Here is a very low cost 400 ppr encoder that might be suitable for this project.
Encoder 400P R Incremental Rotary Encoder AB 2 Phase 6mm Shaft 5V 24V W Coupling | eBay
Here is a very low cost 400 ppr encoder that might be suitable for this project.
Encoder 400P R Incremental Rotary Encoder AB 2 Phase 6mm Shaft 5V 24V W Coupling | eBay
It looks like the shipping cost can change the story.
There are few available encoders for reasonable price:
non-contact, magnetic AMS AS5040-ASSU
or something like CUI INC AMT312Q-V
Magnetic is very cheap and has high resolution.
That vendor sold out, possibly because I linked to their site. Shipping was free when they had stock. Several others are offering the part at the same cost with free shipping.
The magnetic chip looks interesting, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. I think they are using an estimator algorithm to increase the reported resolution, like some of the CUI's. Any lag would making them unsuitable for some applications.
The low cost Chinese units might be doing the same also. If I don't already have 10 HEDS 5500's lying around, I would purchase one just to test.