Stepper motor controller question

Using Arduino Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hi all,

I want to be able to control a 4.2A stepper motor from my Mega2560. I already have a project on the go using 2 ByVac motor controllers which control 2 separate motors but this motor is tool big for these controllers.

I was looking at this one: Discontinued - Arc Euro Trade. Is it possible to control this from the Arduino? And if so how, is there a library etc?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Z

2

Yes you can control it from an Arduino - there's a connection diagram there and one of the jumpered modes is standard step-and-direction signals. How demanding is the application though in terms of pulse timing and frequency?

3

Thanks for the quick response.

How demanding is the application though in terms of pulse timing and frequency?

Not very. I am building a CNC router and bought the stepper for that but have got a smaller one working fine (after overcoming some mechanical issues). I was just interested in getting this one going and then finding a solution to use it for (A powered cross feed on my lathe perhaps).

From the datasheet I assume I pulse the PULS pin once for each step at a suitable periodicity? The only thing I cannot get my head round is changing direction. Do I pulse DIR to change direction or hold it HIGH for one direction and LOW for the other?

Thanks

Z

4

You hold DIR at the direction you want and then pulse the step clock. For CNC you have the interesting challenge of generating accelerating and decelerating pulse trains (not to mention circular arcs...)

5

not to mention circular arcs

.

Yes my prototype just does straight lines at right at the moment. But angled lines and arcs will be next. Once I have the Z-Axis sorted out that it.

Cheers

Z