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Stepper Motor voltage allowable?

(*steve*)

¡sǝpodᴉʇuɐ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥd
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I have this stepper motor which i intend to drive with 36V even though its only 6V rated................

You're making a smoke machine, right?

....how can you tell what is the maximum allowable drive voltage for this (above) stepper motor...or indeed, for any stepper motor?

Easy, read the spec sheet.

In this case it says 6V.

The only way you might get away with 36V is to use PWM with a max "on" time of around 15%. Even then, I'm not sure it would be my fiirst choice.
 
For static purposes a voltage rating is fine, but for dynamic high-speed use one should consider using the current rating instead.
A stepper has a considerable inductance and so it takes a while for the current to rise after a voltage step. It is the current that drives the motor to a new position.
So to make the motor run real fast one needs to use a higher voltage than rated power supply and drive the motor with a constant current instead.
Using a (constant current) PWM scheme will be neccessary to avoid having a large power dissipation in the driver.
One may also need to know if the rating is for full-step use only or if it can take half-stepping too (which increases the average motor dissipation by 50%).
 
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