SKR Mini Mount for Anet A8 Plus

Materials needed

• SKR Mini mainboard or any Creality Ender compatible board.
• 9 M3x6 or M3x4 screws
• 2-pin female JST-XH housings
• 10 pin ribbon cable for LCD
• 5x2 row female dupont connector housing and female pins for custom LCD cable
• Cutting tool, eg, Dremel with cutting disk to cut a slot in the electronics case
• (Optional) Ferrules & crimp tool for power & heatbed connectors.
• Crimping tool, such as Engineer PA-09

Steps

• Remove old mainboard
• Either create a custom LCD Cable, or install a new BTT TFT35 display.
• Move endstops and thermistors to 2-pin JST connectors
• Reverse pins in two fan JST connectors
• Print board adapter mount
• Cut out holes in electronics case cover for the SD card & USB
• Build custom firmware

Custom LCD Cable

If you don't want to make a cable, you can purchase the BTT TFT35 and get a great touchscreen interface. But if you want to use the stock display, read on.

The Anet A8 plus uses two cables to connect to the LCD. With this build, only one will be needed and it will connect to the port labeled LCD on the display (not the one labeled J3).

The firmware will be configured to use the CR10_STOCK_DISPLAY (same as the Ender 3) and you only need to configure the cable as described below. (Credit for ANET side)

       SKR Mini E3 V3.0.1         ANET FULL GRAPHICS LCD (LCD port)
             ------                          ------
  (BEEPER)  | 1  2 | (BTN_ENC)          GND | 1  2 | 5V
  (BTN_EN1) | 3  4 | RESET           LCD_RS | 3  4 | BTN_EN2
  (BTN_EN2)   5  6 | (LCD_D4)        LCD_EN   5  6 | BTN_EN1
  (LCD_RS)  | 7  8 | (LCD_EN)               | 7  8 | BTN_ENC 
       GND  | 9 10 | 5V              LCD_D4 | 9 10 | BEEP
             ------                          ------
              EXP1                            LCD
SKR        LCD         Name
EXP1_1     LCD_10     BEEPER
EXP1_2     LCD_8      BTN_ENC
EXP1_3     LCD_6      BTN_EN1
EXP1_4     J3_7       RESET 
EXP1_5     LCD_4      BTN_EN2
EXP1_6     LCD_9      LCD_D4
EXP1_7     LCD_3      LCD_RS
EXP1_8     LCD_5      LCD_EN
EXP1_9     LCD_1      GND
EXP1_10    LCD_2      5V 

Replacing Endstop & Thermistor JST housings

Every fan, end-stop and thermistor JST cable has to be changed.

Use a medium-thick sewing needle to push in the tab that secures the JST in the housing. Once removed, you may have to pry the pushed in tab up again so that it will function properly. Then insert into the new 2-prong housing.

The cable ordering of the end-stops and thermistors does not matter.

Reverse plugs in Fan cables

The red and black wires of the fan cables have to be switched. Otherwise you will permanently destroy the fans when you plug them in. They should look like this when done.

 

Print & Attach board adapter mount

Use M3x6 or M3x4 screws to attach it. Both types work.

 

Cut holes in the electronics case 

Cut holes for the SDcard / USB as well as for the X gantry cables to go inside. I used a Dremel tool with a diamond cutting disk.

 

Build custom firmware

Take the marlin config for Anet/A8plus and change the motherboard to use #define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_BTT_SKR_MINI_E3_V2_0 or whatever ender style board you are using. In the LCD section, ensure that CR10_STOCK_DISPLAY is selected and not ANET_FULL_GRAPHICS_LCD

 

#ifndef MOTHERBOARD
  #define MOTHERBOARD BOARD_BTT_SKR_MINI_E3_V2_0
#endif

#define CR10_STOCKDISPLAY
//#define ANET_FULL_GRAPHICS_LCD
#define INVERT_X_DIR true
#define INVERT_Y_DIR true
#define INVERT_Z_DIR true
#define SERIAL_PORT 2
#define SERIAL_PORT_2 -1
#define X_DRIVER_TYPE  TMC2209
#define Y_DRIVER_TYPE  TMC2209
#define Z_DRIVER_TYPE  TMC2209
#define E0_DRIVER_TYPE TMC2209
//#define REVERSE_ENCODER_DIRECTION