Tevoup Tarantula Pro Firmware

Hi folks,

I bought a TevoUp Tarantula Pro. * Easy quick assembly. Stock firmware. It wouldn't home properly - X Axis travels all the way to the right seeking the endstop, but endstop is mounted to the left. Y Axis jerks then promptly stops, out in the middle of the build area. Oddly, the X and Y axis both travel just fine, in the correct directions, when manually incrementing.

Thought I would start by flashing a new Marlin. After a lengthy alternate battle with VSCode/PlatformIO/AutoBuildMarlin and then Arduino IDE, fixed error after error until hitting a wall. Finally just loaded a pre-compiled bin from the MKS Github successfully, only to promptly realize it didn't have the proper controller selected (doh!) leaving me with a black screen after the upload. The controller is a MKS MINI12864 V3.

A major part of my compiling issues stemmed from the fact that TEVOUP replaced the older Tarantula Pro motherboard with a MKS Robin E3D v1.1, and TMC2208 steppers. These are compatible with Marlin, and yet... I don't know if it was pin defines or something else, but I was getting out of my depth on the errors (see attached).

So:
1. Does anyone happen to have a working Marlin configuration for the TEVOUP Tarantula Pro that they'd be willing to share?
2. Does anyone have any ideas regarding solving the erratic homing axis behaviors? **

Thank you. First time poster, so if I've showed any apparently blatant disregard for wiki policies please let me know.

Firmware that I couldn't compile was based on Marlin-2.1.2.2, with the attached configuration files, custom bootscreen, and modified pins.h.


*WHY I picked a TTP over anything else is a longer story, involving a previous high-quality experience with TEVO, the forerunner to the current TEVOUP. I have reached out to TEVOUP's support, but have good reason to expect little from them now. I will try to make a return if necessary, but I'm a problem-solver and would rather work this out if reasonable.

**I think getting the firmware fixed is a good start. However, NONE of the several reviews/topics I have found regarding the TTP have mentioned the homing issues, leading me to suspect that it may be more of a hardware issue (reversed motor wiring, faulty endstop, etc.)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2024 08:00PM by techymoose.

Provided Config files builds fine under platformio using stock pins.h

Your OTT trimmed pins.h breaks marlin environment sanity checking

Commenting out
#define MKS_MINI_12864

and enabling

//
// MKS MINI12864 V3 is an alias for FYSETC_MINI_12864_2_1. Type A/B. NeoPixel RGB Backlight.
//
#define MKS_MINI_12864_V3

Also compiles, but had several warnings you should read about enabling NEOPIXEL_LED, which is required as that is the display back light

Ie you need to update these lines, as indicated by the warnings

#define NEOPIXEL_LED
#define NEOPIXEL_TYPE NEO_RGB // NEO_GRBW, NEO_RGBW, NEO_GRB, NEO_RBG, etc.
#define NEOPIXEL_PIXELS 3 // Number of LEDs in the strip. (Longest strip when NEOPIXEL2_SEPARATE is disabled.)

#define LED_CONTROL_MENU
#define LED_USER_PRESET_STARTUP

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2024 09:00PM by Dust.

Thanks Dust. I’m off today, but I’ll be back at it again tomorrow AM and will try that out.

Hi Dust,

Thanks a lot! I was able to get Marlin compiled and flashed successfully today after making the changes you pointed out. I also had to invert the Z direction in the end.


For future reference, I also solved the homing issues.. it was my endstops.

The endstops on the TT-Pro are 3-wire C/NO/NC switches, with only 2 wires connected via the S and G pins (Normally Open). Same switches as these.

Post-firmware update I was able to use Pronterface to send M119 while holding/releasing each switch in turn. The Z endstop accurately returned TRIGGERED when held and open when released. However, X and Y always returned TRIGGERED regardless of being held/released. I tried setting both X_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING and Y_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING to "false", but sending M119 only returned "open" from X and Y, regardless of being held/released.

I finally tested the X/Y endstop wiring all the way back to the motherboard and had unreliable readings. I tried swapping in some other switches of the same type but different brand and they worked!! That was a glorious moment.

The Tarantula is now running its second print, and it's a great feeling. Now to silence that awful beep at startup/reset... apparently I need to go learn about Jlink and bootloaders (and reasonable bedtimes) so logging off.

EDIT: in case anyone ever wants the final config files I used, they're attached here. These are working with Marlin-2.1.2.2

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2024 10:58PM by techymoose.

the MKS_MINI_12864_V3 only has 3 neopixels you have #define NEOPIXEL_PIXELS 30

This wastes cpu cycles controlling leds that are not there, best to set it to 3

Hi, I think i've got the same Tarantula. Except that mine definitely has the GC6609 drivers. So i'm not sure if I can use the TMC2208 driver in Marlin config.
Did you see the drivers installed?

Grt, Jan