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HK BIQU Technology Co., Limited has released a rather interesting control board designed for 3D printers, the BTT SKR Pico.
Control boards are an essential component of any desktop 3D printer, and the power of the board significantly contributes to the capabilities of the 3D printer. In other words, a powerful controller leads to a powerful 3D printer.
HK BIQU Technology Co., Limited, based in China, has been producing all types of 3D printer components for many years under the brand names Bigtreetech and BIQU. Their product shelf includes extruders, hot ends, fans, gears, sensors, tubes and much more. While many of their products are components, they also produce entire 3D printers, one of which we reviewed a couple of years ago, the BIQU Thunder.
Perhaps their flagship product is 3D printer control boards, used in many commercial units and certainly by many DIY 3D printer build projects.
Their most recent controller board is the all new BTT SKR Pico.
Currently on the market at an incredibly discounted price of only US$35.68, this board has quite a number of extremely useful features beyond the basic functions found in most 3D printers boards. Here are the features I found most interesting:
- 133MHz 32-bit processor, the RP2040 ARM Cortex, which should provide enough power to handle high speed operations
- Beefy heat sink to provide cooling during heavy computations
- Power output for an accompanying Raspberry Pi unit often used to handle the front panel interface on 3D printers
- Physical dimensions and form match the Raspberry Pi, meaning you can stack them together to save space or use an identical housing
- TMC2209 silent 3D printer drivers for totally quiet 3D printer operation
- Cable terminators are on the side, enabling vertical installation
- USB-C interface for fast, modern connections
- Five motor interfaces, including two for dual Z-axis configurations
- Sensorless homing capability
- Included filament-out detection circuit
- Connections for a proximity sensor and the popular BL-Touch sensor
The BTT SKR Pico currently comes in two variants. One is a standard board, but the other is “Armored”, where there is a cover over the more delicate electronics. This may be a better choice for some build situations.
While this board could easily be part of almost any DIY 3D printer build, it can also be used to upgrade many existing desktop 3D printers at very low cost.
One application specifically targeted is to use the BTT SKR Pico in Voron V0 3D printer builds.
Voron is an open source 3D printer project providing plans for several very capable 3D printers that can be built with commonly available parts. One of their most popular models is the Voron V0. Voron’s V0 configurator can provide a complete bill of materials for those wishing to undertake a build, and by default it suggests using the Bigtreetech SKR mini E3 v2, a previous model from HK BIQU Technology Co., Limited.
The suggestion for Voron V0 builders is to not use the older board and instead use the more capable BTT SKR Pico board, which has more interfaces, better connectivity and more power. Most importantly, it has the correct form factor for very easy use in the Voron V0. And the BTT SKR Pico seems to be available now at a reduced price, too.
It’s possible to buy a standard BTT SKR right now at HK BIQU Technology Co., Limited’s online store at the price of US$35.68, discounted from the regular price of US$55.68. The armored version is available for US$39.98, discounted from US$59.68.
Voron V0 builders reading this story should consider using the new BTT SKR Pico board instead of the default from the Voron Configurator.
