If you own a Creality Ender 3 and want to deploy Marlin on it you should first ask yourself why.
Why
When searching Google for that topic, a bunch of results and video tutorials appear in front of you talking about the ‘benefits’ of that ‘improvement’. Well, if you read the details you will find comments like Ender 3 is a great 3D printer but comes with some defects and the new version of Marlin is the solution to that. But seriously, what are those defects?
I bought the printer 3 weeks ago and I have to say that the results are impressive. Ok, it is my first 3D printer, but before acquiring it I was reading a lot about the subject and the most common advice in every web I visited was: don’t get frustrated about the results of 3D printing? You will get a lot of bad results and that’s normal. I’ve got too few bad results with my Ender 3… until yesterday.
Is it worthy?
After reading and watching some tutorials I decided to install a bootloader on my printer to upload the latest Marlin version to it. Why? I still don’t know.
Burning the Bootloader
It wasn’t easy. I look for some old Arduinos I knew I had and found a Duemilanove and a Mega. The board used by Creality in it’s Ender 3 is compatible with ATMega Sanguino boards, so all you have to do is burn the bootloader on the board and then use Arduino IDE to upload the sketch with the latest Marlin version.
Burning the bootloader has to be done with an ISP programmer or using an Arduino as ISP. The procedure is quite simple:
Open the board box of your Ender 3
Locate the ICSP connector
Use five Dupont Female to Female wires to connect:
GNDto GND
5V (VCC) to 5V(VCC)
SCKto SCK
MOSIto MOSI
MISOto MISO
Use one Dupont Female to Male wire to connect:
RESETto IO10 of your Arduino board
Upload Arduino ISP sketch to your Arduino (in examples)
Change board to Sanguinoand Programmer to Arduino as ISP
Burn Bootloader
I can’t remember how many times I tried. Changing port, reviewing wires many times, switching on / off, using Duemilanove and Mega… and nothing worked. I got the same error always and it seemed there was a problem getting synchronism in Avrdude tool.
Arduino’s ISP issue and the capacitor workaround
Then I remembered I had this problem years ago when playing with Arduinos. First Arduino models had problems with reset while negotiating ISP programming and the workaround is using a 10μF electrolytic capacitor between reset and GND pins.
The capacitor between RST and GND
Remember electrolytic capacitors have polarity and you shouldn’t reverse them:
After plugin the capacitor I was able to burn the uploader.
Uploading Marlin latest and ‘improved’ version
As expected, the printer was now reset. No printing program inside it and a blank LCD screen showing nothing.
That is the moment to upload Marlin latest software using Arduino IDE.
My intention is not telling you all the steps to do this, as the Internet is full of videos and tutorials (and remember, I don’t recommend doing it), but telling you what happened to my printer after doing that.
I uploaded the latest Marlin software with some miracle customizations performed in the parameters code by an expert guy. The result? After leveling the bed I tried with a small box and…
Filament not sticking to build plate
That was the first time in three weeks. Before that, the adhesion was very good. I tried some more times, I calibrated and leveled the bed and always the same result. I found that when the nozzle never got enough close to the plate. Maybe the miraculous customizations?.
I decided then to go back to the Creality version, which is a previous Marlin version adapted for Ender 3.
Creality Ender 3: Going back to manufacturer version
The good news is that we can now upload code to our printer because we have deployed a bootloader on it.
All we have to do is to find the manufacturer’s original code.
Locate the Marlin folder inside the folders created by the Unrar tool.
Copy the Marlin folder to a better location and edit the Configuration.h file.
Change the language for display. Locate the line (line #1188 in my version)
#define LCD_LANGUAGE cn
and replace cn with your language code (en, de, es, it, fr, …)
Compile and upload to the printer port detected when plugged in.
Remember you have to set these options in Tools menu:
Board: Sanguino
Processor: ATmega1284 or ATmega1284P (16MHz)
Port: The one detected by your machine.
Programmer: AVRISP mkll
Conclusion
I think it isn’t worthy of it deploying the latest Marlin version on your Ender 3, mainly because you are not going to get a lot of improvements.
In the other hand, it is very interesting having a bootloader installed and the capability of loading the code into the printer, but only if you need to customize the code.
Today I’ve received two ILI9341 TFT screens that I ordered some weeks ago. These screens are in fact a shield designed for Arduino Uno but they work nicely when connected to other developer boards and the price is amazingly cheap: just US$4.
ILI9341 FrontILI9341 Back
In this case, we will connect the screen to an ESP32 Dev Board.
The pins are configured in a slightly different way than other examples you could find in the web: I’ve tried to minimize mistakes because we will use 13 pins so I thought the best way would be to use as much as possible consecutive pins.
