Standard or Custom? How PKP Stepper Motors Give Machine Builders the Best of Both Worlds

8:26

Building a great machine starts with the right motion components, and Oriental Motor’s PKP Series stepper motors give engineers a reliable starting point with a variety of proven options to choose from. However, when your design demands a perfect fit or finely tuned specs, our custom assembly services take you beyond what standard motors can offer.

What's covered?

✅The PKP Series Standard Stepper Motors Lineup

✅ Introducing Oriental Motor’s Custom Order Services

✅ Standard or Custom?

✅ Application Examples

The PKP Series Standard Stepper Motors Lineup

Oriental Motor’s PKP Series high‑torque, 2‑phase bipolar stepper motors are designed for easy, repeatable motion control in industrial automation. These standard stepper motors give machine builders an immediate advantage when speed, precision, and simplicity matter.

Why Standard Stepper Motors?

Standard stepper motors are the backbone of many automated systems because they offer:

Guaranteed Specifications — Every PKP Series stepper motor is built to meet a wide range of electrical, mechanical, and performance standards, and performance is guaranteed straight from the factory.
Short Lead Times — Standardized manufacturing ensures motors are readily available with quick delivery, unlike custom motors that require redesign and testing.
Standard Mounting — Universal mounting patterns and shaft configurations simplify integration into existing machine designs.

These characteristics make standard PKP Series stepper motors ideal for rapid machine-build cycles, prototyping, and long-term production environments.

Standard PKP Series Stepper Motor Types

The PKP Series includes a wide selection of variants, ensuring engineers can select a model that aligns closely with their application:

Round Shaft Type — For general-purpose motion applications. No gearhead is added to the motor, so speed is not limited	Flat Type — thin, flat stepper motors for space‑restricted installations
Encoder Type — Integrated position/speed/direction feedback for closed-loop or monitored positioning	Electromagnetic Brake Type — Holds motor shaft in position when power is off, ideal for vertical‑axis loads
High‑Resolution Type — Higher resolution and better stop accuracy due to more rotor and stator teeth	Geared Type — Multiple gearhead options for increased torque, reduced speed, or optimized inertia matching

The following video introduces the PKP Series stepper motors.

Standard products offer a powerful starting point—yet even the best standard motor cannot perfectly fit every custom machine requirement. That’s where Oriental Motor’s custom assembly services come in.

Introducing Oriental Motor’s Custom Order Services

Beyond standard offerings, Oriental Motor offers a portfolio of custom assembly options that deliver machine builders with exact mechanical, electrical, and performance characteristics for truly optimized designs.

Why Custom Stepper Motors?

Custom stepper motors solve engineering challenges that standard catalog products cannot. They enable:

A Perfect Fit - Tailored mechanical interfaces, custom cabling, or unique mounting requirements.

Exact Performance Specs - Adjusted winding characteristics, encoder options, or gear configurations to match torque‑speed requirements.

A custom motor that's designed for the intended application eliminates the compromises machine builders typically make when adapting the design around a standard motor.

Types of Customizations Offered

Automation and design engineers can select from a broad menu of modification options. Available Customizations Include:

✅Motor Shaft Modification

Standard flat or keyway shafts can be converted to tapped, cross bore, stepped, or hollow custom shafts.

✅Encoders

Standard factory-installed encoders are available on standard PKP Series encoder type stepper motors. Our standard encoder offers resolutions from 100 to 4,000 P/R for precise feedback of position, speed, and direction. If you need third-party encoders or resolutions beyond what we offer in the PKP Series, please contact us.

✅ Cabling

Several lengths are offered for standard pigtail or connector cables. If you need something else, we can offer custom cable length or strain relief features.

✅ Connectors

Choose from popular connector families including Molex, JST, Hirose, TE, and more

✅ Labels

Custom private labeling for wiring diagrams, connection routing, or machine identification

✅ Shrink Tubing

Ensure clean cable termination and enhanced durability

✅ Zip Ties / Cable Bundling

Organized, standardized cable management to streamline assembly

✅ Pulleys, Gears, and Sprockets

Factory-installed power transmission components (e.g., SDP, Gates Unitta, or in‑house options)

✅ Custom Mounting Holes / Motor Case Modifications

Through‑holes, altered mounting patterns, or space for sensor integration

✅ Custom Windings

Adjusted wire gauge and turn count to tune torque‑speed performance curves for stepper motors

✅ Gear Assembly

Integration of specific gearheads or transmission components for torque or speed optimization

These customizations transform a standard PKP stepper motor into an application‑specific drive solution tailored to your machine’s specific design and engineering constraints.

Standard or Custom?

There are benefits for both approaches. There are instances where lower pricing and shorter lead times of standard products make sense, and other instances where the ideal fit of a custom product makes more sense.

Standard PKP Stepper Motors offer:

✅ Short lead times

✅ Guaranteed specifications

✅ Universal mounting

✅ Broad variations to match many common automation needs

Custom Stepper Motors offer:

✅ Tailored fit and performance

✅ Reduced integration complexity

✅ Optimized torque‑speed behavior

✅ Machine‑ready assemblies that reduce build time

Think of customization as the bridge between standard product efficiency and your unique machine requirements. Oriental Motor’s custom services elevate standard motors into application‑specific solutions, reducing your assembly time, improving performance, and accelerating development.

In most applications, engineers start with a standard motor for prototyping- and upgrade to a custom motor when exact performance or integration is determined. Customization is a value‑add, not a replacement, enhancing what our standard products already do well.

Application Examples by Industry

Here are common real-world scenarios where PKP Series stepper motors shine:

☑️Medical Industry Application Example A compact diagnostic device may require a stepper motor, custom connectors, and short cables to fit tightly inside a small enclosure.
☑️ Food Packaging Application Example High‑speed indexing on packaging lines benefits from geared motors with custom encoder resolutions to ensure precise motion with minimal downtime.
☑️ Material Handling Application Example Vertical lift systems or incline conveyors rely on electromagnetic brake type motors plus custom shaft modifications for reliable load holding even when power fails.
☑️ Semiconductor Industry Application Example Precision wafer handling uses high‑resolution stepper motors with modified windings for consistent torque and stop accuracy during microstepping.

Browse our industry solutions page for more application examples.

Ready to Build the Perfect Motion Solution?

If your machine requires motion components that align perfectly with your mechanical, electrical, and performance requirements, Oriental Motor’s engineering team is ready to help. Whether you start with a standard PKP Series stepper motor or need a fully customized assembly, we can deliver a solution tailored to your design.