A4988 driver maximum stepper speed?

I am curious to find out what is the maximum speed (revolutions per second or per minute) that people have achieved driving stepper motors with Pololu A4988 stepper driver boards, and what motor they were using, what supply voltage etc.

I have some of these motors and the highest speed I can get with a 24v supply is about 1200 full steps per second which is 6 rps or 360 rpm.

I have asked the same question on the Arduino Forum but haven't got any replies despite a large number of views. Then it occurred to me that users of this Forum might be more likely to have relevant experience.

Thanks

...R

... this speed is normal for full-steps, where you'll receive blocking/stalling from stepping resonancies -- for higher speeds you have to select 4x to 16x microstepping and according higher clocking rates.

With optimal selections you can get something around 1200 rpm from steppers ...

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VDX
With optimal selections you can get something around 1200 rpm from steppers ...

Is this possible with an A4988 driver? Do you have any suggestions for the specific motors?

...R

I'm using 2156 full steps per second (or about 647 rpm) for filament retract and retract reverse. Still has enough torque not to skip steps.
A4988 driver, 8x micro stepping, 24V power supply, 17HS19-1684S stepper or SX17-0905 stepper.

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Robin2
Is this possible with an A4988 driver?

Yes. Just find a firmware which can produce step pulses at a sufficiently high rate and features acceleration. Some quick-shot Arduino sketch won't do it. See [reprap.org]

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

@hercek, thanks, that's the first specific information I have been given.

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Traumflug
Yes. Just find a firmware which can produce step pulses at a sufficiently high rate and features acceleration. Some quick-shot Arduino sketch won't do it. See [reprap.org]

I haven't tried microstepping yet (as @hercek has suggested) but I got the same speed limit using the AccelStepper library with acceleration as with my own very simple code without any acceleration. I suspect, in my case, the motor is the limiting factor.

...R

Right, you will not achieve that speed without skips if you do not limit acceleration. In my case the acceleration limit is 43125 full steps per secon squared. That means the full speed (2156 full steps per second) is achieved in 0.05 second.

If you want the highest possible speeds use steppers with low inductance and use as high voltage as possible (35V). If you want high accelerations too then search steppers with small moment of inertia for their rotor too.

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Robin2
I suspect, in my case, the motor is the limiting factor.

That's easy to find out. Raise speed even more and if the stepper stops rotating and just beeps, you've exceeded its max RPM. The beeps' pitch gives you a vague idea of how fast the step rate is. If pitch no longer raises, but the motor still moves, you ran into a processing power limit. Trying to get past the processing power limit also often results in erratical behaviour of the step rate, like extremely slow movement.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Stepper motor noises [hydraraptor.blogspot.de]