Marlin 2.0.x for CTC i3 DIY GT2560A

thingiverse

A few years back I bought one of the CTC "Prusa i3" DIY printer kits from ebay. This printer shipped with Marlin 1.0 on it, which has been fine for my basic needs up until the point where I wanted to start installing hardware upgrades. Which requires changing settings in the firmware. **Even if you are not making hardware upgrades like me, it is still a good idea to update the firmware.** Because otherwise you have no idea what the current firmware is doing with regards to **safety checks and fire prevention**. The printer did not come with a copy of the Marlin Configuration.h file they used at the factory. The CTC website does not list it as a download and this type of printer does not appear in the official Marlin example configurations. I extracted what information I could with GCode commands such as the PID settings and the E-steps. I used that information with various cross-referencing online along with some trial and error to put together this Marlin configuration file for Marlin 2.0. The next issue I had is that this clone board didn't have a bootloader installed on it at the factory, so I couldn't just plug it into the USB port and flash new firmware to it. When I tried I just got a bunch of communication or sync errors. This guide will also address this problem. Installing this is backwards compatible, and by that I mean I have not enabled or changed anything my printer did not have enabled when I got it out of the box originally. I have stuck to the original E-Step, PID and speed settings, with three exceptions: - It is now using the new Jerk system in Marlin 2 - It now has S-Curve acceleration enabled for, in theory, smoother movements and less vibration. Though I haven't noticed any difference to be honest. - I have enabled the manual mesh bed levelling tool. This enables you to have mesh bed levelling without a probe and is god send for cheap shonky printers like these that typically seem to have warped beds. There seems to be many variations of this DIY kit printer knocking around. So I'll clarify what mine is like: - The extruder motor is on the left hand side - The board is a GT2560 Revision A clone - I have one extruder - The bed is, supposedly, 200mm by 200mm I've attached some photos of my printer and it's board so you can see if yours matches up. Of all these details, the only really important one I guess is the board itself. This board is based on the Mega 2560 CPU and as such as enough memory to handle Marlin 2. I've seen versions of these kits that are based on a clone of an Anet A8 board, I'm sure there are others as well. These generally have half the memory capacity of the 2560 and as such you may need to start disabling features to get Marlin 2 to fit on those. **In any case this firmware and guide are specifically for the clone GT2560 revision A board. You do all this at your own risk etc.** That being said, part of this tutorial will be backing up key pieces of information in your existing firmware in case it all goes horribly wrong for you. Then at least you have your printer's specific calibrations safe.