higher voltage steppers?

I'm in the planning stages of a repstrap. I've been checking the surplus sources available to me and I note a glut of cheap steppers with only one issue, the stock voltage is either 24 or 36 volts.

I was looking at the controller boards, and I was thinking I could lift a trace that's used to feed the steppers 12 volts and then just bolt a 24 volt power supply right next to the ATX, I could make use of these motors. The driver chip seems to be able to handle 36 volts. I know I'd have to make sure the current stayed below 2 amps

Aside from the fact that I'll need to source a second power supply, does anyone see any issues with taking this route?

as far as I know, the main issue with steppers is heat, which is closely related to current. A higher available drive voltage just means you'll have better torque at high speeds. I don't foresee any problems as long as you hook things up properly and make doubly sure that your current limiter is working correctly.

... it's not really that simple

I've some steppers (uni- and bipolar) with 24Volts@0.2Amps in contrary to steppers with 1.2Volts@3Amps.

For driving with a simple discrete h-bridge (2 transistors per coil) the 24V@0.4Amps are better ... but when you're driving with a modern IC you need the other steppers.

With the low-volts@high-amps steppers you can reach much higher speeds and more torque in relation to consumpted power too ...

Viktor