For MachineMotion 1, yes, you can use your own stepper motor, as long as it’s NEMA 34 (bipolar, 200 steps per revolution) with the same flange and shaft geometry as Vention motors.
Many of our clients report that they prefer using Vention stepper motors because they’re designed to work with Vention’s MachineMotion controller. Likewise, the micro-stepping and mechanical gain parameters in MachineMotion are preconfigured to work with these motors. If you choose a non-Vention stepper motor, you will have to complete these integration steps yourself.
For MachineMotion 2, no, the controller was specifically designed for Vention's servo motors that include a custom junction box to connect a brake, home & end sensors through a continuous flex cable.
For a belt-driven actuator of 1.5 m, the repeatability is +/- 0.025 mm. For a 1.5m ball-screw actuator, it is approx. +/- 0.015 mm. As another point of comparison, the repeatability for a 12 m-long 7th axis extender is approx. +/- 0.2 mm.
Note that Vention measures repeatability at the system level, as opposed to measuring it on the linear axis alone. For example, we would assemble a 7th axis and set a dial comparator to zero. We would then go through several cycles of acceleration/deceleration and see if the system maintain its “zero” during each cycle.
To maintain the system’s precision over time, some clients simply “re-home” after completing a certain number of cycles.
