Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: 5-Phase steppers

At 19:28 19/01/2005, caudlet wrote:

>5 phase steppers run smoother...<snip>

I'm afraid you're in danger of descending into advertising speak here. You
fail to answer the question begged by this statement - i.e., "smoother than
what?".

If you mean:

a) Smoother than a 2-phase stepper motor driven in full or half step, or

b) Smoother than a bag of spanners (wrenches to the transatlantically
challenged),

then I would agree with you.

However, if you mean:

c) Smoother than a 2-phase motor driven by a good bipolar microstepping drive,

then I would strongly disagree.

5-phase steppers made sense when they were superior to full/half stepping
drives and at the same time an economical alternative to the then expensive
microstepping drives. Since the arrival of good quality microstepping
drives at very reasonable prices (e.g., Gecko, to name but one), the
economic justification doesn't exist anymore.


Regards,
Tony