this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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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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[–] curiousPJ@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (12 children)

Steppers have a higher precision to a servos higher speed and torque (but torque that’s not constant.)

Just trying to understand this. Then how come all CNC precision machines use a servo instead of a stepper? I mean there are some ridiculously accurate machines that can position itself over and over varying under a micron (<.001mm) but the manufacturers choose servo over stepper. Is it for the sake of holding torque that servos have to be used over steppers?

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 11 points 10 months ago (11 children)

All the DIY CNC machines I've seen use larger stepper motors. The commercial CNC machines I've seen can cost $10,000 to hundreds of thousands.

[–] DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz -2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (9 children)

That's actually exactly my point, steppers are objectively inferior to servos when it comes to dynamic positioning (which is what 3D printing is), but servos are too expensive compared to performance gains for hobbyists.

Which makes them superior, which is why they are used. Cost can't be ignored any more than the torque or speed, speccing parts that are considerably more expensive that achieve equivalent results is bad engineering unless you have a very specific application that requires it.

If it was 'objectively inferior' we wouldn't use them. You build to your requirements, not by playing top trumps with competing technologies while ignoring the cost.

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