed and liked. I'm new to all of this, but you are one of the most rational, and understanding of how to be rational individuals I've viewed. Please keep the knowledge flowing. Thank you again!
I really appreciate your videos Michael. Been upgrading my printer over the last few months and just finished the cable management on the new mks gen l board today. Got the BLtouch v3 working, tmc2208s running and tried out the touch screen. The touch screen is gonna go in the spare parts bin. Losing the m600 function is just not gonna work for me.
So far ive done a filament runnout sensor of my own design. The hero men gen 2, upgraded the hot end fan to a 40x40x20 noctua, and a 5015 blower. The ezr extruder and some lighting. With your new case that freaking board fan is obnoxious so a noctua is on the way for that as well.
Thanks for all you do for the community.
After many Ender 3 upgrades, an idea come to my mind while watching this video.... build a Ender 3 upgraded clone, from scratch. This would be a great series for this great channel...
My compliments. If an old man of limited intellect, such as myself, can follow your guidance, you have done well. My ender 3 now has a bootloader and is happily running th3d firmware. Thank you!
Jesus you guys are impressive. I can't even change the firmware without rendering my printer useless and you are changing electronics, software, measuring stuff with meters, etc.
Another great video Michael. I've just purchased the MKS Gen L board and some TMC2208 drivers to replace the stock controller on my Anet E10. Your video helped a lot cause I wasn't sure where to connect the correct fans to, but pics really help. Thank you. I would love to see a video on adding a touch screen to the controller, even though I use octoprint, I still like to have the screen in place.
Thanks for this video. I already have the board and some TMC2208 stepper drivers and an LV8729. Getting ready to upgrade and this video is very useful.
Thanks Michael, I've been waiting for a mainboard upgrade with a larger microchip. Cheer merry xmas
Great video. Very helpful to know that this upgrade is not much more expensive than paying for bootloading on my stock Ender board.
Following this guide I ran into error when compling.. You need to go Sketch > Include library > > Manage Libraries and search for u8glib select install... It was driving me nuts as I watched this several times to make sure I didn't miss anything.. Keep up the good work!!
awesome video !!! thank you for sharing. Always a pleasure to receive a notification about your new videos..!!! Means I am always learning something new and always have a new project to undertake. lol
Another outstanding tutorial. I’ll be doing this upgrade when I get back from my holiday. Michael take a hint and have a holiday yourself. 😁🇦🇺
First of all a huge 'Thank You!' to you Michael. Another great guide for a noob. Thank you as well to the folk who have added helpful comments and questions here - it's all good stuff for a noob like me.
I've just completed the swap on my Ender 3 and have a couple of minor notes. These apply to my machine which is quite new, so perhaps Creality have made a few small changes of late?. The stock Z axis ends top switch cable is too short to reach the MKS board socket - easy enough to extend but just a heads-up. The top and bottom M3 fixing screws for the new case have moved - I had to add new holes 7mm further away from the 'hinge' edge of the case parts. No big deal.
Thanks to all for the tip on the stock LCD/single cable. As noted by others below, DON'T un-comment REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER or comment out CR10_STOCKDISPLAY
I have yet to install and set up the BLTouch I bought...and have just ordered an MKS TFT28 and TMC2130 drivers. On a car forum I frequent, this is known as "Upgradeitus" :)
Hi guys, I did this mod just a week ago. it works fantastic. thanks for the tut Michael, Merry xmas guys!
I recently dropped my Ender3, and completely bolloxed the frame.. Fast forward 2 months, and it's been rebuilt with a RAMPS1.6 / Mega2560, MAHOOSIVE linear rail and slider for the Y axis, Completely new frame, mosfet boards for the bed, extruder and all fans. Auto bed leveling and electronic sensors for all three axis using my XYZ-THING io board. My own power splitter with dual buck converters for PI's or additional LEDs, fans etc.. I've used vanilla MARLIN, had a few issues with the thermistor type (it's 5), but now that's sorted, all is good..
I reckon I've swapped 90% of the original ENDER3 to make the DefENDER3-HD beast!!
Your video's have really been a help in configuring the firmware and other bits.. BIG THANKS!! :-D
Dang I wanna be able to do all this
Michael, What a nice Christmas present! Thank you!
