Quote Originally Posted by JW1977 View Post
Right now i have to decide one of the following Before i can go on and calculate the steppers,
1. IP-M with 4 steppers. (- for the gantry geometry correction)
2. IP-M with 3 steppers and a belt for the "slave drive". (- for the belt drive but + for no problem with geo. corr. and only 3 motors/drives)
3. Smoothstepper, Pokey or simular with a good breakoutboard, 4 steppers and no problem with the gantry geometry correction. ( - Quality compared to IP-M? Do need a good BOB)
Why do you think #2 is (-) using belts.? It's not a bad thing it's a good thing. Belts are not a problem regards accuracy and they keep the screws perfectly sync together. This shouldn't be under estimated and I'd much rather have belts linking screws than using two motors slaved together.
Where it becomes cloudy is if the machine is wide. Then belts get messy and awkward so not always ideal.