I am running a chain drive, with no gearing using a 9 tooth .25" pitch sprocket.
This gives me 2.25" per revolution.
With a stepper motor going at 100 RPM, That is 225 IPM.
Chances are, I'll always be cutting around this speed or lower.
If I am cutting aluminum, I will probably be cutting at 10-30 ipm.
If I'm cutting at 20 ipm, that's going to be running the stepper motor at only 11 RPM or so.
11 RPM is 37 steps per second.
Is this too slow? I'm also running 1/16th microstepping using a HobbyCNC Pro board with 305oz unipolar motors if that makes any difference.
I'm wondering if I should gear down the system, 2:1? 3:1? I suppose 1500 IPM rapids are not necessary to keep:cheers:
Do stepper motors like to be run at a certain speed? such as 200 rpm, 300 rpm, etc? I understand torque curves and not being favorable at high RPMs, but don't see any pages about running them too slow.
Also, about acceleration. I've tried a bunch of different settings in the motor tuning page and found that even one as high as 400 doesn't stall my motors or anything. (My table needs to be bolted to the floor for this to work though haha)
Whats the basis around a proper acceleration rate?