Very good! I was thinking about doing that to my ender when I had time to design a board case, but you did it first hehe.
Good job!
Perfect I bought this board last week
Merry Christmas. Thanks for the video.
Big Thanks for the second ribbon cable advice and Stock screen settings
Great video, as always.
I'd certainly be interested in the touchscreen and SD Card mods.
This represents such a major hardware change that it seems logical to go the whole way...
Great video. I have had no luck getting my EZBL to work and have been avoiding the bltouch because of the memory issues on the stock board. This looks like the perfect solution. Great work.
Wow, terrific video. I may make this change. Your videos are so helpful and well done.
You are awesome, thank you! This also works on a CR-10S5, albeit just swap the examples for CR-10S and change the bed size. The whine from the motors was killing me. Just went through your tutorial on this, Vanilla Marlin, and rounded it out with the TMC2208. The beast is running completely silent now!
Guys having tried this a while back here's a couple of tips. Do not connect a 5v fan directly anywhere on the board's 5v rail. The regulator on the Gen L will not keep a stable supply voltage and will cause your sensors to fluctuate. Basically you're temp sensors will start to have some hysteria :P (You can compensate in the firmware but that's weak) A nice trick is to connect two 12v quieter fans in series to the E1 connector on the board with some Marlin modifications you can get these fans to start at a certain temperature. Play about with the software PWM to reduce the pulse noise. These two fans are the cool end fan and the motherboard fan. Basically means you're printer is silent until it starts working if you disregard the power supply fan or have a silent supply. Also have a go at software serial to manage your TMCs which gives you almost silent workings. I went for TMC2208s all round however you can make use of the TMC2130 on X and Y with CrashGuard. This eradicates the need for X and Y end stops. With less sound and vibration the prints just get better and better.
A very thorough tutorial....nicely done! I've thought about doing an MKS replacement to my Geeetech A10 motherboard.
Thanks for this Michael, great instructions, all ordered! My Ender 3 will be dual-colour, if not 3-colour very soon!
Your channel is very useful and contains valuable resources to learn new thing.
Awesome video, thanks loads. After a day watching all of your Ender 3 videos, I have a 3 pro being delivered tomorrow to give me more build space than my Flashforge creator pro :) Thanks for all the info and great upgrade tips This is going to be fun :)
Thanks again for a great tutorial. Happy Holidays.
Thanks for the tutorial. I managed to install the board, along with the TMC2208 driver, no problem. Well, at least I thought there was no problem. Until I turned it on and had the printer preheat for PLA. Those temps ran wild up and down! Back to the original Creality 1.1.4 board again.
Have you tried adding a capacitor to the MKS board on the 5v supply side? A lot of research revealed a few forums where those with temperature issues have managed to gain stability by adding a capacitor. I'll try and find the post and link you.
Very helpful video. I am considering buying an Ender 5 and it doesn't seem too different as far as the electronics are concerned. Nice tip on measuring the driver current on the factory steppers and then duplicating it.
You my man, are ender 3 Guru... Thanks a lot and merry christmas
Great Videos Mike, Thank You for all the great work and Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas , thank you for your videos
Awesome control board upgrade tutorial!
Thanks for the Vids, this one was a huge help this weekend, just completed my upgrade :)
To enable the bed, you also must set
#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 1
Awesome video as always! I might try this in a bit.
Thank you very useful video. Happy new year !!!
Nice. I upgraded mine with the v2.1 Creality board (for the CR-10S etc) which has the advantage it fits the existing metalwork unmodified on the Ender 3, but it doesn't have upgrade-able stepper drivers and that MKS Gen-L board does look better.
One thing I would recommend; when modifying connectors like you did for the end-stop connectors, try the flush cutters that come with the printer rather than a scalpel - found it very easy and safe. My fingers survived unmodified... (in my case it was needed to turn the LCD display connector around)
im building another prusa i3 clone and will be initially setting it up with the ramps 1.4 that i already have but after seeing this, I have just ordered this board with the touch screen and 5 TMC drivers for £65. Will look forward to installing it all once it arrives!!!
Merry Christmas and happy new year.
Thanks for this interesting video. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to you too.
