linear steppers?

[jollyroger]

I see linear steppers on ebay and they look like they are nice things. How do you drive them? Do you drive them with a regular stepper driver? special drivers or telepathy? I have checked in the forum and i do not see anyone using them. They sem to solve the back-lash issue, which would nice!
So what's the scoop?

[DennisCNC]

You drive them with high mirco-step drives if you want precision. But they are drive with regular stepper drives. They sell for big $$ on eBay.

[vacpress]

an affordable Hi-Frequencey drive option would be these.. i think MCD drives.. British.. i beleive they goto 57,000/micro steps.


and they cost similar to geckos. i can dig up the exact info if you would like.

[ViperTX]

Well they are linear steppers....which generally means that any movement is linear and not rotational......and generally they have limited travel......so, while they are generally quite accurate, they are generally used where high precison is required but the travel is very limited.

[dkowalcz]

Depends on the brand of motor - some linear motors are 3 phase so you need a drive that supports that.

I have linear motors on a gantry, and the drives are matched since the resistance of the motors is too low to use a normal chopper drive. They're great, I recommend getting them if you can, but be hesitant about buying one if the drives are not sold with or info on what works isn't forthcoming. Just my $0.02.

[jollyroger]

so I could use a geko drive? I see them for a couple of hundred dollers and just do not know what to do with them. if they are controlled by a normal high frequency stepper driver this could be nice. Have any of you used them?