I am looking at using some of the 1200oz nema 34 steppers with gecko drives. In my reseach of this I ran across some other possible options. There are Nema 34 type steppers that have encoders and steppers 'ON' the motor. One doesnt even have the use the encoder or serial port attached (from what I understand) as there are standard step/direction inputs available on these. Is this a viable alternative to a standard stepper and geck drive? Am I better off with one of these so that I can use the encoder for better accuracy later? I am familier with the whole step/direction concept, but am unsure of how to impliment anything with an encoder. Is the same step/direction software used when encoders are involved? What do you all think?
Thanks.