BigTreeTech SKR Mini E3 V3.0 32-bit Controller for Ender 3

As the 3D Printing industry evolves and constantly refines itself, keen-minded Makers keep ahead of the curve with the latest upgrade news and exciting advancements. We also marvel at the steady advances that has now lead to 32-bit controller boards becoming the mainstream motherboards for most 3D Printers. With every new design, the BTT SKR Motherboard Range helps bring older 3D Printer models into the current age, while providing a great foundation for future upgrades and refinements that don’t even exist… yet!

The BTT SKR Mini E3 V3.0 Controller is wonderfully designed as a drop-in upgrade for the Classic Creality Ender 3 3D Printer, and is built to directly replace the original Creality 3D V1.1.3 Motherboard and the earlier BTT SKR Mini E3 V2.0 version as well, with the exact same dimensions and extremely similar interfaces. Effectively, this means you can upgrade your Ender 3 to run smoother with a powerful processor, support multiple modern features such as BLTouch, and print with built-in ultra-silent motors. This new version also includes BigTreeTech’s optimised heat sink which increases safety and finishes the motherboard with a smart sleek design.

What Are the Key Features of the BigTreeTech SKR Mini E3 V3.0?

As any owner of an Ender 3 will tell you, although the Creality Ender 3 is still one of the best budget 3D Printers around, it does lack in some of the more modern features that have made the recent models so enticing. Fortunately, BigTreeTech clearly feels the exact same way, and they’ve built the BBT SKR Mini E3 board to propel the old masterpiece into the future with all of the bells and whistles that make modern 3D Printers such incredible machines – as well as a few more extras that even modern models don’t have!

With that in mind, lets take a look at some of the unique key features that the BTT SKR Mini E3 V3.0 offers, and why we think it’s one of the best upgrades on the market, considering the low cost and high level of functionality it provides:

• 32Bit Drop-In Upgrade for Ender 3 – For anyone who loves their Ender 3 but wishes that it could offer more of the cool features that are featured on the Ender 3 Pro and other more modern models, the BTT SKR Mini E3 is the answer you’ve been looking for. And because it has been designed specifically for the original Creality Ender 3, you can rest assured that the upgrade process simply involves unplugging and dismounting the previous board, and then mounting the new board before plugging all of your components into the right places. With this simple but very powerful upgrade, you can now enjoy all of the fantastic features like filament runout sensing, print resume functionality, BLTouch support, as well as the 32bit power of the 64MHz STM processor of the ARM Cortex-M0!
• Optimised Heat Sink – Providing both a modern look and superior heat dissipation, the optimised heat sink sits over the TMC2209 Drivers on the BTT SKR Mini E3 V3.0 Motherboard. Keeping your Electronics cool is a necessary priority for all Tinkerers, as losing precious components to overheating is always a sad moment. During heavy computations, any heat from the BTT SKR Mini E3 drivers will be efficiently dissipated before affecting the rest of the board. Although most controller boards include overheat protection, this heat sink addition is a welcome precaution that ensures your 3D Printer runs smoothly during intense prints.
• Integrated TMC2209 Stepper Drivers – Although motherboard or controller board upgrades typically don’t feature stepper drivers included – so that you can get whichever ones suit your needs best – the SKR Mini E3 is different and has been specially equipped with embedded TMC2209 UART Stepper Drivers. This is an incredible addition, as it means that you don’t have to purchase and install your own stepper drivers but can instead rely on the fact that this board is built to fully support the awesome TMC2209 drivers, which of course includes all of the fancy features like sensorless homing from StallGuard, as well as Silent Operations that are classic to the TMC design. And of course, just to add the cherry on top of an already sweet deal, this board also features dual parallel Z-Axis outputs, which means that it also natively supports Dual Z-Axis Stepper Motor setups, without the need for dodgy wire splicing or splitting.

If you love your Creality Ender 3 but wished it could offer just a little bit more power and functionality, the BigTreeTech SKR Mini E3 V3.0 may just be the ideal solution for you. Offering one of the easiest upgrade processes possible, modernised functionality and even some novel extras like a dedicated RGB port to add some fun and convenience, the SKR Mini E3 is ready to modernise your Classic Creality Ender 3.

Please Note: If you are planning on using long LED strips or other high-draw 5V modules and extras on this board, you may need to get the SKR DC-DC Bridge Module, which assists with power delivery from the input in order to provide the power that the extras require.

Additional Resources:

• To get acquainted with this beautiful board and learn all the ins and outs, be sure to check out the official BigTreeTech SKR Mini E3 V3.0 GitHub Page, where you can find manuals, schematics, firmware and other resources.
• Next up, this is the fantastic BigTreeTech Thingiverse List, which offers awesome STL files for enclosures for the SKR Motherboard Range, as well as the BTT Displays and other upgrades.

Finally, if you’d like a more visual approach to learning about this awesome upgrade, content creator NotEnoughTECH has made a fantastic video about the BTT SKR Mini E3 V3.0, and it covers all of the cool features you can expect from this upgrade, as well as the basic setup and installation process:

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.