Talk:Step rates
Imho the whole discussion about what maximum step rates are achievable with each firmware makes very little sense (and it looks like a pissing contest). :-(
This page should begin with a honest discussion about RepRap printer mechanics and kinematics, kinetic energy, vibrations, tolerances and finally, realistic expectations about print quality and how it relates to print speed.
Then we could talk about print speed and stepper rates.
Also this page fails to mention the most obvious, immediately quantifiable spec that has a direct relation with maximum step rates: the MCU clock. Yes, whatever firmware one is using, doubling the MHz doubles the maximum step rate, all other things remaining constant. This is why anything running on an ARM processor at 80MHz or more will result in faster maximum step rates than anything else running on an AVR 16MHz processor.
Finally, there are two more obvious facts that this page fails to mention:
- A firmware that is able to achieve a faster maximum step rate is not going to give you better quality prints. Actually, even for reasonable print quality, you'll be printing well below the maximum step rate of even the slowest firmware listed here.
- Two different firmwares printing at reasonable speeds (i.e. with step rates below the maximum step rates of the slower one) will give you exactly the same result: the same object printed with the same amount of material in exactly the same amount of time with the exact same quality.
