Hi,
Is there perhaps another controller to drive this level of motor more effectively...this is a toy for me in truth and it's the exercise itself that intrigues me the most
There is, the Ehternet SmoothStepper (ESS) by Warp9 TD is good to 4MHz and the Hicon by Vital Systems is goo to 8MHz.
You don't need either.....the only reason you are having difficulty is because you wish to retain totally impractical and unrealistic resolution.
Its good for bragging......but it has no substance in reality.
With your current setup:
51200 pulse per rev connected to a 5mm pitch ballscrew suggests a linear resolution of 0.1um....or 100nm. If your machine is that good that you
can expect 100nm accuracy then what are you doing pissing around with steppers (of any description), a 57CNC and Mach4?
With my recommendation of 8 micro steps per full step:
1600 pulse per rev connected to a 5mm pitch ballscrew is a linear resolution of 3.1um. That's impressive.....not just for a hobby machine but would
be respectable is heavy industrial machines worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. You will also be able to take full advantage of the speed of the
steppers.
Steppers, closed loop or otherwise lose torque the faster you go. Even good (low inductance) steppers are likely to have less that 25% of their holding
torque at 1000rpm. If you believe the advertising material that suggests closed loop steppers avoid that problem then....YOU"VE BEEN HAD by slick
advertising. I would argue that expecting a stepper to go much faster than 1000rpm is not realistic.....that sort of speed it where servos come into
their own.
In truth (I have just read your comment about the ESS) is that you don't need a better controller but be realistic about what you expect from it.
I like the ESS, I have one and love it. I have a servo as a spindle motor and to drive it at full resolution (8000 counts per rev) at full speed (3500rpm)
requires a pulse stream of 466kHz. The servo drive can handle up to 500kHz with a differential drive. So I had to make one for my ESS as my BoB
couldn't manage that being single ended. If you think its a simple matter to drive a signal in the low MHz range you're dreaming.
Craig