BigTreeTech Octopus V1.1 Controller

For anyone who keeps up with modern 3D Printing and the many constant advances that are happening, you will have surely heard about BigTreeTech, and the way that they take the key features that everyone wants and build incredible boards that cater specifically for those features. This, as you would expect, has catapulted them to the forefront of 3D Printer Upgrades, and with their own line of BIQU 3D Printers, made by their sister-brand known as BIQU, BigTreeTech have only been getting better and better since their original splash into the industry. This BTT Octopus V1.1 is a fresh controller board that is ready to set the new benchmark for high-end but affordable 3D Printer Controllers, and offers a whole suite of amazing features that pretty much anyone and everyone can benefit from, offering even more ports for motors, fans, thermistors and peripherals, and even more processing speeds for true future-proofing as the industry moves forward.

What are the Best Features of the BigTreeTech Octopus V1.1?

When getting in such an incredible board like this BTT Octopus, it’s often difficult to pick just a few key features to talk about, and so instead of talking about specific features, since there are just so many, let’s use this chance to appreciate some areas in which the BTT Octopus excels, and how it’s designed not just for current 3D Printing and the ever-growing expansions and upgrades, but also those that may come in the future as the industry progresses further:

• Extremely Dense Population of Ports & Interfaces: While we often talk about how excited we are when motherboards offer lots of handy interfacing ports, our ideas of a “well populated motherboard” are never going to be the same after seeing just how much has been packed onto this relatively small board, with so many ports and components that there was simply not enough space for all of the silkscreen labelling on the front. From the very appreciated nine motor interfaces (Z1 + Z2 included) to the numerous fan, thermistor, heater and end stop ports, as well as the multitude of peripheral and communications ports littered throughout, the BTT Octopus Controller is the most well-equipped 3D Printer controller we’ve ever seen. So if you’ve ever been limited by other controllers that have too few ports, or not quite the right interfaces for your setup, the Octopus is the ideal solution for you, and is sure to offer even more ports and interfaces than almost any setup could ever need, possibly even stretching into the range of excessive – but that’s certainly nothing to complain about.
   
• Prepared for Current & Future Upgrades: As mentioned in the point above, it’s hard to ignore just how many ports and interfaces are littered throughout the entire top of the BTT Octopus, but what makes this particularly amazing is that, while some of these ports may not actually be too useful yet, they help to ensure a good future-proof lifespan for this board. For example, the CAN Bus interface on this board is an extremely unique feature on a 3D Printer controller, but may soon become a key feature that other boards will end up lacking. This is just one example among a good number on the BTT Octopus, and whether you plan to use the many different ports and interfaces right now or not, having these prepared ahead of time means that you will be able to take full advantage of all of the cool new expansions and features that come out for 3D Printers in the future – keeping you ahead of the game and letting you dive headfirst into whatever the future of 3D Printing has yet to offer.
   
• Documentation & Support Galore: If you’d allow us to get down and nerdy for this point, we have to admit that we have been extremely impressed by the high level of documentation for this board, with loads of resources in their GitHub for the Octopus V1.x that even extends into platform.io libraries, with pin mapping for each and every pin on the entire board, which links to the pinout schematic for easy cross-referencing. This helps to ensure that working with the Octopus is an absolute breeze for anyone who knows their way or around platform.io (or who knows their way around a good video tutorial), making all of the cool features actually accessible and relatively easy to understand for users.

Of course, we only have so much space in this description, and simply can’t tell you about every single feature, so we invite you take a look through the collection of documentation on their GitHub page (Linked below) and glance through the User Manual to get a taste of precisely just how many features and integrations the BTT Octopus Motherboard has to offer.

Additional Resources:

• To get more information and useful insights on this awesome board, be sure to start by visiting the BigTreeTech Octopus V1.0 GitHub Page, where you can find schematics, an extensive user manual, as well as loads of other technical resources.
  
  
• Next up, this is the fantastic BigTreeTech Thingiverse List, which offers awesome STL files for enclosures and other designs that incorporate many of their controller boards, Displays and upgrades into popular 3D Printers, with designs that cater to all kinds of machines, styles and tastes.

If you want to enjoy a good review and investigation of the BTT Octopus V1.1, the following video by Edward Braiman does an excellent job at detailing all of the key features and what you can expect when you get your own, as well as how to get started in setting up this board for your setup. Furthermore, if you want even more information, consider taking a look through his entire BTT Octopus V1.x Playlist, which covers the basics, installation guides and much, much more.

As one of the rising stars in the world of 3D Printer Component Research and Development, BigTreeTech have certainly hit the ground running, entering the market in 2015 and spending their early stages primarily learning, researching, testing and developing, before producing some truly impressive results. From simple but effective upgrades to standard parts, all the way through to completely custom parts that no other brand offered at the time, BigTreeTech now have an incredibly diverse range, with almost no area of 3D Printing being left out.

Some of BigTreeTech’s most notable additions to the world of 3D Printing include the SKR Motherboard Range for numerous different 3D Printer models, the awesome TFT Touch Display Range with fancy features like dual-mode operation, as well as their very impressive Stepper Driver Range that cater to all tastes and preferences under the sun. And of course, to top it all off, BigTreeTech also have a sister company named BIQU, and we must admit that they have been producing some pretty impressive (and low price) 3D Printers, with the BIQU B1 possibly becoming a new rival to the Ender 3.

Of course, it’s easy to see that BigTreeTech are modern masters of 3D Printing R&D, and while we do still have a lot of different parts that we want to test out from them, so far we’ve been extremely happy with what they’re capable of producing – all while fitting into same kind of hobbyist budget that they used to operate on as Makers and Tinkerers themselves.