3DPrinting

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3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

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Why do we still use stepper motors? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/3dprinting

60 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Why are 3D printers still stuck on stepper motors? Why haven't we transitioned to servo motors with encoder feedback for positioning?

Is it just too cost prohibitive for the consumer-level? We would be able to print a lot faster and more accurately if we had position feedback on the axes. Instead we just rely blindly on the stepper not skipping any steps when we tell it to move, hoping for the best.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yes. 2000m/s and 0.01mm accuracy unfortunately means nothing about acceleration and control.

Knowing your system, you can achieve that with motors that can only accelerate at 0.01m/s² and that cannot brake.

The 2000m/s and 0.01mm accuracy say nothing about the capability of the hardware in the case of multiple sudden direction changes.

That's like saying "this car has a top speed of 200mph, and can reach any GPS coordinates precisely, so of course it can zigzag from side to side using 160° turns in a one way street at high speeds."