I am currently using an A4988 driver board to run a nema 17 motor. Looking at specifications of the nema motor, it seems that the max RPM of a nema 17 motor should be around 5000 RPM, however, I have not been able to go anything beyond around 200 RPM without the motor de-synchronizing. For my power source I am using a 12V DC-DC converter connected to a USB port that provides 5V/4A.
I understand that perhaps the driver and motor pairing are different than that listed on the specification, but I am skeptical that it would make that big of a difference in max RPM so I am a little bit stumped!
You need to post a link to the datasheet for your stepper motor.
And post your program.
To get high speeds from a stepper motor you need to accelerate up to the speed you want and you need a high voltage power supply (not exceeding the max for the A4988, of course).
I am currently using an A4988 driver board to run a nema 17 motor. Looking at specifications of the nema motor, it seems that the max RPM of a nema 17 motor should be around 5000 RPM, however, I have not been able to go anything beyond around 200 RPM without the motor de-synchronizing. For my power source I am using a 12V DC-DC converter connected to a USB port that provides 5V/4A.
I've never seen a NEMA exceed 2400rpm, but I was limited to 30V supply.
I understand that perhaps the driver and motor pairing are different than that listed on the specification, but I am skeptical that it would make that big of a difference in max RPM so I am a little bit stumped!
With a suitable stepper driver than can run from 80V or more you might be able to get to that sort of
speed, but note that available torque at high speed is far less than at low speeds. And as mentioned by
another poster speed-ramping is essential to get to high speeds, and some tuning will be needed to
find the best ramp rate.
Which motor are you talking about - link to datasheet please...
As others have stated, max speed of a stepper depends on alot of things like supply voltage etc.
You are also limited by the arduino speed, as in , the max step rate you can obtain.
If you do the math you can see that running at full step you need 16666 steps/sec
Now remember that most libraries like accelstepper etc max out at about 4000-8000 steps / sec (although there are reports of some going as high as 14000)
While you can obtain good step rates using direct port manipulations, just generating fast pulses is not enough for high RPM.
You also need to take into account inertia and reactance.
Just to give you an example, using a 3.5A driver with a supply voltage of 50V i could barelly drive a motor at about 1200 RPM and even there the torque was less then optimal.
What i would suggest is if your main aim is RPM , better go with a DC motor coupled to an encoder
I say this because i was involved in a project where we needed to use a motor to move 2 arms at a slow speed , followed by a very fast retreat to the original position. That is where we needed high rpm and where i decided to move to a dc motor with encoder.
In my case i ended up using a motor from one of those hand-held drills and an encoder i made myself. If you only care about RPM , the encoder can be very simple with few ticks/revolution
As i always say, use steppers where steppers are needed, high precission open loop positioning.
As already pointed out both voltage AND amperage play one of the biggest roles with stepper motors.
Usually the max for smaller drivers is around the 36 volt mark with around 2.4 amps
Going over that to max out a NEMA 17 stepper would often need a seperate driver and some care.
After that you would need different drivers and more likely a different stepper motor.
The other way is to gear up your present system but that depends on what you ar loading onto the motor already.
Actually my skepticism is mostly based on the experience i had trying to get as much rpm from a stepper like nema17.
What i also failed to mention is that while i was able to get decent rpm with the 50v 4 amps mentioned above, the stepper turned to something more like a stove than a motor. At some point it reaced 80 degrees celsius, and that was after a very short time.
I dont doubt one can push a stepper to maybe 5000rpm , just sayng its not really practical, especially on a 4988 wich is already bellow the voltage and amps required for such high rpm.
And yes, one can gear up for rpm , but also at the cost of torque , in any geared system torque goes inversely proportional to rpm, basically trading one for the other.
As a side note ... the original poster never mentioned what the aplication was , everything also depends on that . There is a huge difference between running a motor with no load and running it with a load
My point is there are better solutions , a dc motor with encoder basically equals a stepper motor, you can make it so you can control it with the same step/dir strategy as an a4988.
For reference on how to make a basic dc motor with encoder i encourage you to lookup homofaciens.
Steppers do run HOT and it is not unusual to get them so you would not want to touch them.
Check the specs for the max temp and try to stay about 10' - 20' C below that.