CAN EBB36 to a USB Toolhead

This Guide is a mirror of lab4450 blog which credits Rogério, aka Rogerlz 

Original Source: https://lab4450.com/blog/upgrade-can-ebb36-to-usb-toolhead/

Proceed at your own risk. We assume no responsibility.

⚠️⚠️WARNING: In the event that the 24V cables break for any reason, it may result in a 24V surge over the data lines, potentially causing damage to your RPI.⚠️⚠️

Proceed at your own risk. We assume no responsibility.

Indicators for Upgrade

1. Persistent Connection Issues:

   • If your EBB36 is constantly losing connection, this may signal that an upgrade to a USB toolhead could provide greater stability.

2. Configuration Difficulties:

   • Struggling to configure U2C and EBB36 to work together due to issues like matching CAN bus speed is a strong indicator that a USB toolhead may simplify your setup.

3. Timeouts:

   • Frequent timeouts encountered during operation can hinder performance and efficiency. Upgrading may mitigate this issue.

4. Lack of U2C:

   • If you don’t have a U2C, transitioning to a USB toolhead might be a more straightforward solution for maintaining reliable communication.

5. Desire for Simplicity and Stability:

   • If you’re seeking a more simplified and stable setup, upgrading to USB can streamline your configuration and improve user experience.

6. BTT Manta M8P Board Experience:

   • If you have purchased a BTT Manta M8P board and find the CAN bridge mode cumbersome, upgrading to a USB toolhead allows you to bypass in-built CAN functionalities and treat the board like a standard Klipper installation.

7. Satisfactory CAN Performance with Upgrade Intent:

   • If your CAN setup is functioning well but you still want the advantages of USB connectivity for ease of use and minimal changes, upgrading could be beneficial.

How to?

I’m going to assume that you have a umbilical cable chain with 4 cables from your eletronics bay over to the ebb36 toolhead.

If you already have a CAN setup running, you should have a umbilical cable chain connected to the ebb36 like so:

If you check the two pins below the 2×2 black molex connector you can find that they are CAN L and CAN H meaning:
CAN L = Data –
CAN H = Data +

We are going to cut and split a USB-C cable and only use the 2x data cables (we are not going to use vin and ground cables)
We will jump connect those 2x data cables to the usb port like this:

On your eletronics bay you have 4 cables from the umbilical cable that is attached to the ebb36.

• The 24v Vin cable should be connected directly to your PSU.
• The GND cable should also be connected directly to the PSU.
• The two remaining cables reffers to DATA+ and DATA-. We are going to connect them to a USB breakout board like the example bellow.

Now, just plug this usb breakout board to your raspberry pi, just like the picture below:

Now you have a ebb36 running by usb with your old umbilical cable chain.

How to flash ebb36 to run over USB

Reflash your EBB36 with the following instructions:

Place the ebb36 in dfu mode and flash it (guide by maz0r)

1. Add the 5v jumper to the pins highlighted below
2. Connect your device to your PI via USB
3. Hold the RESET button and BOOT shown above
   • Release Reset
   • Release Boot
4. Verify the device is in bootloader moad by using
   lsusb
   you should see something like thiss
   Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0483:df11 STMicroelectronics STM Device 
5. Flash the board with the command
6. make flash FLASH_DEVICE=0483:df11

Change your klipper config.

replace canbus_uuid: xxxxxxxxxx

with the the standard

serial: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Klipper_xxxxxxx

After this tutorial your should have the ebb36 connect directly via usb to your rpi/cb1/manta m8p (no need to use a u2c).
By the way, with this simple tutorial your motherboard don’t need the can bridge mode enabled. Just flash your mother board like a normal klipper installation and forget about the can bridge mode.

Proceed at your own risk. We assume no responsibility.

⚠️⚠️WARNING: In the event that the 24V cables break for any reason, it may result in a 24V surge over the data lines, potentially causing damage to your RPI.⚠️⚠️

Proceed at your own risk. We assume no responsibility.