[localbroadcast]

Hello. Plan on building a CNC machine capable of xyz axis milling of wood / metal. Plan to use high end stepper motors with high quality drivers such as "surestep stepper drives". I'll also be using a "smoothstepper" board as my breakout board, and meshcam software.

With all that said.. Is it necessary to use encoders on the stepper motors in order to keep track of where the motor has moved? Or will the stepper drivers and smoothstepper board along with meshcam be able to keep track of the movement on their own?

I'm just beginning to research what I need to build my machine so any tips or advice for someone at my stage in the game would be appreciated.

[ger21]

No, you don't need encoders for use with stepper motors. Stepper motors are typically used "open loop". The software sends step and direction signals to the drive, and the drive sends the signals to move the motors the commanded amount. As long as you don't try to run the machine faster than it's capable of, the motors should always be where they are supposed to be.

With Mach3, the only thing you can do with stepper encoders is to have Mach3 stop if the motors are out of position. To do this requires an additional piece of hardware.
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