UPBOX ROM/Firmware Upgrade

UP BOX/UP BOX+
#1

Sorry to re-hash this topic, but I had all three of my Tiertime printers going at the same time the other day (glorious sight, but hate to think of the electricity bill) and was immediately struck by the difference in operation between the Upbox+ and Upbox… which in turn, got me thinking again about upgrading.

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@Jason-TT had mentioned in this old post here from Nov '19 that there were only ROMs available for the Cetus printers and to date, I can’t find any other posts that refer to ROMs or firmware for the Upbox. I’ve left the Upbox un-initialized and connected to Up Studio (latest v2.6.49) and in despair, never been prompted to perform an upgrade once :frowning:

So… is it possible to get a definitive answer from Tiertime? IF I want to upgrade my Upbox to an equivalent firmware level as the Upbox+ (and don’t care about the wifi) is there a ROM they can make available to upgrade my printer or is the only option to buy the CPU upgrade kit (at around NZD600)? I understand there probably isn’t a ROM available now, but I’m asking “can it be made available?”

Is there a hardware restriction that is the reason the Upbox+ firmware isn’t available to install onto the Upbox? Is it a financial reason to protect distributors? Is it just “can’t be bothered”… Remember the pledge: No Upboxer left behind?

On a side note, not sure if anyone saw Adam Savage’s Tested video about 3D printed eyes at Weta Workshop (about a week ago) - fantastic to see some Upbox’s “in the wild” :slight_smile:

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#2

There are no ROM firmware updates for the UP Box or any UP series printers from what I’ve seen.

We’ve got a few UP Box printers here. Two of them are Original UP Box, not plus. We’ve upgraded them with two new wireless CPU modules from the Tiertime online store.
One can buy the wireless and non-wireless upgraded CPU module with the upgraded firmware required to use UP Studio v2.6+

Linked below is the non-wireless new CPU module:


We do service on these machines both in-hoise and around the country. We often replace old UP Box CPUs with these newer ones to allow users smooth and seamless operation with the latest software.

I asked Jason on Studio v2.6 supposedly sending firmware updates to printers. He said that was never a feature of the software and must have been a typo. So don’t expect the latest version of Studio to send firmware updates. :frowning_face: we’ve wasted our time waiting for printers to supposedly update with this new software only to find of course it doesn’t do anything.

That said, the new Beta UP Studio 3 should work with all printers. We’re using our old legacy UP Plus 2 with the original CPU module in conjunction with Studio 3 Beta. Works flawlessly.
If you didn’t want to buy the new CPU module for your UP Box printer(s), you could try the new Beta software, it supports all the TT printers.

#3

Thanks for the feedback mate - Strange (read: frustrating) Jason is backtracking and calling his own comments a typo.

I had downloaded the Cetus update utility he referred to as well, and have no issues uploading new firmware via this if need be… call me a cheap bas***d, but it’s just disappointing that if there are no commercial or hardware restrictions stopping the Upbox from being upgraded, that the ROM can’t be released for download… but I guess I’m just “preaching to the choir”.

In all honesty, despite the warnings and caveats I still use v2.6.49 with the Upbox, it works fine, just never seems to update (reduce) the remaining spool weight after prints and there sometimes seems to be a slight difference in support generation between printers using the same model. But I’m at the stage where I’m editing supports to reduce them where I know it will be ok anyway… so… so really it’s just about having it up-to-date…

Not quite ready for Studio 3 yet, UI a bit foreign, still coming to terms with it - plus some of my lower end Intel i3 laptops (which I use on each printer like workstations) won’t run it - I’m picking it’s probably a DirectX issue relating to the older integrated graphics drivers (since the new material editor doesn’t work with them either), but who knows…

#4

Hello RIFS,

The the difference of firmware between UP BOX and UP BOX+ are mainly for hardware eg. filament detection, wifi, etc. The way they interpret print data are the same, you do not get any extra benefit from it if the hardware is not changed, it can only works as a placebo.

Most of the firmware changes recently, in the CPU, are related to the new generation of Linux embedded system. Even UP300 do not have firmware update for the CPU, but only the Linux system.