STAMPING on Steppers
Britannicus
Posts: 98
I'm interested to experiment with Steppers - I have scrounged a few 5 wire unipolar (i think) steppers and figure I'd try and use my trusty STAMP to make them run :
I've never run steppers before bu thave been reading a bit. Key point I don't want to spend a fortune on some driver board, but to lash up something myself (which is always more satisfying)
I figured on using something like a ULN2003 to supply a suitable voltage based on control signals from my stamp. I figure I can then pulse out ABCD, ABCD etc or DCBA, DCBA to go the other way and then have the amplified voltage supplied to the correct lead. the faster I poll the STAMPS, the faster it runs - simple?? (too simple????)
Now here's where I need a bit (a lot) of help - is there some way to sense which of the wires I should pulse next, as I don't actually know what the resting position of my rotor is in .
OR can i just send my preferred sequence and the stepper will kick in when it gets in phase ? obviously I've not tried anything yet, but would really value some advice/ sample circuits etc. that might help me here
I've never run steppers before bu thave been reading a bit. Key point I don't want to spend a fortune on some driver board, but to lash up something myself (which is always more satisfying)
I figured on using something like a ULN2003 to supply a suitable voltage based on control signals from my stamp. I figure I can then pulse out ABCD, ABCD etc or DCBA, DCBA to go the other way and then have the amplified voltage supplied to the correct lead. the faster I poll the STAMPS, the faster it runs - simple?? (too simple????)
Now here's where I need a bit (a lot) of help - is there some way to sense which of the wires I should pulse next, as I don't actually know what the resting position of my rotor is in .
OR can i just send my preferred sequence and the stepper will kick in when it gets in phase ? obviously I've not tried anything yet, but would really value some advice/ sample circuits etc. that might help me here
Comments
Provided that you have the stepper motor wired correctly, just send it the proper sequence for full, half, or wave stepping mode. Documentation for all three modes can be found in Nuts & Volts, as well as various other resources within the Parallax web site.
Bruce
http://www.parallax.com/Store/Accessories/MotorServos/tabid/163/ProductID/65/List/1/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName
http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/cols/nv/vol7/col/NV136.pdf