I am using a smoothieboard in a CNC application. The x,y & z axes are ball screws driven by 36Tooth GT2 pulleys connected to a 20 Tooth ? pulley on the stepper motor. I am calibrating the axes at present and Its around 1450 steps/mm on the 3 axes. That’s a lot higher than the 80 steps/mm I used on a previous belt driven machine.
The machine appears to work well (homing and basic movement) with these settings (with reduced speed and acceleration settings), but I was wondering if having such high step/mm values will affect smoothiebord/machine operation or motor performance eg overheating or significantly reduce motor life. Is there an acceptable range or max value for steps/mm?
If so one option would be replacing the 36t gear with 20T which should reduce this value.