As above question - I have a lot of 3c wire around. I am automating my Tenoning machine with one stepper and a Chinese controller. The setup will work, but I need about 4m of 4C cable to go from the driver to the stepper.

So what is stopping me from wiring up my Nema 23 4 lead motor to the driver but sharing the negative leads? In effect a common and only needing a 3C cable. Am I missing something about steppers that means they need to be seperate?

Rgds

The negative leads are not common leads. As a stepper driver steps through the combinations that move the rotor the voltages on the windings reverse.

This H-bridge diagram here will help you see why 4 leads are required.
https://lastminuteengineers.com/stepper-motor-l298n-arduino-tutorial/

Thanks for that. Hey BTW - I found the Ardunio was only able to run a stepper very slowly for some reason. I tried changing the code but it seemed limited. The $40 Chinese controller - perfect.