Geckodrives vs others

[Jonathan]

Definately get the 80V driver over 50V since the motor torque at high speed is roughly proportional to the applied voltage.

Can only comment thru personal experience on the AM882 from Zapp
Zapp Automation Ltd - Stepper motors & Stepper Motor Drivers - Servo motors and Servo Motor Drivers - Ballscrews & linear motion products. : AM882 Digital driver with stall detect [AM882 Digital driver] - £98.40

80V and 8.2A so plenty of overhead for future expansion plus using lower powered motors the drive is no where near being taxed so life expectancy will be longer.

Or if you're on a student budget:

New Leadshine AM882 Drive 80VDC 0.1A - 8.2 | eBay

Also I wouldn't bother with the 4Nm motors you mentioned since on your size machine they wont gain anything over the 3Nm motors from the same supplier, or Zapp. The 4Nm could even be worse.

Edit, missed this bit:

They also have these on the bay for around £60. Is there a fake drive market out there to be aware of or can I rest easy they will be ok?

I recall Gary at Zapp saying there are fakes of leadshine drivers around. That doesn't necessarily mean they're no good though, so I'd be happy to try them. However my machine works perfectly well on PM752s, so there's no need for me to change stepper drivers. When I change the drivers it wont be steppers on the other end...