Lead Screw Travel, Speed & Torque
Lead from pitch and starts, linear speed from rpm (or rpm for a speed), steps per mm for a stepper, travel time, and torque to drive a load at your efficiency.
Lead, speed in mm/s and m/min, rpm, steps per unit and resolution, revolutions and time for a travel, and drive and back-driving torque — kinematics and steady-state torque only.
Example: A 2 mm pitch, 2-start screw at 600 rpm moves 40 mm/s (2.4 m/min); 200 steps × 16 microsteps give 800 steps/mm; 500 N at 90 % efficiency needs 354 N·mm; 300 mm takes 7.5 s.
Lead, speed,
steps and torque.
The screw kinematics, the stepper arithmetic, and what the torque figure includes.
Lead and speed
The lead is the axial travel per revolution: pitch × number of starts (a single-start screw’s lead equals its pitch). Linear speed = lead × rpm; the page solves either way and reports a travel’s revolutions and time.
Steps
For a stepper drive, steps per unit = motor steps per revolution × microsteps ÷ lead, and the resolution is the inverse — the smallest commanded move, which is not the same as accuracy (backlash and screw lead error add to it).
Torque
To push a load F along the axis the screw needs T = F × lead ÷ (2π × η), η being the screw’s efficiency — high for a ball screw, low for a plain lead screw, and yours to enter from the maker’s data. The load can back-drive the screw with F × lead × η ÷ 2π (a low-efficiency screw holds itself). Acceleration torque, preload drag, bearing friction, critical speed and buckling are not included. Nothing leaves the browser; the same four anonymous usage counts as the rest of the site apply.
SOURCES
- lead = pitch × starts; v = lead × rpm; steps/mm = steps per rev × microsteps ÷ lead; drive torque T = F·lead ÷ (2π·η), back-drive F·lead·η ÷ 2π — efficiency is the user’s; no critical speed
Last reviewed 21 September 2026. How results are checked: How we verify.