Trouble with Openbuilds Nema-17 steppers vs. Adafruit steppers that work.

I am very new to stepper motors and machine building. So I completely expect that I am the source of the problem. However, I am running an Arduino Uno and some stepper motor drivers (Motor shield v2.3) from Ada fruit. The Adafruit steppers work fine where as the open build steppers jerk around and mumble with tremors when the program is idle. I have played around with the wire pairs to no avail, always keeping coil pairs together. I am running them with a 12 V 3amp Meanwell power supply. I only have two stepper motors running.

Both steppers are Nema-17, why would they behave differently?

 

Thanks Gary, that seems obvious now. I assumed that Nema-17 was a standard spec. for power and dimensions of a motor...perhaps just the footprint and/or mounting? I searched and learned that 17 represents 1.7 inches. Makes sense.

I bought an Acro set up to move a device x,y,z under minimal load. I plan to move X-Y with a joystick. Z with a lever, rocker or two way toggle. User defined motion, no pattern files. That is why I chose Arduino with motor driver shields.

Do you think that I could run that gantry with 350mA motors?

If not, I need to upsize my control board and power supply.

 

I just discovered the 350mA stepper is too weak for z axis. What joystick controlled option is available to drive 4 1800mA steppers?

 

Interesting. Thanks guys