Hi,

I am a MKS Base v1.3 user.

I use 42BYGHM809 Nema17 0.9 degree stepper motors for X-Y-Z axes.

I want my 3d printer to print lower resolution and be faster. However, I read an article, is using 0.9 degree motors in MKS Base v1.3 sensible? Or, what should I do/change in MKS firmware (attached)?

Straight from the article...
"At this point in time the practical answer to the “will I get better/faster prints from a 0.9 degree stepper” is no."
Most people run 1.8deg without issue.

Technically 0.9 is twice the resolution, but on a Cartesian type machine, you will never notice the difference.
A typical machine has an theoretical accuracy of 5micron in the X and Y axis (in ideal conditions, presuming 1/16th is actually working, which in itself is a false assumption) so 0.9 steppers would double that
In reality the accuracy is about a 20 micron, as micro stepping doesn’t help past 1/4 stepping, after that’s its all about reducing noise.
so 0.9 steppers would be 10 micron

but remember you 'painting' with a brush that is .4mm (400 microns) your not going to be able to see a difference.

"and be faster." these are mutually exclusive. If you double the steps/mm you half the maximum rate the controller can do.
This is an issue on all 8 bit controllers. But is not an issue on 32 bit controllers (such as yours) as it has cpu speed to spare.

Quote
Dust
Technically 0.9 is twice the resolution, but on a Cartesian type machine, you will never notice the difference.
A typical machine has an theoretical accuracy of 5micron in the X and Y axis (in ideal conditions, presuming 1/16th is actually working, which in itself is a false assumption) so 0.9 steppers would double that
In reality the accuracy is about a 20 micron, as micro stepping doesn’t help past 1/4 stepping, after that’s its all about reducing noise.
so 0.9 steppers would be 10 micron

Right idea, wrong figures. A typical Cartesian machine has 80 steps/mm at 16x microstepping, which is a theoretical resolution of 12.5 microns, not 5 microns. So in reality 50 microns if the head only moves once every quarter step.

On my delta the effector does move with individual 1/16 microsteps. Whether the print head on a Cartesian does or not will depend on friction, motor current and other factors.

Quote
Dust
but remember you 'painting' with a brush that is .4mm (400 microns) your not going to be able to see a difference.

Quite so.

Quote
Dust
"and be faster." these are mutually exclusive. If you double the steps/mm you half the maximum rate the controller can do.
This is an issue on all 8 bit controllers. But is not an issue on 32 bit controllers (such as yours) as it has cpu speed to spare.

If he has an MKS Base as he stated, it is an 8-bit controller. But the link he gave was to the SBase.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Yip stuffed something up there.

Suspect I used a 8 tooth pulley in my math, which no one uses any more as the small radius breaks the belt specifications
(Used to be used on old iteration 2 machines, as a printed part)

OK, so 0.9° steppers don't make sense for XYZ except for Deltas, but what about the extruder?
I've replaced my Prusa MK8 stepper with a 0.9° degree stepper and the parts look much better now. ( Or should I say: I can see the other problems of the printer design much clearer )

Depends on your extruder type...

Direct drive extruders, I do go for 0.9 steppers. gives you more control

On geared extruders... no point in 0.9 steppers.