Stepper motors are employed in a variety of applications across the engineering spectrum because they are inexpensive, simple to operate, and offer high torque at low speeds. The primary drawbacks of stepper motors are lack of position feedback and stalls; the user assumes that the stepper 'got there.' The addition of an encoder to the system can mitigate these drawbacks but at the cost of increased move and settle time. Galil's new Closed Loop Stepper Firmware overcomes these drawbacks while keeping move and settle times low. The result is precise motion and positioning with the low speed/high torque benefits of a stepper motor.
