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Do you need a 32-bit processor for your 3d printer? And what is 32-bit? Even mean, in this video or will be explained the topic of 8-bit versus 32-bit microcontrollers and processes for your 3d printer can be divisive on one hand, there’s. Some people that say 8-bit is a complete waste of time and outdated and others think that 32-bit is overkill. My next video will be a guide on how to fit this big tree tech. Skr 1.3 which has been highly requested. But before I get into that. I thought I’d do a bit of a primer. What exactly does it mean if something is 32-bit? What is the effect on print quality? And what are the changes needed for Mullen? Let’s start by looking at exactly what a bit is. All computers accept cutting-edge quantum computers run on binary binary means two states on or off true or false high. L o0 or one, this makes sense because electricity can either be on or off, or a fiber-optic cable can be lit or not lit, etc. This is what digital is. Everything converted to two possible states, as opposed to analog, which is a spectrum with graduations in between binary is Base 2 which means we have two values as we count before we need to add another digit to be able to represent the larger values in everyday life. We use Base 10 which can store 10 values per digit. We start at 0 and count up, but when we reach 9 we can’t make 10 without adding a second digit. Hexadecimal is base 16 with letters introduced after nine to give a total of 16 values before we need a second column with binary each digit is called a bit and is either a 0 or a 1 A set of 8 bits is called a byte and this is the same byte that is used to describe hard drive capacity, for example, 8 gigabytes or download speed, like 500 kilobytes per second with base 10 numbers. Each new digit represents 10 more than the last. We have a ones column A Ten’s column, hundreds column, thousands column if we form the number 163 there’s 106 tens and three ones, and that adds up to 163 in binary, the value of each bit doubles. The last two, the first column is worth 1 and then 2 4 8 16 32 64 etc to again represent 163 We need to have a 1 in each column to make the values add up to this number. Our byte would therefore start with a 1 and then a 0 a 1 0 0 0 1 1 that makes 128 plus 32 plus 2 plus 1 which equals 163 So what happens when we have a 1 in every column for 8 bits? Well, the maximum value we can have is 255 If we want to have a negative number, then we have to give up the left-hand most bit, and it becomes a signed bit and that denotes either a positive or a negative that gives us a new range of minus 127 to 127 when we’re dealing with 32 bits, the maximum value We can make is monstrous at over 2 billion, so 32 bit can handle much bigger values, or, alternatively, multiple values at once, imagine crunching for 8-bit values at once instead of one large 32-bit value. Basically, we can do a lot more in each cycle and that’s a big advantage. Let’s talk about speed. Our processors have a clock cycle measured in hertz for each cycle. Instructions are processed, so the fuss of the clock cycle. The faster calculations will take place 1 Hertz is one per second. If we take a calculator, do a sum and then press the equals button each time we do. The sum increases doing this once. Every second is a grossly simplified demonstration of 1 Hertz our 8 bit Arduino. Microcontrollers typically run at 16 megahertz or 16 million cycles per second. It is really fast, but there’s a lot of data to process a typical arm, 32 bit processor runs at 100 megahertz or 100 million cycles per second. It’s not quite this straightforward, but it is much much faster than the 8-bit microcontroller and remember that not only is it faster, but with each cycle, we can crunch a lot more numbers, the best analogy. I can give is with video game consoles. Comparing 8-bit to 32-bit systems is complete. Chalk and cheese. What was once cutting-edge on? An 8-bit console was completely outclassed by the potential of 32-bit hardware, so it’s undeniable that 32-bit processors have a lot more potential, but does every 3d printer need it for a typical Cartesian 3d printer, with one point, eight degrees, Stepper Motors and one to the sixteenth microstepping 80 steps are needed to move each millimeter. If we are moving at 60 millimeters per second, that’s 4,800 steps needed to be calculated for that axis. There are the axes and other things to calculate, but it’s all within what 8-bit can do once we introduce acceleration, linear advance, etcetera. More calculation is needed. We also need more grunt when a more complicated path