# Can SLB drive a stronger Nema 23 Stepper Motor? **URL:** \ **Category:** ❓Question\ **Created:** [August 26, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/can-slb-drive-a-stronger-nema-23-stepper-motor/13742 "2024-08-26T22:38:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 10
**Author:** ![stoddad](https://forum.sienci.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@stoddad](https://forum.sienci.com/u/stoddad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://forum.sienci.com/t/can-slb-drive-a-stronger-nema-23-stepper-motor/13742/10 "2024-09-10T14:17:00Z")
I am no expert. I built my own CNC, and am using the SLB as my current controller. I began with a pretty weighty 1.5KW water cooled spindle. I had also built the machine with 4.2A Nema 23 steppers with a 36v power supply with an Arduino-based controller using external Stepper drivers. So, there should have been plenty of torque to hold the Z axis up. This wasn’t the case though. I tried several things to combat gravity, but ultimately, I added a mechanical fix. It’s not elegant. It’s basically a bungee support on both sides of the Z carriage. It’s not perfect, but it keeps things within a tolerable range – for me. It assists the stepper when lifting the spindle. I was concerned switching to the SLB because the onboard drivers are not a high current as the external drivers I have been using – so probably not as much torque. A good thing about the bungee system is I can retention it if I find steps are missing. I know some industrial machines have electromagnetic, and spring systems. This is my cheap “cowboy” engineering solution. ![image](https://forum.sienci.com/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c6713f9aefe67fc5b8ed877ccce72c3d8c3f6e34.jpeg) I found a lot of people have these issues when adding bigger spindles. Here is a link to one solution by another cncer: [https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/z-axis-counter-balance-for-the-journeyman-elite-2-2kw-spindle/21398](https://forum.onefinitycnc.com/t/z-axis-counter-balance-for-the-journeyman-elite-2-2kw-spindle/21398). --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.sienci.com/t/can-slb-drive-a-stronger-nema-23-stepper-motor/13742)._