So here's another layer to this - why all the low voltage motors?
We stopped using 12 or 15V for logic supplies a long time ago. Today even 5V for logic is becoming less common. People like to design stuff that uses a single supply. That means 5V or 3.3V in a modern design. If they are running a stepper the low cost design will be one that runs the steppers off of the same supply as the logic. If you are doing direct PWM control it also saves you some money on the electronics.
Volume of manufacture matters when it comes to the cost of something like a motor. There are a lot of surplus motors from various projects out there. They didn’t cost much when they were new and they cost even less as surplus. If you go looking for motors, the low voltage / high current ones are what you will find very quickly. Because of this, they are the ones that everybody talks about. There are probably 100X more 3 and 5V motors out there than anything else. They get mentioned because they are common / low cost, not because they are the best fit for us performance wise.
We are not (for several reasons) running 5V high current drivers on our steppers. We are running drivers that were made for high(er) voltage low(er) current motors. You can make a low voltage motor run with them, but there are significant compromises. The high(er) voltage motors are out there. If you are paying a bundle to ship things in, it’s better to get ones that are a best fit for the drivers.
We stopped using 12 or 15V for logic supplies a long time ago. Today even 5V for logic is becoming less common. People like to design stuff that uses a single supply. That means 5V or 3.3V in a modern design. If they are running a stepper the low cost design will be one that runs the steppers off of the same supply as the logic. If you are doing direct PWM control it also saves you some money on the electronics.
Volume of manufacture matters when it comes to the cost of something like a motor. There are a lot of surplus motors from various projects out there. They didn’t cost much when they were new and they cost even less as surplus. If you go looking for motors, the low voltage / high current ones are what you will find very quickly. Because of this, they are the ones that everybody talks about. There are probably 100X more 3 and 5V motors out there than anything else. They get mentioned because they are common / low cost, not because they are the best fit for us performance wise.
We are not (for several reasons) running 5V high current drivers on our steppers. We are running drivers that were made for high(er) voltage low(er) current motors. You can make a low voltage motor run with them, but there are significant compromises. The high(er) voltage motors are out there. If you are paying a bundle to ship things in, it’s better to get ones that are a best fit for the drivers.