I’m upgrading my PowerSpec Ultra 3D to get rid of the proprietary board and to upgrade to silent stepper drivers. The stock, closed-source firmware is also missing a lot of features like basic PWM fan control, and the WiFi board stops working if you update to the latest FlashForge Dreamer firmware. This may work with other FlashForge Dreamer clones from Qidi, CTC, Dremel, etc. with modification. I’m not sure if anything will fit the newer PowerSpec Ultra 2.0 3D printer.

Parts:

(affiliate links)

• SKR 1.3 board and 5x TMC2208 drivers: https://amzn.to/34Ujtcq
• 2x M3 Thermistors: https://amzn.to/2XXr7l6
• 2x MK10 heater blocks: https://amzn.to/3cDMeN9

LCD:

Switched from the color touchscreen from the original Ultra to a 12864 LCD from an Ender 3. Note that other 12864 LCD boards may have a slightly different layout. I had to drill a hole in the Ultra’s case for the encoder shaft to fit through.

I included two files: “12864 LCD for PowerSpec flush.stl” for the screen fitting flush against the case and “12864 LCD for PowerSpec inset.stl” where the screen is 4mm inset from the case because I found that the encoder stuck out on the PCB too much. I would recommend printing the inset one for the PowerSpec Ultra 3D and use the flush model if you want to modify it for other 3D printers.

Motherboard:

Switched from the FlashForge DriverBoard Rev F to a SKR 1.3. Print out four “PowerSpec_Ultra_to_SKR_StandOffs.stl” and use the original M3 screws to screw the printed adapter to the original standoffs. I put some electrical tape on the head to make sure it doesn’t short anything on the bottom of the SKR. Then secure the SKR to the new wider standoffs. This should also fit other MKS Gen L and some SKR boards that use 101.85 mm x 76.10 mounting holes. I recommend screwing in the screws before you install it in order to make the threads.

Hardware things to note:

• Had to change from thermocouples to thermistors (which mandated different heater blocks as well, since FlashForge uses M4 threads for the thermocouple instead of M3 that most thermistors use). Someone mentioned that you could use the M3 thermistor instead of the grub screw on the stock heater block, but that seemed like a bad idea. *I haven’t done this step yet*
• The heated bed thermistor wiring is white (signal), green (ground), yellow (ground), blue (5V) and is just a standard 100K thermistor, so I just used white/green.
• The end-stops are red, black, green, black, but I just used red/black for signal/ground.
• EX1/EX2 on the FlashForge board are green (ground), orange (24V), black (ground), red (24V) – green/orange are for the heater cartridge and the red/black are for the hotend fan
• The motherboard cooling fan’s positive/negative on the 2-pin JST were wired backwards from what the SKR uses