SKR Mini E3 V3.0 Integrated 32 Bit Board Marlin/Klipper

Summary: Great motherboard, just make sure you have a connector for you hotend fan if installing in an ender 3 v2 Review and experience: I bought this after I had kinda given up on the printer. Beforehand I had a setup where it was a Ender 3 v2 with a cr touch, dragonfly hotend, raspberry pi 4B (for klipper), orbiter v2, and dragonfly hotend. I got this on a Black Friday deal and decided to install it on my printer. I will admit setup was a bit difficult because I had to redo the configuration files in klipper and get all the driver settings correct but after that I have been tuning it and it works wonderfully. I previously had issues with my orbiter v2 with the old creality 4.2.7 board even though I had tuned the vref on it and got the multimeter out to make sure it was correct. But after switching to this board and putting in the driver settings I haven’t had an issue with it since. The only thing I didn’t like about the board is the way the hotend fan gets plugged in but that just was because I had an ender 3 v2 that didn’t have the connector on the fan already. Other than that I would give it a 11/10 because it was easy to set up, easy to use, and overall improved my printer by leaps and bounds.

Execelent choice for klipper upgrades to those old printers that deserve a new life. So far running flawlessly on two printers. The board is really easy to configure, as there are countless configs online to get you started.

This board amazes me with all the features they've managed to cram into such a small form factor. I'm using just about every feature it has, and I've even managed to get CAN bus working on it with the help of a $5 CAN transceiver. I have only a couple of small complaints. First, mine has not been especially quiet, with at least one driver producing a sort of hiss. It's not terribly loud, but it's not silent either. The second issue is that it doesn't have any way to enter DFU mode (Device Firmware Update). This means that if you make a mistake updating the firmware, you may find yourself unable to get the board to boot and unable to write the firmware via USB or an SD card to recover. In my case, I had to purchase a $10 ST-Link V2 programmer to recover from a failed CAN firmware update. Most 3D printer devices with an STM chip have DFU mode, and it would be a relatively simple addition for Bigtreetech to include in this board. Not a deal breaker, but approach firmware updates with caution.

I have wanted to run more overnight prints, but the noise level on the oem Creality board is obnoxious. This BIGTREETECH SKR Mini E3 V3.0 was a great upgrade. No more high pitch noises, just fan noise while printing. Installation wasn't plug and play due to needing to aquire a connector for one of the fans. The hardest part is getting firmware configured and created. Thankfully there is some help provided by TH3D which makes building it a little easier. My first print after re-leveling the bed is looking great. The noise level is miniscule compared to before. I'm liking this replacement board. I'll be running a print overnight and testing it out further in the coming days. My 3D printer was a stock Ender 3 Pro with silicone bed mounts and a PEI bed sheet. Update: I've had this replacement board installed about a month now. So far everything is working great with my Ender 3 Pro. I have printed several boxes almost non-stop for about 8 consecutive days and everything had been working well. No overheating issues or errors. Having a silent board is worth every penny and I use the printer so much more now.

I could not get my bltouch to work with this board no matter what I tried. Messing with firmware, trying to cancel out interference, buying extra parts for troubleshooting. The bltouch will probe fine sometimes, but before it can get 1/4 of the way through creating a 5x5 mesh it will crash in the bed. Could not reach the company for support. I reached out the the Bigtreetech here and they wanted a video of me swapping the bltouch before they would offer any assistance. The value for the money of this thing is horrible, I paid $45 to tear my printer apart for a week and fight ghosts that were never there with the creality board.

This board ultimately does its job well. If you are switching from a stock Ender 3 Pro v1 board to this board, it is a huge leap forward. If you are swapping this out with an SKR mini E3 v2, you will not notice a big difference. But, in any case, it is well worth the 40 dollar price tag. The Pros: Silences your motors, is 32 bit, fits in the stock ender main board housing, is ABL ready, has a built in boot loader, and it gives you more control over your fans. Cons: This board came with some changes and/or revisions that I didn't love so much, which only counts against it a little, because, overall, I love the SKR mini E3 boards. 1. They moved some of the plug ins and changed the hook up type. Namely, the hot end fan. It was moved from the screw in slots to a plug in on the board. This apparently gives you more control over the fan's behavior, but it was a bit inconvenient and required some work and research to get everything plugged in correctly. 2. The card reader on this is very fragile. I broke my card reader and had to replace the board because I pushed the card in too hard? That was as confusing when it happened as it sounds in writing. Just...be very careful with the card slot. 3. So far, the editable version of the firmware for this has been hard to come by, and info on what environment to use has been even harder to find. I was able to find both and change the firmware to suit my needs, but be warned it is not easily obtained...at least not at the time of this writing. Other than those things, this has been a great board and I would still recommend it.

I had a Ramps 1.3 board on my printer and it was noisey, inconsistant and the offline controls were cumbersome so I installed this one with touchscreen. Nice connections, clear and easy to connect. Small size, it is nice and compact so it mounts easily. I printed a case for it so I can keep a fan running for cooling. Setup and calibration is easy. With the touchscreen, it is fast and simple. Love the board, runs efficiently and stays cool. Good choice.

Between this board and my Raspberry Pi, with the Ender running Klipper, my printer's performance is top notch. I don't even look to see if the first layer is correct and sticking anymore. What a dream! I like the dual Z jacks, even if they're not individual circuits.