Great vid as always, merry Christmas! 🎄🎁
Impressive totorial
Thanks for sharing 😀👍
I Think at the tmc2208 as an other stepper controller👍
Happy hollydays 🎅😀👍
Great tutorial! I was planning on doing this next, so your tutorial will come in handy. Thanks, and merry Christmas!
I got a RMA from Creality after my board fried during it's first print. Already spent effort replacing the oem board, but the Gen L was my alternative if they didn't send me a replacement. Might do this upgrade in the future anyway! Happily printing for now! Thanks for all these tutorials :-)
Merry Christmas and thanks for the video
Awesome! I should have this board as a backup. Great tutoring
Many thanks for this very good instruction. I did this modification on my ender 3 this weekend and it works perfect. I bought TMC2208 drivers and use them in uart mode. Now the printer moves absolutely silent. I had to change the wire for the Z endswitch (too short) and drill new holes for the screws on top and bottom of the new case (seems that my ender 3 has the holes 5mm nearer to the left side).
If you add 2 9mm Clip-on Ferrite Ring Cores on each axis and the main power cable you will greatly reduce noise and ringing. Prints will come out smoother. Also adding 1 32x3 mm round n52 magnet to each 2 cores completes for perfect walls. Stabilizes the stepper motors.
Interesting. I'm familiar with the use of ferrite cores, but could you please provide more information or external links regarding the use of magnets for this purpose? N52 are neodymium magnets, correct? These are pretty powerful magnets and can sometimes be dangerous... I also want to verify where you suggest we use these magnets - are you saying attach one 32x3 neodymium magnet to each ferrite core? Can you please clarify and explain how that helps?
I don't have an Ender 3 but it was very interesting watching the process
You are awesome Michael. Thanks for all the great stuff on the ender3. Merry Christmas go enjoy it with the family and stay off here now lol 😁
Merry Christmas my friend
FYI - The kit listed in the description will NOT come with a touch screen. It comes with a standard LCD screen with the SD reader, rotary encoder and beeper on the top. I have contacted the seller but doubt I will get it resolved. I will place an order for the touch screen from a different seller and eat the LCD screen.
Very nice helpful vid! Probably make a continuation video with the touch screen installation with the wifi module. Im an idiot with these sort of things. Your video is the go to guide for me. I dont mind blowing a few of coins building my ender 3 pro with more bells and whistles. Its just my bad habit of modding things to its peak performance.
Another great video. Keep up the good work
It looks as if the stepper motor plug is a JST plug. I make balance plug extensions for my RC lipo batteries which use the same JST connectors. They are cheep and can be ordered through Hobbyking. Simply pry up the locking tabs on the top of the plug, keeping the wire orientation correct so do it one at a time, and pull the wire out and reinsert the wire into a 3 plug JST.
Just an FYI not all 1.1.4 board have the updated stepper drivers. I bought one on eBay because creality was out if stock and it's just as loud as the 1.1.3 board I had. I need to pull heat sink off and check what drivers they are to confirm
Hero! Cheers Michael!
I'm not very familiar with electronics, what are you doing at 5:00? Something about Voltage refs? Is that a critical step?
He's measuring the voltage on the stepper drivers. Turning the small trim pot on each driver allows you to adjust the voltage going to the stepper motors
ua-cam.com/video/AVlee67TQxs/v-deo.html
If you're not familiar with electronics at all then you really shouldn't do this upgrade. A single slip-up will ruin a board when doing this.
@@AERuffy Thanks! Gotta learn it sometime :)
@@AERuffy Is it essential and I have to look into it or can you skip it?
Ian it's essential. Too high and motors run hot, meaning a fire risk and or parts failure. Too low and you'll get skipped steps. It's not hard to do, there are tutorials on UA-cam.
Thank you!!! Any chance that you add part 2 video about driver upgrade, like tmc2130? Or touchscreen with sd card support?
