Is more extruder stepper motor torque always better?

[mggevaer]

That's my question. If you keep upping torque you will eventually just start grinding the filament, but is there a point before that where more torque is no longer better?

I'm currently running a Moons Nema14x17.4 mm, and it has a holding torque of 0.115 mNm, they also have a NEMA14x20.2 (longer), and this has a holding torque of 0.19 mNm. This is a 65% increase! But it's also a slightly heavier and slightly more expensive motor.
Does the additional torque have any advantages? Is there a point before filament grinding where it no longer makes sense to have more torque?

Currently I can hear the extruder on the CW2 clicking sometimes with very high PA values (flexibles), is the extruder going to perform better in these scenarios?

I would expect is has some advantages since the new Galileo 2 orbiter, which already has a very high transmission rate also runs a larger/heavier 20mm stepper.

 

[vinnycordeiro]

There are some edge cases where more torque is necessary, like when you use 10+ kg filament spools.

 

[mggevaer]

That's a good point. Seems like more torque can be better, but not always needed.

 

[ChrisA]

That's my question. If you keep upping torque you will eventually just start grinding the filament, but is there a point before that where more torque is no longer better?

I'm currently running a Moons Nema14x17.4 mm, and it has a holding torque of 0.115 mNm, they also have a NEMA14x20.2 (longer), and this has a holding torque of 0.19 mNm. This is a 65% increase! But it's also a slightly heavier and slightly more expensive motor.
Does the additional torque have any advantages? Is there a point before filament grinding where it no longer makes sense to have more torque?

Currently I can hear the extruder on the CW2 clicking sometimes with very high PA values (flexibles), is the extruder going to perform better in these scenarios?

I would expect is has some advantages since the new Galileo 2 orbiter, which already has a very high transmission rate also runs a larger/heavier 20mm stepper.

If the motor is not skipping steps then it has enough torque. A bigger motor would allow you to run faster before it started to skip steps. But if you did not want to go faster it would do nothing.

Galileo has a different method of pushing the filament that might be less prone to slipping, so larger torque motor might be usable.

On the other hand with a planetary gear reduction, Galileo would be running at a higher speed for the same extrusion rate. Stepper motors lose torque as they spin faster. But then gear reduction multiplies torque. What matters is the tangential force parallel to the filament, not the motor torque. I would hope the designer started with requirements for speed and force on the filament then worked backward and selected the minimum size motor that could meet requirements. Typical speed vs torque curve for steppers do fall quickly at higher RPMs.