Stepper motors capable of 1/256th stepping?

I am in need of stepper motors that can perform 1/64th, 1/128th, and 1/256th microstepping.

I've worked with many stepper motors and drivers, and pushing most common over the shelf, generic, stepper motors past 1/64th stepping causes many issues. First, loss of torque; even when wired up in parallel. Second, they often do not respond properly, often due to the torque loss. Or, third, the motor can't respond fast enough with the step mode.

My goal is to drive a stepper motor close to servo smoothness, hence why I want it at 1/256th stepping. Has anyone had experience with microstepping at these resolutions? Can you suggest a motor? And high quality drivers to match?

Cabe

0 Former Member over 15 years ago

How about those ones that work by the magnetic field distorting a tube, the tube has say 1000 teeth on its outer & the stator has say 1001 teeth on its inner. Thus it works a bit like a vernier & you get very high resolution. Used these once on a magnetic field measuring rig.

R
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel
0 Former Member over 15 years ago

Have you seen the opensource linistepper at http://www.piclist.com/techref/io/stepper/linistep/index.htm I should think you could easily modify it for your 10A bridge and it goes beyond 1/256 step
a lot of people have had success with this although the design requires heavy heatsinking on the output transistors
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel
0 Catwell over 15 years ago in reply to Former Member

Evan,

I have drivers that can do 1/256th stepping already. The issue is that all the motors I've used do not move properly, if at all, at higher than 1/128th stepping.

I need so high quality motors?

Cabe
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel
0 Catwell over 15 years ago in reply to Former Member

Roger,

Can you post a link to a white-paper or datasheet on that motor?

Cabe
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel
0 Former Member over 15 years ago in reply to Catwell

Ok, I thought you were designing your own drivers, but would be interested on your findings and what stepper you decide to use.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel
0 Former Member over 15 years ago in reply to Catwell

It was a very long time ago that I was working on that project, I can't remember who made the motor. I had a quick look on the web but could find nothing. I found there there are some motors with a gearbox based on the harmonic drive principle. These gearboxes work in a similar way to the motors I was talking about. They have no backlast and fine stepping capabilities. It depends what you want it for? I guess if you call around the stepper/servo companies you'll find it.

R
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Verify Answer

Cancel