Steppers or Servos

[Barry]

While looking for a new EQ goto mount I noticed that Skywatcher use Stepper motors but Celestron use Servos and encoders. Is one better than the other?

Thanks

Barry

[E621Keith]

Servos are generally noisier than stepper. In theory servos will be more accurate, but in practice the machining accuracy of the mount is far worse which make the difference in motor choice irrelevant.

Skywatcher will work with EQMOD where as Celestron won't.

Take Vixen as an example, the older Vixen SS2K goto used stepper motors, it was replaced by servo driven Starbook which turned out to be less accurate. A lot of this was caused by the Starbook software, but Vixen newest AXD and SXP has gone back to using stepper.

[Barry]

Thanks

Barry

[themos]

The CNC people use steppers and timing belts, I think. I should think our requirements are comparable.

[r3i]

See here for a comparison between the EQ6 and CGEM motor systems: Atlas (EQ-6) vs. CGEM Drive System - Forums - Astronomy.com - Online Community, Forums, Media Galleries, Blogs

[vdb]

Steppers will not be damaged when something blocks ... servo's can ...

Yves.