steppers (x4)

I’ve always been curious about multiples of steppers. Could two be used in the same ‘action’ to multiply the torque or holding force?

As what Jan Cumps says,  also, I'm no expert, but I believe it would be a lot cheaper to size up to a more powerful stepper than to try to combine the outputs (which could have issues since there are more moving parts). Quite massive stepper motors are possible (and not too expensive) and then beyond that for high end stuff, I guess brushless DC motor based servo's are probably more prevalent (and more pricey).

I'd quite like to make a rotating camera mount for a few photos, and shopped for a larger more powerful stepper, and it didn't cost a lot (still waiting for it to arrive). I might consider adding an extra mechanism on the end (like a harmonic drive type system) for even more torque and finer motion, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it (because those can cost way more than the stepper motor itself, so I'd first just like to beef up the motor at lower cost, and incrementally improve things without a large cost outlay up-front).

The advantage of driving both sides of a gantry is not that you get more force but that applying the force equally to both sides massively reduces the demands on the sliding bearings.

On a big gantry it's probably essential.

Probably the best (cheap) way to do it is a motor driver per motor with a single controller (which doesn't need to know there are two motors).

(For cheap read open loop stepper motors !)

MK

Makes sense.. I was commenting on Steve's question regarding the possibility of doubling up the power before @obones menrioned gantries, which would have that requirement for the bearings as you mention.

I wonder if slight inductance differences would cause some amount of losses or vibration if each end was driven from a geared down stepper, since each burst of rotational force may occur with slightly different amounts at each end (which led me to wonder what types of motors are actually used for such a purpose). I don't really understand motor characteristics, nor mechanical systems much in general at all though, so I probably have some naive thinking here.

Makes sense.. I was commenting on Steve's question regarding the possibility of doubling up the power before @obones menrioned gantries, which would have that requirement for the bearings as you mention.

I wonder if slight inductance differences would cause some amount of losses or vibration if each end was driven from a geared down stepper, since each burst of rotational force may occur with slightly different amounts at each end (which led me to wonder what types of motors are actually used for such a purpose). I don't really understand motor characteristics, nor mechanical systems much in general at all though, so I probably have some naive thinking here.