The library we will use is TFT_eSPI library by Bodmer and our only purpose by the moment will be executing an example demo script successfully.
During testing, you can connect TFT 3V3 pin directly to ESP32 3V3 pin, but do it only during a short period of time because the current drawn by the screen LEDs is 134mA and you will notice how the LEDs and the Development Board voltage limiter will become hot.
A 22Ω resistor (not 220) between the two 3V3 pins it’s enough to reduce the current to 23mA and though the screen is not the brightest one in the world I think it is enough for testing purposes.
Once you have finished the connection of the pins as described in the diagram above, you can install the TFT_eSPI library if you don’t have it already installed.
Open Arduino IDE, go to Library Manager and in the search box type TFT_eSPI. In the results list, look for the next and install it.
TFT_eSPI Bodmer Library for Arduino
Now you have the library installed you have to configure the IO pins where we have connected our screen. Other libraries use the definition of constants at the top of each sketch to do this, but TFT_eSPI uses a common file to define the configuration.
Find in your Arduino installation the file called User_Setup.h
It should be located in a path equivalent to this:
[Arduino Folder]/libraries/TFT_eSPI/User_Setup.h
Now, copy the file for backup purposes and edit the original to place inside it this following content (replacing all the previous content):
// See SetupX_Template.h for all options available
#define ESP32_PARALLEL
#define ILI9341_DRIVER
// ESP32 pins used for the parallel interface TFT
#define TFT_CS 27 // Chip select control pin
#define TFT_DC 14 // Data Command control pin - must use a pin in the range 0-31
#define TFT_RST 26 // Reset pin
#define TFT_WR 12 // Write strobe control pin - must use a pin in the range 0-31
#define TFT_RD 13
#define TFT_D0 16 // Must use pins in the range 0-31 for the data bus
#define TFT_D1 4 // so a single register write sets/clears all bits
#define TFT_D2 23
#define TFT_D3 22
#define TFT_D4 21
#define TFT_D5 19
#define TFT_D6 18
#define TFT_D7 17
#define LOAD_GLCD // Font 1. Original Adafruit 8 pixel font needs ~1820 bytes in FLASH
#define LOAD_FONT2 // Font 2. Small 16 pixel high font, needs ~3534 bytes in FLASH, 96 characters
#define LOAD_FONT4 // Font 4. Medium 26 pixel high font, needs ~5848 bytes in FLASH, 96 characters
#define LOAD_FONT6 // Font 6. Large 48 pixel font, needs ~2666 bytes in FLASH, only characters 1234567890:-.apm
#define LOAD_FONT7 // Font 7. 7 segment 48 pixel font, needs ~2438 bytes in FLASH, only characters 1234567890:.
#define LOAD_FONT8 // Font 8. Large 75 pixel font needs ~3256 bytes in FLASH, only characters 1234567890:-.
#define LOAD_GFXFF // FreeFonts. Include access to the 48 Adafruit_GFX free fonts FF1 to FF48 and custom fonts
#define SMOOTH_FONT
Save the file and go back to Arduino IDE.
Open the example sketch UTFT_demo (it is under File / Examples / TFT_eSPI / 320 x 240 / UTFT_demo)
At this point, you can compile and upload the sketch to your ESP32. If everything went ok you should see some graphics, backgrounds and texts appearing in your TFT screen. Otherwise please review carefully the IO pins configuration (hard and soft).
If it works, probably you’ll see the results like in a mirror. To solve this, go to the sketch and edit the line that sets the screen orientation. This is done in the setup function.
void setup()
{
randomSeed(analogRead(A0));
// Setup the LCD
myGLCD.init();
//myGLCD.setRotation(1); //Comment out this one and insert the one below
myGLCD.setRotation(7);
}
It is frustrating the first time you insert an ESP32 dev board into a breadboard and you notice there’s no room for wires.
ESP Dev Board on Breadboard
What I usually do is putting a breadboard aside another one, but I don’t like it very much.
Workaround for ESP Dev Board on two breadboards
I decided then to split the small board into two pieces and insert them in a 3D printed base so that the dev board pins get into the first row of holes and the rest remain available.
Split breadboardESP32 Dev Board on the split breadboardBreadboard splitter
Mounting is very simple and though the design includes eight blocks at the corners to allow screwing I found it wasn’t necessary as the pieces stay together after mounting due to pressure.
The four ‘columns’ at the base allow mounting a PCB over them and some wires can pass down it.