Both are coming, parts are in the mail.
i did the same, but with the Fysetc F6 board and TMC 2208 drivers. Almost the same als the MKS but it has slightly more features and all pins are accessible. Got the original display working too :)
Do you have a blog about it? im interested in the result of the upgrade as well as the how-to
@@Eewokney I've been meaning to do a write up about it but I'm afraid I won't get around to that. However Michaels video is excellent, so I recommend following that but with a different board and do some freewheeling along the way. If you're not confident about that, I wouldn't not start a project like this. I've spent/lost more hours debugging than I care to admit :D
Add me to the list of curious people hungry for more info on the F6.
@@SteinerSE start here wiki.fysetc.com/F6_V1.3/
Wish there was an diy for idiots to do that lol. I feel like yours is worth doing
Great tutorial! I changed my board with a Creality V2.1 and even the SD card and USB slots are in the same place. This board is the one which cames in the CR-10S. But I do not have replaceable drivers, they are on board.
You did this on an Ender 3? Where did you buy the v2.1 board from?
@@drewd423 From Creality Aliexpress Store. I made an adapter to have just one cable to the screen, but the easiest way is to add a second cable like Michael did.
Really nice - thank you :) I think I may give this a go, if only for the touchscreen mod and easier future changes!
Just watched a few of your other videos - would this board make enabling thermal runaway protection easy? If so I may just buy one instead of an arduino to flash my current board! Thanks
First things first, great video and I will acknowledge every build is different, so pardon my critical thinking in advance. I did this upgrade before this video came along, it is condensed for viewing and kinda excludes a few things. I got passed most of the hurdles and the only problem I have left is calibrating the center of the bed and the size of the print. I upgraded to different stepper motors with dampeners which means you need the adjustable sprockets/gears on the end of the stepper shaft. I assume once I changed those it changed the ratio at which the belt was moved in respect to stepper angle. So I attempted to fix that but need to try a few more things. There are a few snags I ran into along the way to include: The color coding of the limit switches doesn't correspond to the the colors displayed in Cura on it's virtual axis, so I miss wired the limit switches, next the comp port you choose for your firmware upload to the control board isn't always going to work the same, sometimes you need to unplug it just seconds before you load the stuff or you will get a time out error, also I wasn't aware that with this board, although you can choose a display, the MKS display needs it's firmware put on the SD card and it will load from there with a longer boot on the first power up. If you want to do an ABS only machine like I want to then you need extra long wires and different unit to hold this because an ABS set up is a hot environment that is no good for the control board, I imagine mine will be like the CR-10 set up. As far as the wiring goes, it is simple IF you do not use the separate board for the power to the heated bed. The MKS MOS25 is this device, it complicates things although I you can save a butt load of time by looking at the wiring of the FLSUN QQ because it has ALL the stuff already set up. If anyone messages me I can send you a picture of mine, I won't leave a link because most link comments are subject to review. Another side note is that you can save money on that borosilicate glass bed if you just go to a place that cuts glass for pictures or windows and ask for a 9 1/4 by 9 1/4 by 1/8 piece of normal glass.
These are additional steps I had to do to get my new MKS Gen L board to work with my Ender-3 Pro running Marlin 1.1.9 (the latest plain vanilla as of this writing).
I upgraded my board from the original because after only about 5 machine hours the stock Melzi died from ESD events. Partially my fault for placing my E3P on a plastic table (E3P sucks air into the controller enclosure from the bottom), in a house with air conditioning (dry air) and carpets. The E3P framework and controller board are also not grounded (Earthed).
1a) Placed an ESD mat under my E3P and connected it to the main power supply case, which is properly Earthed.
1b) I connected a wire with a 1Meg-Ohm in series from the same power supply case screw to the negative power-in terminal on the MKS board (along with the black lead from the PS)
2) Before applying Michael's changes to the code I REPLACED the configuration.h AND configuration_adv.h files in the main Marlin folder with the two from the Marlin\example_configurations\Creality\Ender-3 folder. I found the stock files in this release of Marlin to be VERY different. It's probably the cause of many problems that people are seeing. For example, the PID setting: a lot different, the default filament size, motion parameters, Japanese character set!?
3) copy _Bootscreen.h and _Statusscreen.h files from the same Ender-3 folder into the main Marlin folder.
4) I did not comment out the #define CR10_STOCKDISPLAY and uncomment the alternate because I kept my original display and went the single ribbon cable route: Placing the cable in backwards on the MKS ETX1 socket and in the correct direction on the display's EXT3 socket.
