RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Setting up Gecko 210 - Step settings?

> -----Original Message-----
> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "J.T. Travis" <1911_fan@b...>
> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > I need some help about the settings for a Gecko 210 (in regard to
> > the stepping settings).
> >
> > I'm using them to drive Vectra stepper motors on a Sherline mill.
> > The motors are 2 Amp, 0.9 deg/step.
> >
> > Should I set the Geckos to single step, half step, 5 or 10
> > micro-step on the jumper blocks?
> >
> > I am assuming that the half step and micro step are slower since
> > there are more impulses per motor step, or can this be offset in
> the
> > software? With the motor doing 0.9 deg/ step is there any
> practical
> > advantage to using half or micro-steps?

Gecko G210 drives ALWAYS drive the motor in a 10x microstep mode. What
you can set is the number of incoming pulses from your controller
program that is required to make the drive move through it's microstep
sequence. At 1x you have to give the drive a pulse for every microstep
(and if you connected with +5 v common you wasted your money buying
G210s as you are using them exactly as if they were G201's). If you set
them to 2x then you get 2 microsteps for every incoming pulse. 5x
microstep gives you 5 microsteps per pulse and 10 x is 10 microsteps per
pulse. So as far as the drive and the motor is concerned you are always
getting the smoothness of 10 x microstepping, but from the vantage point
of your controller you are controlling a drive that is full step (10x),
half step (5x), 5x microstep (2x), or a 10x microstep (1x). The only
difference you will see in speed is if your controller is not capable of
putting out a fast enough pulse stream. Of course as you use a higher
multiplier setting you are getting lower step resolution.

Tim
[Denver, CO]
Sherline products at Deep Discount
Mach1 & DeskCNC with credit card ordering
www.KTMarketing.com/Sherline