is needed, compared getting from A to B for a straight line versus a tight and loopy path. There was a lot more calculation required, but generally 8-bit can just about handle it. We run into real issues for 8-bit With two specific scenarios, firstly, running higher resolution micro stepping more steps per millimeter and therefore more calculations are needed. I demonstrated the speed limit on my end of three with Lv. Eight seven to nine Stepper motor drivers at one to the 64 micro stepping when the microcontroller can’t keep up, we get harsh movement, vibration and possibly skip steps. The other scenario is a change in geometry from Cartesian decor, X Y H bite or Delta. Now, a simple move from A to B needs coordinated control of multiple Stepper motors at acceleration, highest speeds and things like that, and it’s not hard to imagine the 8-bit microcontroller running out of power, that’s. Why even cheap? Delta printers such as this monoprice mini Delta still come with 32-bit boards. In summary, standard Cartesian 3d printers are quite happy with 8-bit boards, but as we upped the speed and add more features, they become slightly more marginal, but it becomes a big issue when we start to increase our microstepping resolution and the speed as well if we change the geometry of the printer to a delta printer or a H pot or something more complicated like that anything besides, the 32 bit board is going to be a limitation lets. Finish this video by doing a brief comparison between the way My Land. One-point-one works, which is set up for Arduino based 8-bit microcontrollers compared to the new Marlin, 2.0 which is set up the 32-bit. ARM micro processors, Mullen, one point One Point X only works with 8-bit AVR microcontrollers. If you’re interested in learning more about this version of Marlin, its structure and purpose. I’ve previously made a video about this because it works with Arduino compatible AVR chips. It comes packaged with a BR dude, a command-line utility for uploading and communicating with the AVR board because Marlin, 2.0 is designed to be used with both 8-bit ABR and 32-bit ARM processors. The software required is a little different. Marlin, 2.0 has a hell or hardware abstraction layer. This is necessary so that the same bit of firmware can be compiled for different environmental targets previously. The Arduino? Ide took care of everything. For Mullen, 2.0 we use a text editor such as Adam or Visual Studio code. In conjunction with the platform IO IDE. Extension platform IO has support for many different types of hardware when you compile with platform io it downloads necessary dependencies and then produces a binary file, which can be copied to the SD card of the 32-bit board in Arduino IDE. A HEX is created and that’s normally flash straight via USB to the motherboard with the help of a bootloader as you’ll see in my next video, It’s a little bit of a hassle to get it set up, but once you’ve got it in place, it’s pretty straightforward to edit and upload the firmware after that so it should be pretty clear from this video that 32-bit motherboards on 3d printers are the future as new and exciting features are added to the firmware that require more intensive processing 32-bit boards will become the only option up until this point, there’s been two main barriers, the availability of affordable 32-bit boards as well as the development of and 2.0 to the point where it’s reliable and easy to set up. Does this mean your existing 8-bit board is now useless, absolutely not, and it’s still a worthwhile upgrade on an end of 3 or an end of 5 to go from the Criolla team. LZ To something like an MKS gnl. It’s likely that for the foreseeable future, most budget and simple 3d printers are still going to retain 8-bit hardware And there’s every chance that the owners of these 3d printers will still be able to create outstanding and beautiful prints with this setup now. The purpose of this video is to give some background to beginners. Therefore, some of the details are quite simplified just to get the concepts across now in the next video. I’m going to be doing a step-by-step guide on how to set up this SKR 1.3 board for the end of 3 So if you don’t want to miss that, hit the subscribe button, Thank you so much for watching and until next time, Happy, 3d printing. Gday, It’s Michael again. If you liked the video, then please click like if you want to see more content like this in future click. Subscribe and make sure you click on the bell to receive every notification. If you really want to support the channel and see exclusive content, become a patron, visit my patreon page. See you next time.