Hi guys,

So I'm building a cnc machine, I'm trying to make it accurate within a thou, primarily for steel. First machine build.

I'm a little lost when it comes to half-stepping and micro stepping, I'm sure like everything it depends on a multitude of variables but maybe you guys can help me figure out what the best for me...

I'm using a chinese nema 23 stepper motor with a chinese stepper motor driver, driven by my arduino. So I want my machine to be as accurate as possible but I don't want to just set my driver stepping to the highest microstepping value and presume that's going to work out peachy.

Here's some stuff that might help you folks give me a good answer:

I'm pretty sure the driver is of the cheap and cheerful variety,

I want my machine accurate within a thou. (So if I need to get some more expensive drivers better to figure that out now then later.) ,

I will say the stepper seems to be obeying my instructions without issue so far on half step mode.

The range is 200 pulse/revolution (Full Step mode) to 25,000 pulse/per revolution with a lot of options inbetween.

So what microstepping value should I use?


Any help would be greatly appreciated as always, thanks guys.