<p>Higher microstepping numbers result in smoother movement.
However, printer control boards are limited in how many steps the can generate per second - as low as 10'000 steps/s on an 8-bit AVR board running Marlin.</p>

<p>To get the benefits of smoother microstepping, without adding load to your control board, TMC stepper drivers support interpolation between each step impulse coming from your control board, up to 256 different positions with which the stepper motor is driven.</p>

<p>You will still have to set up your firmware for the 16 "real" microsteps, the interpolation is only done on the stepper driver itself.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-27T08:21:08.743Z
Thanks for your answer  

Could you tell me if this is useful , does it improve quality and make the finish of the better ?
Hussain Bhavnagarwala
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-27T09:05:19.640Z
@HussainBhavnagarwala Yes, of course. It results in smoother motion.
towe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-30T10:13:17.310Z
But torque for intermediate microsteps is greatly reduced: https://www.micromo.com/media/wysiwyg/Technical-library/Stepper/6_Microstepping%20WP.pdf or https://www.linengineering.com/news/in-the-media/how-to-use-microstepping-to-get-more-torque/ or https://www.njr.com/semicon/PDF/application_notes/Microstepping_APP_E.pdf
FarO
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-30T11:07:21.567Z
@FarO Yes - of course. That's true for all microstepping. If you drove the stepper motor with a perfect sine wave (which would be optimal for smoothness), you'd have *0* incremental torque.
It's not really relevant for 3D printer positioning accuracy though, since even 16 microsteps are overkill for that.
towe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-09T12:51:04.593Z
That means Interpolation makes extra steps between real input steps?
user_fs10
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-09T13:12:57.617Z
@user_fs10 Exactly.
For a full step of a normal stepper, you might send 16 impulses to your TMC driver, and the TMC then interpolates these steps to 256 distinct current values it sends through the stepper coils.
towe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-09T13:32:19.310Z
In TMC2100 has two configuration, 1/4 step/256 interpolation and 1/16 step/256 interpolation. Im going to use Arduino MEGA for generate pulses. What is the most suitable configuration and what is the reason for that?
user_fs10
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-09T13:38:52.393Z
@user_fs10 The MEGA can produce approximately 10'000 steps/s running Marlin. About 80% of that will be used on X and Y, 19% on the extruder and 1% on Z.
1/16th mode would offer you better positional accuracy (about 0.0125mm rather than 0.05mm for a 20 tooth GT2 belt) at a maximum speed of roughly 100 mm/s.
Do you plan on printing (much) faster than that?
Perhaps this would be best suited for a new question though.
towe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-09T13:42:44.573Z
@towe ... Actually this is not for a 3D printer. I need only silent motors and should be use low processing power.
user_fs10
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-09T13:45:18.233Z
@user_fs10 In that case it's even less clear - and depends on what speeds and resolutions you're after.
towe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-26T14:47:07.317Z
2019-09-26T14:47:07.317Z
towe
<p>I am planning to get a few TMC step sticks for my 3D printer. </p>

<p>I wanted to know what does 256 interpolation with 16 micro stepping mean, in simple terms?</p>

<p>Does it help? If so, how?</p>

<electronics><stepper-driver>
What does it mean when they say up to 256 interpolation and 16 micro stepping for the TMC step sticks?
Hussain Bhavnagarwala
# What does it mean when they say up to 256 interpolation and 16 micro stepping for the TMC step sticks?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-26)

I am planning to get a few TMC step sticks for my 3D printer.

I wanted to know what does 256 interpolation with 16 micro stepping mean, in simple terms?

Does it help? If so, how?

**Tags:** electronics, stepper-driver

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-09-26. Score: 2

Higher microstepping numbers result in smoother movement.
However, printer control boards are limited in how many steps the can generate per second - as low as 10'000 steps/s on an 8-bit AVR board running Marlin.

To get the benefits of smoother microstepping, without adding load to your control board, TMC stepper drivers support interpolation between each step impulse coming from your control board, up to 256 different positions with which the stepper motor is driven.

You will still have to set up your firmware for the 16 "real" microsteps, the interpolation is only done on the stepper driver itself.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your answer    Could you tell me if this is useful , does it improve quality and make the finish of the better ?  
> **username_1**: @HussainBhavnagarwala Yes, of course. It results in smoother motion.  
> **username_2**: But torque for intermediate microsteps is greatly reduced: https://www.micromo.com/media/wysiwyg/Technical-library/Stepper/6_Microstepping%20WP.pdf or https://www.linengineering.com/news/in-the-media/how-to-use-microstepping-to-get-more-torque/ or https://www.njr.com/semicon/PDF/application_notes/Microstepping_APP_E.pdf  
> **username_1**: @FarO Yes - of course. That's true for all microstepping. If you drove the stepper motor with a perfect sine wave (which would be optimal for smoothness), you'd have *0* incremental torque. It's not really relevant for 3D printer positioning accuracy though, since even 16 microsteps are overkill for that.  
> **username_3**: That means Interpolation makes extra steps between real input steps?  
> **username_1**: @user_fs10 Exactly. For a full step of a normal stepper, you might send 16 impulses to your TMC driver, and the TMC then interpolates these steps to 256 distinct current values it sends through the stepper coils.  
> **username_3**: In TMC2100 has two configuration, 1/4 step/256 interpolation and 1/16 step/256 interpolation. Im going to use Arduino MEGA for generate pulses. What is the most suitable configuration and what is the reason for that?  
> **username_1**: @user_fs10 The MEGA can produce approximately 10'000 steps/s running Marlin. About 80% of that will be used on X and Y, 19% on the extruder and 1% on Z. 1/16th mode would offer you better positional accuracy (about 0.0125mm rather than 0.05mm for a 20 tooth GT2 belt) at a maximum speed of roughly 100 mm/s. Do you plan on printing (much) faster than that? Perhaps this would be best suited for a new question though.  
> **username_3**: @towe ... Actually this is not for a 3D printer. I need only silent motors and should be use low processing power.  
> **username_1**: @user_fs10 In that case it's even less clear - and depends on what speeds and resolutions you're after.  

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