How to Upload Marlin to Anet A8
In this guide, I show you lot how to install Marlin ii.0 firmware on the Anet A8 or the Anet A8 plus.
Read the full transcript below if you adopt a written version.
Hello, my proper noun is Daniel, welcome to the CrossLink channel. I would like to help you being more successful with 3d printing and if you're here for the beginning time, subscribe and hitting the bong notification icon so you don't miss annihilation.
So why you should upgrade your firmware to Marlin 2.0?
First of all, enabling thermal runaway protection should exist your main concern regarding safety features. Many printer manufacturers, nonetheless forget to activate this by default.
Just you will also be able to unlock new features for your printer similar mesh bed leveling for improve first layer results or power loss recovery to resume failed prints or support for bed leveling sensors or linear advance for better impress quality, just to name a few.
And in general with affordable 3D printers, it's like with affordable Android phones. Once they are released, it's very unlikely that the manufacturer will ever release a firmware upgrade and mostly the printers will send with firmware that is already outdated when you purchase it.
If you lot wanna learn more about the pros and cons of uprading to Marlin 2.0 vs. staying with an older version, watch this video here, where I elaborate in depth nigh this topic and more than important things to know.
So, let's talk almost the prerequisites for flashing Marlin 2.0 to this printer.
You will need to have a bootloader installed on your Anet mainboard.
Preferrably the optiboot bootloader that allows y'all to take more than available programme retentiveness then y'all can flash larger firmware files that have more features enabled.
How Do I know, if I have a bootloader?
This question is really important because having a bootloader is a prerequisite to exist able to wink firmware to your printer using just a USB cable continued direct between your estimator and your printer.
So how can y'all know if your printer mainboard has a bootloader on information technology? - Actually you can't. It'southward not possible to tell unless you simply effort information technology out using the USB cable.
But the good thing is - you lot tin't break anything physically past just trying it out.
I accept fabricated several videos to explain how you can flash a bootloader to one of these Anet boards. One method is explained in THIS video, which is how to practice it with an Arduino UNO.
THIS other video explains, how to flash the bootloader using a cheap developer device that you tin can get for under 10 USD with the required adapter.
I accept linked all videos, I am mentioning here in the description of this video.
If you find out that you lot're not able to wink firmware using a USB cablevision, go and install a bootloader first and then come back to this video and proceed from here.
Ok, with this out of the way, allow'south continue with the setup.
You need to download the Marlin Firmware from github to your figurer, either on a Mac or PC. The github link is in the description of this video.
On the Marlin github page, outset click on the Branch button and then select the bugfix-2.0.ten version. We wanna make sure, we go the latest version with all the latest bugfixes.
And so, click on the "Clone or download" push and select to download a nix file.
Later that's done unpack the downloaded zip file into a folder on your figurer.
Now there is 1 major thing that has inverse since Jan 2020.
The printer specific configuration files that we need as a starting betoken - they used to be in this config folder of the Marlin repository - but they have been moved to another location - another github repository.
So what does information technology hateful for you?
It ways you have to go to this second github page, which is the Configurations repository.
At present, this is really important, don't just download a zip file from there without this next footstep.
Klick on the Co-operative button and select the bugfix-2.0.ten version from that list.
At present, click on the "Clone or download button" and select to get a naught file from there.
Inside of this second repository - in one case y'all unzipped information technology to a different binder on your calculator - yous will find the configuration files that yous're looking for.
Navigate to the examples->Anet->A8 subfolder or the A8plus subfolder depending on the printer model that you have.
Copy all files from this folder into the Marlin folder that is located inside the Marlin repository. Make sure you confirm to overwrite all existing files.
In the previous guides to flash Marlin firmware, I take used the Arduino IDE for compiling and flashing Marlin firmware and this is yet possible but the recommended fashion for the future is to use Visual Studio Code with PlatformIO, which I will show you in this video.
So, let's beginning make sure to install visual studio code from www.visualstudio.com.
Make sure you don't accidently select the full blown visualstudio for pc or visualstudio for mac if y'all're a mac user. Visual Studio Code is the thing that we need and that works.
After installing visual studio code, you need to launch it for the first time and open up the extensions tab on the left hand side of the window.
In the search field, enter "platformio" so select "PlatformIO IDE" from the results list.
At present, click the "Install" button and wait until the installation process is finished. Don't launch any other installation at the same time and make sure, you don't close visual studio code until it's done installing.
There might be a message saying "Please restart VSCode" afterwards the installation. If you encounter this, please close Visual Studio Code and launch it again.
After the installation is finished, click on the extensions tab of visual studio code over again and search for the extension "auto build marlin".
Install this extension by clicking "install".
Now, nosotros are ready to exercise the final touches to our Marlin configuration before we will upload it to the mainboard.
Kickoff, open up the Marlin folder in visual studio code by clicking the binder icon in the left menu bar and then clicking "Open up Folder".
Navigate to the folder, where you take unzipped the Marlin files into, don't navgate farther into any subfolder in that location and click "select binder" to open up it.
Now, you lot can already test, if everything is set up correctly and your're able to build the firmware.
