Generally yes, finished a K3 using the octopus pro last month, and with 4 5160s and 4 2209s -- it was a pretty close in price. The only issue is, this thing is HUGE. There is no cm4 module drop in here, so you have to have space for the 48v, 24v, 5v, pi, and this behemoth. I barely had room for the octopus pro, this would be a really tight fit.
Pretty good review but having two CAN ports doesn't make it more suitable for IDEX than one CAN port. CAN is a bus protocol, it supports several dozen nodes on a single network.
The kraken would make a great CNC controller board with the 4 higher amp drivers. So far I am very happy with my Leviathan it's reliable and working perfectly.
One thing i am confused about, this board looks awesome.... but why do I need a Pi? Can't I just install Linux (Klipper) directly to this board? All these bells and whistles but we still need a companion computer to run Pi? Is that correct?
Yes, you do need a Pi or Linux computer to run Klipper. If you do not want to use a pi for some reason, then you can install Marlin which doesn't require a pi. The pi is needed to handle wifi, klipperscreen, and Mainsail/Fluidd.
I won one on a BTT giveaway, i received mine just 2 weeks ago, thinking of turning my Trident 350 into a 4WD monolith build with super power LDO motors, wish me luck, my wallet is already crying
I purchased one and was talking about it on discord when someone mentioned they had sent their Kraken back because they could not change the voltage on each driver. Since the only motor that can't take 60 volt in the setup I'm planning for the Kraken is the extruder it doesn't matter for me, the extruder has a 24 volt TMC chip on the hothead board.
I am so sad that I finished my wiring and most of my klipper yesterday with virtually no reliable information on this board but I am excited that you did it and I will learn even more about this monster.
One thing should add is that. These board should have more protection for surging voltage. I have all my 3d printer dead except one when a lightning strike near by my home. The only 3d printer survive is a printer with smoothie board and all dead are BTT board. Not to be discriminate but all other electronics devices from china made are dead. All of the survive are actually all the same brand and all the dead are same brand. All Leviton smart light is dead while all the Lutron light is survive. Not sure what Leviton and Lutron are come from but after this incident I am kind of uncertain of using BTT board to build my printer(The Rasbery Pi actually survive). So far my choice of board will be on hold.
This board requires tuning and it isn’t a general purpose controller. VZBot team let me know they don’t recommend it for the printer due to risk of damaging the Nema 17 stepper motors. Be sure to use high current steppers that can handle the minimum output.
This is why DIY printers are the best ones out there... the customizability. the personalization. the performance. the FUN and REWARD after a good build. the ability to MAKE something how YOU want it. I might just buy and yeet this thing on my build in the near future...
Hey could you do a video comparing boards suitable for the V0.2? Like BTT SKR Mini E3 V3.0 and FYSETC Cheetah V3.0. This could help someone upgrading a V0.0 or V0.1 to a new version. I noticed the BTT board is older and lacks CAN Bus but has a good manual. There are some Pros and Cons to both of them.
I would rather know if they plan better customer support of this board. having had 2 Mini e3 v3 boards die in less then a week from each other and fighting BTT for over 2 months for RMA/replacements makes me money shy to use them as the board supplier for any of my builds.
Might be worth to Mention that the Minimum Output Power for the Stepper is 1.7A. there are already cases of people frying stepper with this board because of the Minimum current the board offers. this is to much for LDO 2504 and lower powered Stepper.
I've had one and got it going fairly easy however the sensor less homing was a bear till I figured out the jumpers you needed to set and now that it's printing well I figured I would go the AWD route for giggles. All in all it's been very good though it does like firmware reboots between prints or the homing is not so great.
Another awesome video. Thank You. I learn so much from your video's. Any chance you could do a video on Orca and or Prusaslicer most especially covering setting them up for multiple printer use cases. I find myself very confused about the proper way to use them with multiple printers. The connections between print settings profiles and different printers and the need / use of physical printers on top of regular printers. It's quite confusing. My settings are a mess because I just don't get it. Coming from being a long time Cura user may be part of the problem. Maybe a video of setting Orca or PrusaSlicer up from scratch for multiple printers and setting up a couple of print settings profiles and a couple of filament profiles. Switching from one printer to another. Mind you - I stumble through it no problem. I just don't feel like I get it and I feel like I'm missing out on a much better experience. Like sometimes my ip address for my printer disappears and I wonder why. Have I not set it up properly or have I done something that caused the loss. Is it just me?
Not going to lie, but I wish I got free stuff so that I could use and replace my outdated stuff. :) but for sure this is the board I am going with and then looking into AWD my V2
I would like to see the mcu and fixed tmc drivers from kraken with the wifi config from octopus pro, and for each driver 5A capable capacitors, because you could use rrf for cnc and 3d print, one board to rule them all, i am will using the octopus pro with slight mod to the capacitor 2 to 3Amps, must see how to solder them on the board, than i can use it for cnc and nema23 motors it will be advantageous😅
I picked up the Kraken, due to the need for the 8 motor drivers. However, I am a little confused on how to set up motor 3 being the 2nd Z stepper I want to configure for the 5th extruder. The Kraken has many bells and whistles that led me to pick that board. I am excited to be building with this board. I have a 5 in 1 out setup, built around a 5 input diamond hot end.
Do you know that there is zero difference between the 2160 and the 5160 within a 3D printer? The only real difference is that you would be paying more for the 5160 for hardware designed for other industrial applications that neither Klipper, Marlin nor RRF even have the ability to activate.
@@bigtreetech5117 well some of use cant use this board , i've already sent a ticket, we are already 2 ppl with problems , my problem = Unable to write tmc spi ‘stepper_z’ register GLOBALSCALER on all drivers with connected or not connected motors.🤣 so release the best.
It doesn't run Klipper Host. You need to Pi to run it. The MCU can be flashed for Klipper but it still needs to be hooked up to Pi/Computer. There is not an onboard SOC.
One important difference: the tmc5160 on the leviathan support sensorless homing, the tmc2160 used on the kraken dont support it, although in a HV scenario, or even multiple stepper per axis, you dont want sensorless anyway
@@lap87 ups, mixed something up there. It does support sensorless homing, although im not sure if you want that for HV applications. For idex you definitely dont want it or if you drive one axis with multiple stepper like a annex k3 does, it cant get your axis out of alignment.
How common is 4x Z-Axis and how common is AWD? Has something recent come out? I don't think it's too much of an issue. If someone is throwing AWD on a V2.4 they are probably going to add Canbus toolhead anyway. Same if they add actual self leveling on a VzBot. I don't know many details about Ratrig or Annex, honestly so maybe I'm missing their requirements.
@@nitroburner77 The AWD is the method to gain speed, the triple Z has gotten simplified and very useful as well as cost effective, can bus to the head has gotten to the point where everyone has $14 boards with TMC chips, canbus, USB, MAX thermistors controllers, RGB and other signals, reducing the tangled wire mess going to the hotend. Now with Beacon like scanners replacing all other forms of bed leveling and Z axis control, the USB to the hotend will take off, it already has, the K1 has two USB port in the hotend.
@@airheadbit1984 my point was 8 drivers is plenty unless you're doing quad Z AND AWD without Canbus on the toolhead or using multiple toolheads (again without Canbus). Those particular setups commonly use Canbus (or USB).
