Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit  

RE:

I wonder if you'd really notice much difference in performance.. On my stock MK3S+, I regularly run my PLA prints at 130% by increasing the nozzle temp. Seems to me you might get a small improvement, but for another $50 you can get two printers, one of which has a whole host of new features.. And if you are not running OctoPrint on your MK3S+, you will really like the better communication/network performance of Bambulabs. As an electronics eng., I've always found these devices work just great until I muck about trying to improve them.. I realize I didn't answer your question.. hope you don't mind the comments.. 

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

The MK3.5 with the 32bit controller can print up to twice as fast as the 3S+.    The 32 bit board gives you Input Shaping and Pressure Advance.  All with the same stepper motors. 

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

I don't mind your comments at all and thank you for your input.  I really love my MK3S+ and I do the same thing dial up the speed (as much as 70%) and slightly increase the temp and get great results.  From what I have read the 32 bit board can (under certain circumstances double your performance)

I also own two Bambu Labs printers the A1 and the X1C.  Though I really like the simplicity and reliability of my MK3S+ I really am blown away by the feature set in the Bambu printers at a very affordable price.  What I don't like with Prusa is their attempt at an open platform but not offering a reasonably priced upgrade path for their existing printers.  They have carefully structured their upgrades so that it really does not pay to upgrade them, it's more cost effective to buy a newer model and have two printers.

My biggest gripe about Bambu printers is that their AMS is not a viable solution for multicolor printing. If you take a simple print job and add a secondary support filament or a second color it can double if not triple your print time, and waste a ton of filament.  Prusa's XL multi-printhead solution is a much more viable solution, however you will pay three times the price for the printer. I  also don't like Bambu's thin plastic injection molded parts, even though I haven't seen any evidence that they are any less durable than Prusa's parts.  Don't get me wrong I am not criticizing Bambu, their solution is the only way to achieve an affordable multi-filament solution (I prefer this than to to call it a multicolor solution) this was a very smart solution to hit their price target.   In fact every technological innovation they have done is brilliant from the AMS, to the Lidar, to their camera and Bambu Studio all with the goal of creating an affordable solution. 

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

Have you looked at the Anycubic Kobra 3?  Input shaping AND Accelerometers in the bed and tool head.  For $110 more, you have multicolor. 

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

I have an X1C and A1 combos already. I just wanted to keep my Prusa MK3S+ relevant by just swapping iut the control board.

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

I have a MK3S+ that works fine. 3.14.0 works fine for me as long as I deactivate the Thermal Model, which only been a constant cause of problems. I added a REVO and that has been the best upgrade ever. THAT is the best way to keep it relevant. No, it's not the fastest printer, but it keeps chugging along. (I have a X1c and P1S also.)

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

Interesting.  I really haven't had any issues with my hotends other than an occasional nozzle change, so I never looked into upgrading to a Revo.  I still think the theoretically simplest update to keep the the MK3S+ relevant is going to a 32bit controller board and I am really surprised no one has done this yet with a 3rd party board/hack.  

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

The MK3.5 upgrade is the 32-bit controller upgrade. But not worth $249 (plus shipping) in my opinion.

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

I agree 100%!!!! Exactly my point. I thought Prusa was all open source non-proprietary. I don’t need a fancy color control panel included in that upgrade.  Why can’t i buy a standard 32bit controller for $50 that will run Prusa firmware? All of their upgrades are carefully priced just to make it more cost effective to just buy a new printer.

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

You can buy the MK4 replacement board for $119 Can. so I think that'd be about $100 USD.. do you think that is a different board than the 3.5 upgrade.. Now maybe the 3.5 upgrade added a custom size board.. but if they are using the same board, you could just buy the MK4 and download the 3.5 upgrade firmware.. but first you would need to confirm with Prusa that the boards are identical.. 

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

 Yes that what I was thinking.  I imagine the firmware is different for the MK4 because of the enhanced stepper motors. I believe that both the 3.5 and MK4 use the same color front display panel.  So I assume for an MK3S++ (note the two pluses) the 32 bit board with a different firmware would be needed to drive the B&W front display of the MK3S+ in addition to probably all new cabling. Maybe total price including a big Prusa margin (which I do feel they are entitled to make because of their support) should be under $150.

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

If you buy the board ($119) plus display ($92) plus case ($21) plus connectors (???) plus display cable ($5.50).  You think you can just use your old blue screen and it will magically work?  You could get a Bigtreetech board and display for maybe $60, but that is a lot of work to do.  Are any of this REALLY worth it just for 32-bits on an old printer? I don't think so.

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

You can get this on Amazon for about $42 (includes display.). 

MKS TinyBee V1.0 3D Printer Motherboard Kit 3D Printer Controller Board with RGB Backlight, ESP32 DOWD V3 Chip

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

That's a good point.. it may be that Prusa only has firmware on its 32 bit board to support the color display for the MK3S+. It's a lot of work to maintain different firmware branches and Prusa is already stretched pretty thin on its firmware resources. It may be likely that Prusa does not have firmware for the 32 bit board that supports the old display.

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

The 32bit board gives you a lot of advanced features even with the old stepper motor including up to doubling the print speed. Well worth a $100 retrofit. If possible?

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

Many of the "advanced features" require the Nextruder, which you won't have. 

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

None of the advanced features I am interested require Nextruder.  For example doubled printing speed,  Input Shaper and Pressure Advance support only require the 32bit board. From what I have read  the main advantage of the Nextruder is better print quality at higher speed. I really don't care about high quality printing for engineering parts and if I do want to make something pretty I could slow down the printing speed.  Basically what I am looking for is the MK3.5 upgrade without the color screen. The MK3.5 does not use the Nextruder. 

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

I do have a MK4. The Nextruder does work will. The best features of the MK4 are the load sensor that eliminates z-height adjustments and the color display. So it works like, well, every other printer released in the last 2 years. The Nextruder is probably the best extruded on a printer today. Having said that, most other extruders are good enough. Without input shaping, I think the MK3S+ is as fast as the MK 4. To be honest, I have not even tried input shaping on the MK4. It’s all done in the slicing software. I’ve only owned the MK4 a few weeks now. I tend to use my Bambu printers for fast speed. I use the Prusas for special materials.  They are in my garage so they are in a heated chamber. (I’m in AZ). 
So if you really want a 25% faster MKS+ then yes upgrade the processor but not a whole lot of other reasons to.

RE: Upgrade only MK3S+ Controller board to 32bit

Besides my MK3S+ I also have a Bambu A1 and a Bambu X1C. And I also use the MK3S+ for special materials like flexible TPU.  I find the Prusa is easier to deal with if  there is a jam.

The whole point I am trying to make is that, if there was only a control board upgrade for the MK3S+ for around $100, I could get a lot of the advantages without paying almost as much as I would be paying to buy a new Bambu A1 which is almost as good as an MK4 for a quarter of the price.