3DPrinting

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3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

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Why do we still use stepper motors? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world

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Why are 3D printers still stuck on stepper motors? Why haven't we transitioned to servo motors with encoder feedback for positioning?

Is it just too cost prohibitive for the consumer-level? We would be able to print a lot faster and more accurately if we had position feedback on the axes. Instead we just rely blindly on the stepper not skipping any steps when we tell it to move, hoping for the best.

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[–] DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

I mean, 3-axis robots move at 2000mm/s with 0.01mm accuracy with payloads weighing considerably more than 3D printer toolheads, using servos.

[–] 7heo@lemmy.ml 24 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yes. 2000m/s and 0.01mm accuracy unfortunately means nothing about acceleration and control.

Knowing your system, you can achieve that with motors that can only accelerate at 0.01m/s² and that cannot brake.

The 2000m/s and 0.01mm accuracy say nothing about the capability of the hardware in the case of multiple sudden direction changes.

That's like saying "this car has a top speed of 200mph, and can reach any GPS coordinates precisely, so of course it can zigzag from side to side using 160° turns in a one way street at high speeds."

[–] halfwaythere@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

The bottleneck is the extrusion and the cooling of the extrusion. Not the transport system.

[–] XTL@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

2 km/s? That's almost Mach 6.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 4 points 10 months ago

Yea that's why you have to wear hearing protection in factories.

[–] DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz 1 points 10 months ago

Yeah that was a typo, obviously that was supposed to say mm/s

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 2 points 10 months ago

What's the cost difference between the two?