Micro Stepping - My Dog Hates My CNC Router

...or so my wife says.

I get a pretty good whine from my DIY CNC router, the dog definitely notices. The stepper motors are silent at stand still, but in motion whine proportional to the rpm. I understand increasing micro stepping is one way to help reduce audible noise.

Everything electrical came from overseas, so hobby grade components, definitely not commercial or industrial. (425oz 3.4mH 200rev motors, 36V PSU, 16mm ball screws on 4 axis gantry)

So with that in mind what level of micro stepping do you think I can run without losing steps?

There are so many variables involved that it's impossible to say.

But that's just the sound that steppers make. Microstepping probably won't change it much.

It was described in a white paper from Texas Instruments I found online. It dealt with business machine (printers, photocopiers etc.) stepper noise.

As a follow up question, I have 5mm lead ball screws so I don't necessarily need micro stepping for accuracy. I am currently running 2 micro steps only because full step was too nosy at slow speeds.

How much micro stepping is too much, 2, 4, 8.... 128?

Most use 1/8 - 1/10.
Microstepping is used for smoothness, not accuracy.