Claudio consists of just five (or six) components, the wiring between them and code. No resistors, capacitors, diodes… no discrete components apart from 3 five cents of € coins. 😉
List of components:
ESP32 Development Board: I’ve tested two different boards, and though they are very similar the results were not the same. ESP32 Development Boards Front ESP32 Development Boards Back Price: US $7 The first one was the one on the right side. It is a board I bought a year ago and it was working fine (for small tests) since then. When I first tried to put all the components together I noticed that ILI9341 TFT Display and WiFi connection were not good friends working at the same time. After 3 or 4 display operations (text, area fill, …) the screen went always blank and only when WiFi library was loaded. I tried multiple pin configurations, alternate libraries loading order. I tested voltage on each significant pin (D/C, CLOCK, MOSI) and no result. Finally, I decided to give a try one of the last boards I bought: the model on the left side. The result was successful. No blank screen. But, these boards have a bug design: they don’t allow uploading schemas directly from Arduino IDE (Error: Timed out waiting for packet header) and you have to ‘play’ with EN and BOOT buttons every time. Workaround: once Arduino IDE tries to upload the schema, press BOOT and without releasing it press also EN button, wait for a half second, release EN and when IDE stops waiting and starts the uploading you can release BOOT button.
ILI9341TFT Screen – SPI Again, the component I had at home was about one year old. The only difference is that the one you can find now implements a set of pins to control a touch panel (though they say at the product description “non-touch”). Anyway, I think the one is being sold now is perfectly compatible with the previous model. What we need for this design is a model with an SPI pin configuration. Sellers usually refer to these as “driven with at least four IO” Price: US $7 ILI9341 SPI TFT DisplaySample ebay.com link to ILI9341
DHT-11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor This is a low-cost sensor very easy to use. Though it has four pins, only three of them have a function (the other one is not connected). Simply connect ground pin to GND, VCC pin to 3V3 and Data Out pin to any ESP32 IO pin. Depending on the range of temperature/humidity you need to measure, you should take a look also to DHT-22 sensor (which implements a wider range and more accuracy), but in my case, 0-50ºC/20-80%R.H. is quite enough. Price: US $1 DHT-110 Temperature and Relative Humidity sensor
BH1750FVI Digital Light Intensity Sensor I think the best feature of this sensor is, apart from ease of use, the sensibility and stability. It measures ambient light and gives the result in Lux. It has 5 pins, but once again we can ignore one of them (ADD) by connecting it to GND. So, we only need two ESP32 IO pins to connect SDA and SCL sensor pins. GND and VCC pins go to GND and 3V3 ESP32 pins respectively. Price: US $1 BH1750FVI Ambient Light Sensorebay.com link to BH1750FVI search
Passive Piezo Buzzer The most basic part of the system. Just two pins (the middle one can be ignored), one goes to GND and the other one to an ESP32 IO pin. Price: US $0.2 Passive Piezo Buzzer
New blog and to tell you the truth, my first blog. No personal introduction, no sensitive content… 🙂
I made some basic tests with an ESP8266 a couple of years ago and I was very pleased with the board capabilities, the freshness of NODEMCU, the quick schema uploading… everything. But I didn’t like one aspect, in the same way, I didn’t like some years before about Arduino boards: connectivity.
The ESP32 arrived, WiFi and BLE connectivity, a bunch of IO pins, a lot of different pin working modes… and for someone with limited knowledge of electronic theory… a marvelous tiny thing.
Lately, I am having much more spare time that I used to have, so I decided to start doing things I always wanted to do but I never had the time to. I don’t like using my cellular for all purpose. I like WakeUp alarm clocks, but not the ones they sell. My last WakeUp alarm was a Sony, very nice, spectacular design but “who the hell designs an alarm clock supposed to be stopped while you are sleeping by pressing a tiny switch in the middle of a lot of more tiny switches? Yes, Sony” And what if I design my own Alarm Clock with that ESP32 Developer board I have? And that’s what I did.
The requirements:
Time visible in the dark, but not like a red UFO. Light intensity has to accommodate to room light.
No need for time adjustment. No need to change the hour every spring or autumn.
Minimal use of buttons, tiny buttons, micro switches… :S
If there’s enough room on the screen… some other indicators like temperature and relative humidity (these are enough important in the dry & hot Madrid nights)
If possible, some communication capabilities: remote configuration, remote alarm stopping, …
Easy to wire components between
The prototype:
I needed a box to fit all the components in. Perfect reason to buy my first 3D printer, and that’s what I did.
This is the screen design today… it’s evolving and probably will not be the same in a couple of days.
Claudio WakeUp Alarm Screen
The box is 11cm x 65mm x 65mm and though is a bit bigger than I expected it to be I think of it as a prototype and time will bring smaller designs.
Claudio Box
This has been only the introduction. Check out the rest of the posts to know more about the design, the code and the possibilities of ‘the creature’.
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