Precise Control With 0.9° Stepper Motors

Why high-resolution motors matter — and what we’re using in The Deuce.

When designing a next-generation 3D printer, every engineering decision matters.
Motion systems define print quality, reliability, noise levels, accuracy, resonance behavior,
and how far you can push a machine before quality begins to fall apart.

One of the most overlooked — but most important — choices is
stepper motor resolution.

While most consumer and prosumer printers rely on 1.8° stepper motors,
The Deuce is built around 0.9° steppers for both gantries and extruders.
Here’s why.

What 0.9° Stepper Motors Actually Do

A standard NEMA 17 stepper rotates 1.8° per full step,
giving 200 full steps per revolution.

A 0.9° stepper rotates 0.9° per full step,
giving 400 full steps per revolution — literally double the positional resolution.

This higher step count translates directly into:

• Finer motion
• Smoother microstepping
• Reduced surface artifacts
• More accurate positioning
• Better performance at high speeds

⚡ The Forge is Lit — Watch the Deuce Come to Life on GitHub

And in a dual-gantry system like The Deuce, that extra precision matters even more.

Why The Deuce Uses 0.9° Motors

Dual gantry isn’t just about speed — it’s about control.

Each gantry must maintain:

• Independent Z motion
• Independent X motion
• Synchronized behavior in certain modes
• Perfect positional accuracy for duplication, mirror mode, and parallel printing

0.9° motors allow our firmware and motion planning to work with twice the angular resolution
of a 1.8° motor. This gives us better:

• Toolhead alignment
• Bed leveling behavior
• Choreographed motion between print heads
• Anti-resonance behavior
• High-precision layer placement

For a machine where two print heads can literally “dance” around each other,
resolution is everything.

What We Ordered for Early Prototyping

Today we placed our first round of orders for the Trident-based proof-of-concept machine.
These aren’t final Deuce components, but they represent the performance tier we expect
to match or exceed.

From StepperOnline (0.9° Motors)

• (4x) NEMA 17 – 0.9° –
  0.54 Nm holding torque (42 × 48 mm)
  These will drive the primary motion system.
• T8 × 2 (single start) premium lead screws
  Chosen for fine Z resolution and reduced back-driving.
• (2x) NEMA 17 pancake – 0.9° – compact extruder motors
  Ideal for lightweight direct-drive extruders.

These parts give us:

• Excellent holding torque
• Fine resolution on the Z axis
• Smooth extrusion control
• Reduced ringing
• Better high-speed stability

And importantly — they let us begin refining the dual-gantry firmware long before
The Deuce’s prototype parts arrive.

Why Not LDO for Early Prototyping?

We tried.

We had a preliminary deal lined up for custom LDO 0.9° motors with integrated lead screws.
The motor pricing was fair — but shipping alone nearly doubled the cost.

To source motors for only two early prototypes, the total hit
around $800 CAD, and that simply didn’t make sense
for early-stage testing.

StepperOnline isn’t the final partner for Deuce production motors — but for
proof-of-concept engineering, they provide:

• Fast shipping
• Solid consistency
• Affordable pricing
• Readily available 0.9° options

Perfect for our current phase.

Why Resolution Matters for Dual-Gantry

When two toolheads are operating independently, one of the biggest engineering challenges is
choreography — ensuring that both heads:

• Know exactly where they are
• Know where the other head is
• Maintain parallel, mirrored, or synchronized toolpaths
• Avoid collisions in all operational modes
• Match layer height and extrusion consistency perfectly

Higher motor resolution gives us more positional data per millimeter of travel, which improves:

• Calibration
• Bed leveling
• Automatic gantry alignment
• Kinematic accuracy
• Surface finish

You’ll see it in the final prints.

What Comes Next

Over the next several weeks, we’ll begin assembling the Trident-based proof of concept and testing:

• Dual gantry control
• Synchronous mode
• Collision avoidance logic
• Independent job printing
• Speed and vibration tuning
• Firmware refinement
• Motion coordination between toolheads

These tests will shape the foundation of The Deuce’s motion system.

A lot more updates are coming — both here and on Facebook.

The Forge is heating up. Stay tuned.

🔥 The Forge is Lit — follow the build on
GitHub.