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[Reply #15 on:]

If you're going to use that motor shield to control a stepper then you would need to program the Arduino to read the step/dir inputs and then translate to energizing the A/B coils in the proper order (probably using the Stepper library).

You'd be better off buying a stepper controller that takes step/dir inputs. Pololu.com sells a $10 driver that is good for up to 2A steppers or you can find drivers on eBay based on the TB6560 chip (up to 3.5A) for ~$15.

[Reply #16 on:]

Awesome. Ordering a new board today. Thanks chagrin.

[Reply #17 on:]

Of course you could just replace your current pot with a digital pot and control that from the arduino saving on the motor shield the stepper motor and all the rest.

Mark

PS digital pots are very cheap!.

[Reply #18 on:]

How do I hook up inputs( what pins) to the motor shield I have? The motor shield has 6  inputs ( enable A,B, A,a B,b)for control and I have two outputs(step/dir) what am I missing?

Read the documentation for your motor drive shield and stepper motor, they will explain how to use them. You will probably find example sketches that demonstrate this too. This is the easy part. I'm not going to do it for you because you can read a data sheet just as easily as I can, and you're the one who wants to get it working.

[Reply #19 on:]

I didn't ask you to do it for me, I asked for help explaining it so I can understand it. I've tried reading it, and tried many ways to make it work before I got on here and asked. even smoked my first arduino trying. I never asked can anyone do this for me. If you didn't want to help, then why even waste the time to post?