Hey all, this is my first post, and I didn't know where exactly to put it because I have a question about the printer AND about the firmware. So let me know if I need to post this somewhere else. Anyway, I bought my first 3D printer a couple weeks ago-a TEVO Tarantula-and so far I'm pretty happy with it! I assembled it with the help of ArcadEd's videos here: [www.youtube.com] and they saved my ass, seeing as the printer came with badly pictured instructions that just kind of ended after all the carriages and the frame were complete. And now, after having finished the build and my first several prints, I have quite a few questions. And please remember that I'm a complete newbie in the 3D printing world, but I'm a quick study. So bear with me.

Question 1: I bought my printer here: [www.3dprintersonlinestore.com] and a Tarantula is clearly pictured, and that's exactly what I got, but the site labels it the "Electron Slimbot." And to add further confusion, when I turn my printer on, the LCD says "Migbot," and it says the same in the printer information window in Repetier-Host. Migbot, according to this post [forums.reprap.org] refers to another printer in the same line as the Tarantula (I found out which printer they were talking about by looking at the pictures posted and downloading the .STLs of the printed parts, all of which were different from the Tarantula). But that doesn't mean "Migbot" can't refer to other printers in the same line. Because, you know, China. They like to provide things without adequate documentation. Having said all that, I still don't know which name to refer to my specific printer with when I'm looking for things like firmware-seeing as the actual Tarantula and the Slimbot (or Migbot) seem to come with different firmware (more on that in the next question).

Question 2: More importantly, continuing on the subject of firmware, I've been running my printer with its factory installed firmware with no changes (apart from those made in the slicer) thus far. And it's been running...okay. It definitely produces good results for not having changed anything, but it's not producing the results I know it can, or the ones that I want. Therefore, I'm looking to flash new firmware onto my board (an MKS Base v1.2) so I can tweak it more than what EEPROM in Repetier-Host allows. I've been having trouble with EEPROM anyway, but that's a story for another time. My issue here is that I don't know the values that anything in the factory firmware is set at, and I don't want to guess at them when configuring a blank slate version of the config file. I want to have the default, factory firmware to flash onto the board, then mess with those settings. So I went to TEVO's website and found their latest version of the Tarantula's firmware here: [tevo3dprinterstore.com] It's Repetier firmware, right? The name of the file says Repetier, and when I open it in Arduino, it's definitely Repetier style. But when I have my printer connected to Repetier-Host and open the printer information window, it says the printer has Marlin firmware. Question is, since the Slimbot that I'm running and the Tarantula are the exact same printer, could I use the default Tarantula firmware and be okay? Or might some of the hardware have changed, like thermistor type and such?

Question 3: I've never used Arduino or programmed anything before. Therefore, messing with the firmware is a mystery to me. Or, should I say, it WOULD have been a mystery to me if it weren't for Thomas Sanladerer's firmware basics videos on YouTube. One slight issue-in those videos, Tom is going through all the settings with Marlin firmware. And I can't find a default Marlin configuration for my printer, so I'm kind of stuck with Repetier if I don't want to create a config file from scratch. What IS still a mystery to me is Repetier firmware. The biggest issues I've run into in my very short dive into it have been trying to find thermistor and board numbers. There's no list ANYWHERE that I can find of how Repetier numbers boards or thermistor types. Then there's this-at the top of the config.h file I downloaded from TEVO's website, it says: "This configuration file was created with the configuration tool. For that reason, it does not contain the same informations as the original Configuration.h file. It misses the comments and unused parts." Pretty sure that's why I can't find a list of boards or thermistors. And it's also why I don't completely trust this configuration to be default for the Tarantula.

Well, there are my questions for this post. I have more questions about a couple of minor anomalies and print issues that I can deal with for now, but I'll wait until I get these major problems out of the way and post my other questions in a new topic later. If you got this far, thanks for reading! Let me know if I left out any crucial information or if I need to elaborate more on anything or what. Any help is much appreciated. Looking forward to perfecting my prints!

So that is a lot of information... my advice is just go with the manufacturers firmware, then calibrate it following the triffid calibration guide. [reprap.org]. Even if the firmware does have all of the right settings, it will need to be calibrated for your machine anyway. I don't know why your firmware would say "migbot" my best guess is that its a copy-paste error on their part. They changed some of the settings, but missed a couple.


just some friendly forum advice: there is nothing wrong with the long post like you posted above, but people tend to just glaze over when they have to read a book before answering. You will get more responses from a short question than a long one, and you can always ask follow up questions as the conversation continues. Good luck with your printer!

Ah, well that was what I was hoping to mitigate by dividing the post into several shorter sections. I've always felt that getting your whole question out there with your initial post was the best way to go so that 1: you're not constantly going "oh, and another question..." and 2: you don't forget anything you wanted to ask about. But I'll try to keep it skirt length going forward. Anyway, since posting this, I contacted the site I bought my printer from, who seemed to redirect me to TEVO, who emailed me what they assure me is the stock firmware for the printer-and it is indeed Marlin. As soon as I work out the errors I'm getting when I try to verify the code (all of which were there without me changing anything), I'll flash the new firmware onto the board and tweak from there. So I guess that's really all my problems solved for this post, heh.

One option you have is to download the firmware again fresh from its Normal repository, but then just switch out the config.h file. That's what I had to do.

There is no more Migbot, and it is not Electron Slimbot. Only their generic Prusa i3 is available as Electron
Tevo has only two Kits one is Tevo Tarantula and Tevo Black Widow. You can check us out for getting the latest version of their Kits. We are the official reseller. All printers are directly shipped from Tevo Warehouse located in China
[www.3dprintersbay.com]

This is the Official Forum where you will find necessary config and instructions. [tevoprinters.wikidot.com]
Don't forget to join the their Facebook group [www.facebook.com]