I was not aware of the possible damage I must have missed that in my research but it does make sense. Since the stepper will generate electricity when being turned by hand.
Same here! I was aware that all motors are terrible generators when you turn the spindle, but it hadn't occurred to me that the drivers might suffer damage. Glad I read that in caution in Sherline's documentation. I'm guessing some driver circuitry would be fine, but those are likely ones built with some extra electronics specifically to handle that scenario.