Can anyone help me with this please?
I want to lift something at 2 points, Repeated up and down movements that won't go to the full travel.
A single DC motor with belt drives would be possible but rather untidy and more costly probably than my preferred solution which is 2 stepper motors.
What I'm hoping for is simple open loop control by driving both steppers together. I want Up/Down buttons and that's it.
Will 'standard' controllers do this ? Is it a simple circuit I can build myself ?
I'll have gas struts assisting so the motors will be small eg $15 each. 12V probably.
Thanks, struggling to find a forum with the knowledge to answer this.
I want to lift something at 2 points, Repeated up and down movements that won't go to the full travel.
A single DC motor with belt drives would be possible but rather untidy and more costly probably than my preferred solution which is 2 stepper motors.
What I'm hoping for is simple open loop control by driving both steppers together. I want Up/Down buttons and that's it.
Will 'standard' controllers do this ? Is it a simple circuit I can build myself ?
I'll have gas struts assisting so the motors will be small eg $15 each. 12V probably.
Thanks, struggling to find a forum with the knowledge to answer this.
Hi,
I understand steppers but have no real idea about what modern
controllers exist. Back in my day you had TTL/CMOS compatible
driver chips*. I assume you could drive with a 555 timer circuit
if all that is need is fixed speed up/down buttons. Variable
speed buttons are nicer but that gets more complicated.
rgds, sreten.
* you could juice up the output current with more bits.
I understand steppers but have no real idea about what modern
controllers exist. Back in my day you had TTL/CMOS compatible
driver chips*. I assume you could drive with a 555 timer circuit
if all that is need is fixed speed up/down buttons. Variable
speed buttons are nicer but that gets more complicated.
rgds, sreten.
* you could juice up the output current with more bits.
Lots of controllers on eBay but with no explanation
found this one Pololu/StepStick Stepper Motor Driver (RepRap RAMPS/Sanguinololu) | eBay
With this diagram.
Do you think I can replace the microcontroller with switches to simply supply 5V to the step and direction pins to make the motor go? or is the microcontroller supplying a complex control signal?
edit: oops just read the advert! I didn't see all the instructions before. Needs a pulse on the step pin.
found this one Pololu/StepStick Stepper Motor Driver (RepRap RAMPS/Sanguinololu) | eBay
With this diagram.
Do you think I can replace the microcontroller with switches to simply supply 5V to the step and direction pins to make the motor go? or is the microcontroller supplying a complex control signal?
edit: oops just read the advert! I didn't see all the instructions before. Needs a pulse on the step pin.
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Hi,
TBH you really don't seem to have a clue, and its 25 years
since I looked at this stuff but just looking at that diagram
a couple of things are obvious to me :
1) logic 1 or 0 on DIR controls step direction.
2) The motor will step 1 step on a logic transition 0 to 1
on STEP. It doesn't do anything 1 back to 0 and will
step a further 1 step on the next 0 to 1 transition.
For what you want the controller doesn't have to be complicated.
I could build it with 25 year old technology, though programming
a very basic microcontroller is far more flexible in application.
I could do that if I had the time to learn the microcontroller.
Holding torque of the motor on each step is an issue, or not.
rgds, sreten.
TBH you really don't seem to have a clue, and its 25 years
since I looked at this stuff but just looking at that diagram
a couple of things are obvious to me :
1) logic 1 or 0 on DIR controls step direction.
2) The motor will step 1 step on a logic transition 0 to 1
on STEP. It doesn't do anything 1 back to 0 and will
step a further 1 step on the next 0 to 1 transition.
For what you want the controller doesn't have to be complicated.
I could build it with 25 year old technology, though programming
a very basic microcontroller is far more flexible in application.
I could do that if I had the time to learn the microcontroller.
Holding torque of the motor on each step is an issue, or not.
rgds, sreten.
Last edited:
OK I'm relatively happy it'll work.
Don't even need to make my own pulse generator NE555 adjustable frequency pulse generator module | eBay
Not sure if I can use 1 driver for 2 motors, but they're pretty cheap so can use 2 rather than risk frying a few motors.
Don't even need to make my own pulse generator NE555 adjustable frequency pulse generator module | eBay
Not sure if I can use 1 driver for 2 motors, but they're pretty cheap so can use 2 rather than risk frying a few motors.
Hey there,
have a look at the Trinamic website: TRINAMIC
We used those Trinamic controllers for the sample stage in our lab, the boards contain the complete hardware including all the dirty details of driving stepper motors, limit switches and so on. They are controlled via USB, just set direction, speed, acceleration/deceleration ramps and so on.
Very useful and a three-channel board was not really expensive as far as I remember...
Rundmaus
EDIT: They also seem to have stepper motors with the drive electronics directly attached to the motor....
have a look at the Trinamic website: TRINAMIC
We used those Trinamic controllers for the sample stage in our lab, the boards contain the complete hardware including all the dirty details of driving stepper motors, limit switches and so on. They are controlled via USB, just set direction, speed, acceleration/deceleration ramps and so on.
Very useful and a three-channel board was not really expensive as far as I remember...
Rundmaus
EDIT: They also seem to have stepper motors with the drive electronics directly attached to the motor....
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