Fastest stepper driver? I'm looking for a very fast stepper driver, beyond any printable speed, something pushing 500mm/s or more. I'm designing a printer with 10:1 geared X Y steppers so I would like to be able to push it to a 50mm/s print speed. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193622#msg-193622 Mon, 13 Jul 2026 08:24:34 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209884#msg-209884 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209884#msg-209884 Stepper motor test

Just for kicks I hooked up a spare stepper motor to a gecko202 driver just to see how fast I can spin the motor. I only used a 20volt power supply since I didn't want to pull the bigger power supply hooked up to my cnc in the basement. The maximum pulse rate from the tek frequency generator is about 91Khz before the stepper stops spinning. That calculates to be about 2700rpm. All this really shows is how good a gecko stepper driver works with only a 20 volt motor supply. Of course everything changes when you have a mass to move with acceleration profiles.

At 1000rpm, you cannot stop the stepper motor with your fingers. On my cnc router you have to really lean hard on the axis to stop it from moving. I usually cut around 50ipm and you can easily break small end mills if it hits a metal hold down.

To get back on topic of 3d printer, I'm using the cnc to mill out some parts for my 3d printer that I am currently building. It's based on the mendel90 design. I have a bunch of spare stepper motors, parker compumoter e-dc stepper drivers, thk linear rails and arduino board sitting unused. I did have to purchase some gt2 20 tooth pulleys and belts though. I haven't decided to build or buy my hot end. I also have a cnc metal bench mill and manual mini lathe that I use to mill out parts. I hope to have it done soon but I work 7 days so finding time in the basement workshop is tough.

Keling nema23 3amp 2.0Nm stepper motor
Gecko 202 10 microstep driver
20volt power supply
Stepper pulse rate 91Khz
Stepper motor spinning at 2700rpm]]> Jim Fong General Sat, 18 May 2013 14:15:39 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209854#msg-209854 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209854#msg-209854
However if you want to run that fast, accelerations ramps are mandatory are you will need something like grbl on a more capable hardware than arduino /me thinks.]]> alj_rprp General Sat, 18 May 2013 12:00:50 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209840#msg-209840 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209840#msg-209840 garyhlucas General Sat, 18 May 2013 11:10:41 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209828#msg-209828 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209828#msg-209828
I believe some of the faster 3d printers are spinning nema17 steppers at really high rpm. Chelsea posted hers can do 1meter/sec!!! Would Like to know what size pulleys and belts she is using to get that kind of speed.]]> Jim Fong General Sat, 18 May 2013 10:22:43 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209758#msg-209758 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209758#msg-209758 -------------------------------------------------------
>
> Using good stepper drivers and motors, you should
> be able to run a stepper reliably at 1000rpm with
> decent available torque. The size of your gearing,
> belt drive/pulleys etc. will determine your
> maximum axis speed. The limitation will most
> likely be the arduino.

I guess "decent available torque" depends on what torque you start with, but the torque curve on stepper motors drops very rapidly. A typical example:



The torque at 17 RPS (1000 RPM) is about 10% of the max torque. You might find some motors with a slightly better performance, but the fact is, stepper motors are just not designed to be run at speed.

With a perfect driver, the limitation is really the motor, but a poor driver implementation may get even less performance out of the motor.
]]> bobc General Sat, 18 May 2013 04:53:20 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209365#msg-209365 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209365#msg-209365
Using good stepper drivers and motors, you should be able to run a stepper reliably at 1000rpm with decent available torque. The size of your gearing, belt drive/pulleys etc. will determine your maximum axis speed. The limitation will most likely be the arduino.]]> Jim Fong General Fri, 17 May 2013 02:10:10 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209343#msg-209343 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,209343#msg-209343 jamesdanielv General Thu, 16 May 2013 23:11:49 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193951#msg-193951 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193951#msg-193951 -------------------------------------------------------
> IMO your best bet to get higher speeds than
> 500mm/s is to use bigger pulleys and trade off
> speed for accuracy and torque.


I agree, also, you are going to use exponentially more torque the faster you step, so going to twice the torque and double pulley size could mean several times more practical torque than you might expect.

Also don't forget to ramp into (Accel/jerk) carefully. You are right, all these things call for an ARM : /. I only worked with ATmega until now but it seems like the DUE will get more and more traction. For me, right now it is 5X the cost.]]> Simba General Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:56:56 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193949#msg-193949 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193949#msg-193949 You can't easilly do that with uStepping enabled on arduino based electronics because it requires the interrupt rate be too high, I did some tests over the weekend and it's relatively trivial with a 100MHz Arm board so something like smoothie ought to b able to do it.
Repetier firmware on an arduino might get you close if you set quadstepping, but the jitter might be enough to stall the motor at the limits.
Worth noting that at those speeds steppers have greatly reduced torque and you might need a higher input voltage and more current to drive the printer which might eliminate the pololus.

IMO your best bet to get higher speeds than 500mm/s is to use bigger pulleys and trade off speed for accuracy and torque.]]> Polygonhell General Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:51:42 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193779#msg-193779 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193779#msg-193779
Chelsea - QU-BD]]> Chelsea - QU-BD General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:47:50 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193761#msg-193761 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193761#msg-193761 Isn't movement speed increased by more amperage so that you can have higher toque thus large diameter pulley?
Lower impedance/higher voltage to switch faster?

And mostly, wouldn't 1/Xths stepping (However ridiculous and unlikely that is to be meaningful under a load) require more steps, slowing you down?]]> Simba General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:05:00 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193757#msg-193757 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193757#msg-193757 -------------------------------------------------------
> Our stepper drivers (out of stock at the moment,
> hopefully they will be in shortly) from Panucatt
> have no problem to over 1M/s so you would have
> plenty of headroom to gear them down. Roy @
> [www.panucatt.com] may have some in stock.
>
> [store.qu-bd.com]

According to the datasheet for the DRV8825, its max step frequency is 250kHz, which is actually slower than the A4988. Where did you get the 1MHz figure from?

There is no way an AVR will drive the stepper near 1MHz while also doing speed ramp etc anyway.]]> bobc General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:47:39 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193722#msg-193722 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193722#msg-193722
Those are what I'm looking for, looking into running a Azteeg X3 with a Raspberry Pi.]]> Dirty Steve General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:56:06 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193703#msg-193703 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193703#msg-193703 www.panucatt.com] may have some in stock.

[store.qu-bd.com]

Chelsea - QU-BD]]> Chelsea - QU-BD General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:10:39 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193689#msg-193689 Re: Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193689#msg-193689 IMS stepper drivers capable of 1/256 microstepping (51200 steps per turn with a 200steps-motor) with up to 10MHz step rate - something like 11718 rpm max ::o --- but haven't verified this speeds ...

Or Precitec/Berger&Lahr drivers and motors with 1/10 microstepping with 10000 steps per turn and 200kHz stepping rate - 'only' 1200 rpm's, but tested/verified with 2Nm steppers and 5mm-pitch spindles to 100mm/s traveling speed with 0.5 microns resolution ;)]]> VDX General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:20:41 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193622#msg-193622 Fastest stepper driver? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,193622,193622#msg-193622
I'm designing a printer with 10:1 geared X Y steppers so I would like to be able to push it to a 50mm/s print speed.]]> Dirty Steve General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:34:30 -0400