5) Applied all the other changes Michael calls out in his video. However, I think the Invert DIR setting are already OK in the configuration.h file copied from the ender-3 folder. I ended up with true,true,false,true for X,Y,Z,E0 respectively.
6) I am now printing Michael's original board adapter because I have an E3Pro, which requires that I only have to cut a hole on one side of the metal enclosure, which I am prepared to do. I "think" I am going to prefer the fan on the bottom. I'll at least try this first and see if I like it. I also prefer to keep the metal if I can.
i know this is 4 months old but thank you! it fixed some problems i was having due to following the guide to the T.
7:22 using electrical tape to tidy up wiring...
Do not do that with electrical tape. It will be nasty and sticky after a while.
You may use zip tie or cotton thread
Awesome video, Looks like i might use this board to upgrade my Alfawise U30 (stock bed heater transister is blown, and many other board quirks)
Hi there,
Love your channel, you are very clear and informative! Clearly shows that you are a School Teacher keep up the amazing work!
I just have one small critasism, I am currently upgrading my Ender 3 with the MKS GEN L board, tmc2100s, bl touch, tft32 and EZR extruder.
When it comes to the firmware I'm a complete idiot and am trying to follow all your appropriate videos that include the fw instructions.
I am finding it soo hard to follow though as the fw alterations are scattered across so many videos that are not specifically fw videos!
Would be soo great if you could edit together a single video solely on vanilla marlin fw changes, rather than referencing "we did this in another video" but dont put a links to those in the description!
I hope that makes sense lol
Keep up the outstanding work 👍👍
I found the video to be very successful, but I think it would have been much better to include the use of the sd card for people like me who aren't profesional. Congratulations on the video very successful. and wish you success
The board reaches its maximum if used on delta printers in combination with a touch TFT.
The atmega2560 is an 8 bit controller. Delta printers should better stick to 32bit processors so for example the MKS V1.3 which uses LPC1768 or boards with an arm STM32 processor. Bonus, also higher clockrate, DMA that can speed up alot , the atmega's don't have that. note, use marlin 2.0 for any of the 32bit boards.
Thanks for the video.
I'm in the process of setting this board up on my cr10s.
I have all the hardware and i'm just getting the courage to tearing my control box apart lol
Another fantastic video, thank you :) Might do this along next year - if the stock ender-3 pro board doesnt get the magic smoke coming out in the meantime haha
Can you do a vid on MKS gen 1.4?
Thanks for this! It’s great!
In my case - I change stepper motor drivers on both X and Y axis on my stock Ender 3 board. And maaan, it's crazy silent now :P Good job Michael, nice modification. For now I'm facing with BLTouch for my Ender 3 and then I will remove bed springs. Later on maybe Titan aero or at least better extruder (titan or bondtech) and V6 hotend.
How can you change the drivers on the stock Ender 3 board? Aren't they soldered in? And which ones did you put in instead?
@@janhofmeister7373 it is not a problem. Tmc2208 fits perfectly instead of a4988. I used hot air, soldered out stock drivers. Then soldered in tmc2208. You also have to change one capacitor and remove one resistor for each driver set. Trinamic have very good manual for changing drivers :)
great video. i've find a case for the MKS Gen 1.4 and installed it in my Ender 3. It works great.
How did you wire the part cooling fan? I have the same board but I was stumped by that.
@@MercutioLeonhart at the pins right of the heatbed Pins. its Label fan. reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,753796
Vape Buddy Thanks! I thought that was for the Hotend fan, doh!
A couple of weeks ago I was thinking that Creality should make a PnP MB and touch-screen update for the Ender3. Since they went open other manufactures have already done this, so it would be a good upgrade for people with std Ender3's.
Michael, Have you looked at the new MKS SGEN_L v1.0 32 bit board?
The issue I have with it is there is no driver for the usb?
Hi Michael I should point out the solution that totalretributioncouk works nicely. I think you should add that as a comment to this video or add to your next one. In short, one just need to reverse the cable at the display cutting the little tab that prevents this inversion, connect the other to EXP1 at the MKS board and don't edit the display part as you instruct in your video. That makes the change even easier.