Stepper Motors vs. Servo Motors - A ClearPath Demonstration

Have you ever wondered what the differences are between a stepper motor and a servo motor? Do you ever get frustrated with your stepper motor losing steps, but hesitate buying a servo motor because you think they are too expensive or complicated? With this video, learn the differences between servo motors and stepper motors when it comes to power, price, and performance.

Teknic wants your feedback. Like this video? Give it a thumbs up! Be sure to comment with any questions about motion control and let us know what you did or did not like about the video.

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In this video, Teknic compares the power, price, and performance advantages and disadvantages of both servos and steppers. The video then shows how the new, all-in-one ClearPath servo motors bridge the gap between cost and performance.

In this demonstration, you can also find general examples of applications where you would use a stepper or a servo. Teknic discusses how to properly compare steppers and servos and how to calculate power from a torque-speed curve.

Toward the end of the video, there is a demonstration of the differences in performance (speed, smoothness, accuracy, noise, etc.) between a stepper motor and a servo motor. There are also differences between tuning, noise resistance, setup, and more.

[jessesilver]

I have used 2 of Clearpath's most powerful NEMA 34 mount servos for a project I did about a year ago and can tell you that although this smells of the typical biased "vs" type reviews that manufacturers make, Clearpath makes QUALITY servos and there's no BS to what he's pitching. My servos are almost dangerously-powerful and quick and extremely capable. Will easily buy again when it comes time to get a CNC router :)

[SumithYD]

Meaningful comparison. Thanks for the effort

[alexandrevaliquette]

I'm impress with the low noise and high power!!!

[kentvandervelden]

It's nice that you show how to compute the power given a speed-torque curve. I echo the comment that someone else says that feedback to stepper motor drives is readily available to drive PID control loops. The Schneider M-drive stepper motor and the Oriental Motor Alpha-Step products (not the model shown in the video) referenced in someway during the video have a closed loop PID control loop. Leadshine also has a similar product. I've used all three of these products. I understand the comparing similarly priced products, but perhaps just a mention that steppers can also have servo control loops (for more cost) or the make-model and configuration would help with transparency of the demonstration.

I was one of the original folks to write to your support group when the ClearPath was announced. Unfortunately, I was not able to use them at the time because I needed either continuous following error reporting or duplicated encoder signals. I asked on your video today if the -SC model has the ability to report these in software. Unfortunately, that video appears to have been removed. If the -SC has this support, I certainly would order one for testing.

Finally, I would say that steppers still have a purpose in applications there any dither must be avoided such as some optics setups.

Thank you

[Aerox]

Oh my god! 😲 Super fast, almost completely silent, more reliable AND cheaper?! 🤯
Is this for real?! 😳

[Runner]

Got a pair of these beauties on my red sail clone laser cutter. I got to say that I was not super impressed with the auto tuning but after manually tuning them they work much faster than my previous step motors. They are about as good at low speeds but as I go beyond 100 rpms they are the clear winner. They also allow for stupid fast acceleration which to me is even more valuable as it minimizes over burning associated with slow cutting speeds. I wish the auto tuning allowed you to set machine specific parameters like the intended maximum speeds and acceleration. While the auto tuning does wonders for the higher rpms one can achieve significantly better results by specifically tuning for your intended use.

[kevin_delaney]

You should talk about wiring though, I use stepper motors with 4 wires (requires homing and verification of the "steps per mm) but it's 4 wires nonetheless. How is it wires compared to a similar stepper without an encoder? If the control is built into the back of the motor, can it emulate the 4 wire connections and actually be a drop in motor replacement that similar just needs quick config and a separate connection for power?

[abuthahirumarhathab]

servos are, in some ways, better than the stepper.servos are useful in hobby electronics.i suggest servos for robotics beginners but steppers do have a lot more importance in the current world like printers.therefore i suggest to even learn about steppers too.

[skitnado]

With your knowledge depth sir, would you recommend this for a robotic arm or stepper motor ?

[panagiotismenounos]

Hi i really like your stuff and i would like to make some questions!Well a stepper motor rotates in steps, the frequency of steps define acceleration or velocity, am i right?When it comes for a servo to replace a stepper motor, what kind of control is applied to servo, is it speed profiles or something like small position changes with the frequency change desired position again define speed and accel like steppers do??Which is the smallest possible step angle for a servo compared to stepper, if the servo shaft encoder provide 1000 pulses per rotation, is it possible to step one encoder pulse or it needs more pulses and why(maybe the cascaded PID loop tracks the error in a smaller scale than the smallest step of the servo)??I would appreciate any advise!!

[Runner]

I've a laser cutter machine that I think will really benefit from the clearpath servos. My only concern is the "enable" signal, my current leadshine stepper motor drivers do not use that signal, and as far as I can see my motion controler (Ruida) does not have an output for the enable signal. Is there a way to bypass the enable signal at all?

[jungle]

I'm on the fence in choosing the clearpath sdsk over a closed loop this one:
I can't find any videos comparing servo vs closed loop.
What are the advantages of the servo over closed loop?
Thanks

[rolandz]

hi is it possible to get 5000 mms with servo motor, for laser engraving machine only engrave not cutting

[robertoviana]

They talk about stepper drivers, but what about servo drivers?

[ivan]

You make mismatch with the concepts!!!! Servo motor is ANY motor with FEEDBACK.
If you put feedback on a stepper motor, it will be ALSO a servo motor.
BLDC motor with feedback is also servo motor. Asynchronous AC motor with feedback is also servo.
In this video, its not correct to compare servo BLDC with stepper WITHOUT feedback, they are in different classes.