I have finally got my hands on the Bigtreetech SKR V1.4 Turbo board! Due to supply and demand, there was a delay in getting the Turbo board when it first came out, but now it should be widely available.
For this review, I won’t be installing the hardware side of things at this stage; unfortunately; however, I will cover the basics when it comes to the firmware upload. It will be just a case of plugging everything into the board and fixing the board to your case once the firmware has been loaded.
Packaging is broken
Inside you will find the board (with a 128mb SD card inserted), USB cable and jumpers inside the anti-static bag. Alongside is their business card and if you’re lucky enough, you’ll even get a little duck! I did get a duck, but he was camera shy!
Specs of the BigTreeTech SKR V1.4 Turbo
- Appearance size – 110mm x 85mm
- Mounting size – 102mm x 76mm
- Microprocessor – ARM Cortex-M3 CPU
- Input voltage – DC12V-DC24VÂ Â 5A-15A
- Logic voltage – DC 3.3V
- WiFi Module – ESP-01S
- Drive Working Mode Support – SPI, UART, STEP/DIR
- Motor Driver Interface – X, Y, Z, E0, E1 (Each has an extendable interface) Up to 256 subdivisions.
- Supporting file formats – GCODE
- Supported Machine Architecture – XYZ, Delta, Kossel, Ultimaker, CoreXY
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Differences of the SKR boards
Installing the firmware
Installing firmware for the BigTreeTech SKR V1.4 Turbo can be straightforward. The first port of call you should always take is by going to the BigTreeTech Github page. This will contain the latest updates to their firmware and instructions.
The basics to installing the firmware are to ensure you have the following software and files on your computer:
After downloading Marlin and VSCode, you can load the Marlin files within VSCode. This is where you configure your settings for your printer. This isn’t a tutorial on how to install and configure the firmware. However, there are plenty of tutorials online you can use to achieve this.
Once Marlin has been configured to your specifications with the VSCode program, you are ready to upload to your board. You do not need to install the board to your 3D printer just yet.
You can use the USB cable, however, before doing so, ensure the jumper is set to USB 
Your computer should then pick up the board as a storage device and read the contents of the included 128mb SD card. This is where your firmware file is copied too. Once all copied over, reboot your board, and upon startup, it will flash itself with the new firmware on the card. Now all that’s left to do is to install the BigTreeTech SKR V1.4 Turbo board your 3D printer and plug everything in and test all the movements to ensure they are moving in the right direction and that the heating elements work. If not, further changes may be needed in the firmware.
Where can I buy it?
The BigTreeTech SKR V1.4 Turbo, amongst the other models, can be purchased from various places. If you don’t mind the wait, you can order via the slow boat from China at AliExpress which is under £20 for the turbo board. Besides, you have the option of choosing if you want the board only, or for extra, you can have TMC stepper drivers supplied too.
If you want it to arrive quicker, then look no further than Amazon! At nearly double the price, but if you have Prime, you will get it the next day!
Overall
To sum up, the BigTreeTech SKR V1.4 Turbo board is a worthy inexpensive upgrade in my opinion. Wth it being a 32bit board it processes much faster than my 8bit board contained within my CR10S! This will no doubt ensure a lot smoother prints for me when I eventually get round to installing it. It’s build quality is good, but not the best, as to be expected with products made cheaWith over in the far east.
With various YouTube videos detailing on how to configure and install, you should be able to upgrade your printer with ease!
I hope you enjoyed this article. Why not checkIts 3D Printing Ideas – Easy Home Decor Things to 3D Print or The IVI 3D Printer…A high end an all in one solution?
A cheap method of upgrading the hardware in your 3D printer and future proofing it. With more connectors and a faster chip, you should see improvements in your prints right away (unless you have an issue elsewhere). Being a 32bit board too means it can process gcode much faster. A must buy!
