What is the minimum number of steps per millimeter?

I am making a printer without spending too much, so I am using parts that I already have on hand. I have a stepper that is 48 steps per revolution, 16 tooth gear, pitch of 2, and am using an a4988 with 1/16 microstepping. Using this calculator, I found that it would equate to 24 steps per millimeter. I noticed that 80 steps per millimeter is pretty typical. Would only 24 steps per millimeter get me reasonable prints on a delta machine?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2015 01:48PM by music99.

24 steps per mm is much too coarse for a delta! - linear it's 0.042mm step size, but with the delta and its changing angular stepping this won't be fun

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Wouldn't the lower larger step size be less pronounced in a delta style printer?

With the price of steppers being around $10US, there isn't much reason to not use ones capable of higher steps/mm.

since i asked a similar question, i might just give all the info i have so far.

1, Volt/AMP/Res. are most imported else your blow out your driver, the a4988 is a bit weak.

to quote the reprap wiki here "rated 1.5A to 1.8A or less, 1-4 volts, 3 to 8 mH", i guess the H there should be ohms not seriously micro Henrys [en.wikipedia.org] EDIT henrys it is, ohms need to be a bit lower.

but i might just be : [reprap.org]

2. toque, there obviously needs to be enough, 62oz.in (0.44Nm, 4.5kg.cm) or more of torque, but i don't know if more would be better/worse/irrelevant.

3. Revelation 1.8 or 0.9 degrees per step (200/400 steps/rev respectively), so the way they describe it the one you're having is out.

In general i found that people say more is better, but nobody says it's mandatory, The thing is that with these design is, there's already a lot of math for the cpu, to translate the 3 horizontal motor movement, into x,y,z. so if you don't use a better cpu it wont even matter mutch.

Sorry i cant answer your question directly

4.max Speed, (more revs usualy means lees speed, but i never found someone talking about that value.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2015 02:54AM by favi.

From my understanding.
The lower the steps the less resolution you will get.
It would over short small fine movement.

One thing I should have mentioned: I am doing this project as more of a proof of concept than an actual high quality printer build. I want to show that you can build a printer for under $50 if you really use what you have.

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music99
One thing I should have mentioned: I am doing this project as more of a proof of concept than an actual high quality printer build. I want to show that you can build a printer for under $50 if you really use what you have.

If you already have the parts then it doesnt count.
Ive seen people say you can build things for $30 to $60 but they already have $200 of free parts.

And if you already have a 3d printer making a delta/kossel can be pretty cheap as you can print most of the needed parts

I'd suggest to use these 48 steps/rev motors for the z-axis of a Prusa i3 DIY project.
The pitch of the M5 threads will act as a gear and the steps/mm will still be plenty.

More important question: are the steppers capable of microswitching?
I sourced old printers/scanners like you did and found steppers that weren't able to do more than 1/4 steps.
-Olaf