Microstepping
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Hi!
Is the microstepping an accurate way to increase resolution?
I'm designing a 2 axes goniometer, and I can reach the resolution I need without any additional gearbox if I use 1:256 microstepping…
Is it ok?
Thanks,
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It is if your mechanics are suitably low friction that 1 microstep will result in movement. If you have a heavy printer axis and you send a few microsteps at 1/256 to the motor nothing will happen, only when enough microsteps accumulate and overcome friction/stiction does the axis move. At least that's my understanding of it.
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Newbie disclaimer but If i understand it correctly, short answer is Yes. you get higher accuracy with smaller steps but give up torque. Also makes the cpu work harder with more steps and may be bad idea for extruder Is that what you are building? sounds cool
go·ni·om·e·ter
an instrument for the precise measurement of angles, especially one used to measure the angles between the faces of crystals. -
If I only loose torque, it is OK; I can over-size the motor… But if it doesn't move, that's a problem.
The goniometer I want to build is more something like this:
but with real rotation axes, as building virtual ones is tricky ; my axes won't be concurrent, but it is not a problem, as it can be corrected but the firmware and XYZ axes.
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In a typical 3D printer, increasing microstepping beyond about 16x does not increase resolution, because above that the incremental torque per microstep is insufficient to overcome friction. Also, not all microsteps are exactly the same size.
OTOH using 0.9deg motors instead of 1.8deg does double the resolution.
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Ok, thanks for your answer. I plan to use 0.9° motors, but it won't be enough to get the needed accuracy; I will have to design a gearbox, using pulleys/belts.
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