1. Microstepping Selection for Drivers
Without microstepping, a stepper motor rotates one full step angle for each pulse it receives. For example, a motor with a 1.8° step angle completes one full revolution in 200 pulses, while a motor with a 0.9° step angle requires 400 pulses per revolution. To achieve finer control, drivers typically offer microstepping functionality. Microstepping divides each full step into smaller increments, effectively reducing the actual step angle and improving positioning precision.
Our stepper drivers feature a Pulse/rev table, which indicates the number of pulses the motor must receive to complete one full revolution. For example, if a motor with a 1.8° step angle is set to 2000 Pulse/rev, it will complete one revolution after receiving 2000 pulses, resulting in an actual step angle of 1.8° / (2000 / 200) = 0.18°.
However, higher microstepping settings are not always better. Microstepping in stepper motors is essentially an electronic damping technique, primarily designed to reduce or eliminate low-frequency vibration. Improved positioning precision is a secondary benefit. In practical applications, if high-speed operation is required and precision and smoothness are not critical, a lower microstepping setting is sufficient. Conversely, when the motor operates at very low speeds, a higher microstepping setting should be selected to ensure smooth motion, reduce vibration, and minimize noise.
Unless specific requirements dictate otherwise, we generally recommend setting the driver microstepping within the range of 1600–6400 Pulse/rev.
2. Limitations of T-Series Closed-Loop Drivers
Our T-Series closed-loop drivers (CL42T, CL57T, CL86T) are only compatible with motors that have a 1.8° step angle. Additionally, the motor encoder must be a differential 1000-line encoder.