Go to the left menu bar again and click the large "G" button. This takes you to the Auto Build Marlin extension.
Here, hit the build button in the header of the upper section that is named "Build…". The buttons will evidence as before long as yous motion your mouse cursor into the section and will be hidden otherwise, so don't be confused if yous don't seen them correct abroad.
The build will then start in the last tab and depending on your calculator's performance can take upwardly to a few minutes. Especially in the first run, it volition need to install several software packages from the internet, and so please make sure you are continued.
After the build has finished, yous will see a list of results. Please whorl up a picayune bit until you see the corporeality of plan memory used by this build.
This will tell you how much retention you can still apply for other features and the default configuration shows already, that there is not much room left, and so nosotros might have to address this later if we enable more than functionalities than the available program retention can take.
For the starters, please at this point don't enable any additional features nonetheless. I am stressing this in pretty much every video about firmware flashing because I like to test things individually and enable one feature at a time to be sure, I know what alter in the configuration caused a item problem during the build or upload process. Then unless you already accept some experience, go along the default configuration at this bespeak and let's go along with that.
Now it's fourth dimension to flash the firmware to your printer.
Plow your printer on and connect it to your calculator using the USB cablevision.
Now, in visual studio code, in the Car Build Marlin Tab, click the "Upload" push.
Afterwards the build has been finished, the firmware will be uploaded to your printer and you will see that it is finished in the terminal tab.
Also, Your printer will be rebooting after the firmware has been flashed successfully.
Cracking, this is already a very important milestone. Now, we did non even so brand any adjustments to the configuration. Nosotros will start doing this right now.
Navigate to the binder card in visualstudio.
Expand the Marlin subfolder. You should see the Configuration.h and Configuration_adv.h files.
Open up the Configuration.h file by clicking it.
I would propose to enable a feature, which I utilize all the time on printers that don't accept a bed leveling probe and that is Mesh Bed Leveling.
Yet, this guide volition non explain how to use mesh bed leveling. I already published another video nearly this, it's linked in the info card up here.
Let's first beginning with enabling the MESH_BED_LEVELING feature around Line 1215 of Configuration.h.
By the way, if you lot tin can't find the option that I am referring to, considering the line numbers might have changed in the meanwhile, endeavour the search option using the Edit→Find Card or the corresponding Keyboard shortcut. Enter the term you are looking for in the popup, so for instance MESH_BED_LEVELING and use the arrow keys to navigate effectually, if there is multiple hits for that search term. And there you lot are.
Correct below that in line 1221, enable RESTORE_LEVELING_AFTER_G28. This will make sure, that every time a impress starts, your mesh bed leveling configuration is activated automatically, so information technology loads all the points that you have calibrated and uses them for the upcoming print.
And so spring to line 1333 and enable LCD_BED_LEVELING.
This will add together a card detail to your printer's carte du jour to be able to really command and configure bed leveling using the printer carte du jour.
Good, at present save your changes to this configuration file by using the File->Save menu particular or the corresponding shortcut. Yous will see that once you have unsaved changes in a file, there will exist a white dot nearby the file name in the open tabs. Every bit soon as the file is saved, this dot will disappear.
Let'southward attempt to upload this new version of Marlin firmware to the printer past using the Auto Build Marlin menu over again.
This was successful, then from here you could already start to print, nonetheless at that place might be situations where you run in to retentivity size bug, where all the features that y'all would like to enable will cause the firmware to abound to such an extent that information technology will not fit anymore into the available programme retentivity.
This can happen for example when y'all like to install a bltouch probe with machine bed leveling and probably another amend display.
I have written a blog post, that I've linked in the clarification of this video, where I break down all the potential features that you lot might at some point desire to enable in Marlin ii.0 and what other features you could potentially disable to gratuitous up enough memory to be able to compile the firmware.
So if y'all encounter an error that tells you The programme size is greater than maximum allowed, refer back to that blogpost for more than information how to fix it.
If you lot like this video, please do me a favor. I appreciate if y'all hitting the similar push button or subscribe to my channel - BUT - the existent manner, how you can back up me is - Go watch some of my other videos that I have linked here in these ii cards. Cheers for watching, encounter you next fourth dimension.
You might see that later the reboot you go an error message on your printer's display maxim "Err: EEPROM Version".
This happens when you upgrade from an older version of Marlin firmware to 2.0 and you lot can resolve it rapidly by entering the printer carte du jour, then going to the configuration menu and finally entering the Advanced Settings menu. Scroll down to the bottom until you select the "Initialize EEPROM particular". You and then have to highlight the Init particular, using the up-down buttons and finally click the middle button to ostend it. There will be no visual confirmation unfortunately.
Power off your printer and power back on to meet whether this was successful. Now you should get "Anet A8 ready" instead of the error message.
If you lot run into issues like this one proverb that the port has been detected simply there is still a not in sync problem, this is an indication that your bootloader needs to be re-installed. Please install the optiboot bootloader using ane of the instruction videos, I have linked in the video description.
Source: https://crosslink.io/2020/03/19/anet-a8-plus-marlin-2-0-installation-upgrade/
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