Originally Posted by mdoan Thanks for the info. I guess they will make due as the DRO inputs.... albiet lame duck when microstepping. |
Unless you want to buy a complete proprietary system (including software) for a LOT of money, you won't need encoders on your steppers.
And, I seriously doubt you'd need them for DRO's. If you're using Mach2, for example, you'll have DRO's on the screen which display the motors position (supposedly). If you had another DRO with input from an encoder, You'd have to compare the 2 while they are constantly changing to try to determine the difference, if there is any. Impossible, imo. The only time you would know if you had lost steps would be after the cutting was done, and by then it would be too late.
Having said that, Art has recently said that he is working on a closed loop TYPE system for steppers for Mach3, and Mariss (from Gecko) has an idea for a system using his G2002. So you never know what might be available around the corner. But the bottom line is, virtually no one uses encoders on their steppers.