TMC2209 and TMC 5160: Guide for MKS Gen L and SKR V1.3

The latest drivers from Trinamic combine great existing new features and offer higher current handling. The TMC2209 is an upgrade from the TMC2208 and the TMC5160 is an improvement on the previous TMC2130.

This video provides a step by step guide to fitting them to the two most popular mainboards: the MKS Gen L and the SKR V1.3. It covers specifications, firmware changes, VREF, wiring and jumper settings. Each of these drivers can be setup for sensorless homing so this is covered too.

Purchase the TMC2209:

Purchase the TMC5160:

Purchase the SKR V1.3:

Resources:

Take a look around and if you like what you see, please subscribe.

#3dprinting #tmc2209 #tmc5160

[TeachingTech]

My apologies for the flickering light. I'm always trying to improve lighting and sound, trying a new setup for this video. Alas, it didn't work out so well. I will continue to try and improve things.

[marsyas]

You sir, are an AMAZING contribution to the 3d printing community and I just wanted to have you hear it directly from me. My SKR v1.3 was delivered today and I'm in the middle of setting it up. I literally have a full set of 2208's in my Amazon cart right now and am going to switch them over to the 2209's based on this video alone. I didn't choose them then due to all of the possible issues I would have to deal with in my delta machine. You have given me the confidence to order the newer drivers with full confidence. In the end, my setup is going to be MUCH more capable than it would have been if I would've clicked "checkout" earlier this evening. I have you to thank for that. **Thank You**

[tensioncompressionshear]

Note: As of November or earlier, there is no longer any need to solder a jumper wire between clk and gnd for the BIQU/BIGTREETECH TMC5160 V1.2. They have an internal 10k pulldown resistor to connect clk to gnd (you can verify with a multimeter). You do still need to clip or bend the clk pin to prevent the control board clock from interfering with the internal clock. Thank you for a great guide!

[ryanmacewen]

Boards with removable drivers are the only way to go. Drivers can go smoke, and do. Having removable driver chips not only allows you an upgrade path, it can possibly eliminate replacing the board itself. Truly an excellent video. Nicely done.

[DasGrinch]

Excellent video. I powered my board via USB to get the initial setup going, the problem I ran into is that m122 doesn't work, or doesn't return the right results, if you're not powering it via the 12/24v port. Banged my head on the desk for a while reading old forum posts and things before I found the solution. Everything else was great! Thanks again!

[tomashornacek--balik]

Thanks a lot - I was installing 5160 to SKR 1.3 board and your "easy to setup" guide really guided me in right direction!

[danielhertz]

Your channel is my first "go-to" channel on 3D printing tech. Very thorough & clear presentation. Awesome awesome work.

[Robothut]

What a great series this has been. And as you keep adding too it as more drivers pop up these will the go too place for stepper driver upgrades. Thank you for sharing.

[flipsidezw]

I'm finally doing this upgrade. Super glad that I was able to find this video again. Thanks!

[omahena]

Michael, great guide! BTW you are using BIGTREETECH TMC5160 V1.2 drivers here. BTT claims one of the key module features is that it internally pulls down the CLK pin to ground (and also has better aligned MOSFETs, 6-layer PCB for better heat dissipation, ...).

In case you need to pull down the CLK pin on an older version, you can also use a trick - if you melt the CLK pin's solder on top and apply pressure on the pin from the bottom, you can push it all the way up through the board so it looks like one of the SPI pins. Now you can solder a short wire to the GND pin, like you suggest, but on the other end you can have a single pin female Dupont connector that you can attach to the modified CLK pin when you want to ground it, or disconnect the cable when you don't want it grounded.

With the SKR Pro 1.1 + TMC5160 V1.1 kit that I received, they delivered the SPI loom anyway as part of the TMC modules - so I could just snip off some wires with a single pin female Dupont for the grounding job. Obviously in case I need to push back the CLK pin at a later point, I just need to heat up the pin again and push it through the PCB to its original location.

On my SKR Pro 1.1 in my CR10 Mini I have extreme difficulties calibrating the stepper drivers to make the motors not overheat, not have skipped steps and have sensorless homing working.

[iandawkins]

Another great learning experience. Love the channel and what you bring to the 3D printer community.

[alexandrugroza]

Nice video, i have a mks gen l and tmc 2208 instaled on my ender 3 from your videos, it works perfect, tanks for your videos, i have the 0.76 and 0.9 for e vref and it works great, all day it was on, but the stepper motor and the heated shink were cold, the motors works perfect, they have power .
Only my e E steps per mm didn't were god, now i have set them and the cura flow to 60% and the print looks great !

[TheXerberim]

BIG, BIG Thanks! My Ender 3 Board messed up and without your guides i would have spend weeks to get the printer to work again. Keep on with this great work!

[deadspeak]

Perfect timing my 2209's and skr board are currently in the air. Thanks for the great content

[real_kwyman]

The amount of detail and effort going into this video is really amazing!

[xaviers.]

The froggie I am is so grateful for your guides, because of your work and time you put to your Youtube channel i've been able to do so much things to my printers. From this video i've been able to configure and install SKR1.3 motherboard with TMC5160's on my Alfawise U20 (=Longer3D LK1, a CR10 clone)
Oh and because of you i bought an ender 3 a month ago and in few days that printer was already printing amazingly without modding much.

Keep up the good work !! Wish i'd still be in australia i'd offer you some beers. I might visit your patreon page ^^

[piotrsiwek]

I'm reprap fan since... well when Mendel90 was a new construction. I can say that until now I have not seen many yt channels as helpful as yours is.

[johnmhavlicek]

Would love to see an SKR 1.4 / 1.4 Turbo and TMC 2209 video from you now that those are out. I and a lot of others out there are struggling it seems with getting them to work.

[Burak]

I Got my SKR mini v2.0 motherboard a few month ago and I realised it it was working very loud I tried editing TMC driver settings but that did not work then I see my video and edited my software settings to tmc2209 as you showed and it is now very quite thank you very much. great video

[Cognan]

Great vid as always! Definitely picking up SKR 1.3 and TMC2209 :)