How fast will the stepper motors move the slides?
A fact when dealing with stepper motors is that the faster they turn, the less torque they have. This is because the power for each pulse is on for shorter periods of time; therefore, it’s a good idea to keep feed rates 20% below maximum when running programs with many short moves, particularly on the Z-axis. The maximum feed rate in EMC is 22 in/min. Therefore it is good practice to keep your feed rate below about 18 in/min or 450 mm/min. Some of our customers have counter-balanced the weight of the Z-axis with a simple rope-pulley-weight device to reduce wear on the Z-axis leadscrew. See the http://sherline.com/CNCproj.htm section of our website for a photo and description of how one person did this. You’ll find that the stepper motor system we use quite reliable and capable of running complex programs without losing steps when used properly. G-code tips: Start and end each program with a percentage sign. Put a g40, g49, g21 (Metric) or g20 (inch) and g90 in the first line of code to
