I am unsure where to start with Stepper Motors

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

I am unsure where to start with Stepper Motors.

Basically I have some ideas and I am unsure where to start and where to find good information for a new-be to learn by.

How do I determine what size stepper motor is needed? How do I determine what size driver is needed? I know it depends on the purpose.

I guess I am looking for a motor 101 type of site on stepper motors and drivers.

I see lots of cheap stuff on EBAY and I buy most of my stuff from EBay as it is cheap - just takes 4+ weeks delivery to NZ.

Any links would be appreciated to good sites explaining this.

cheers

Chris

2

Maybe start here, and be sure to follow the link in the first paragraph.

Jim

3

Thanks Jim

4

The theory of the motor design is covered in depth here: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_2/chpt_13/5.html
(most modern steppers are the hybrid sort with neodymium magnets - older motors have ferrite magnets
and are a lot less torquey for the same size)

If you want high-performance (fast speeds) then you need to go to chopper-driven low-inductance bipolar stepper
motors - a lot of these online tutorials don't cover this, note. Unipolar motors with low voltage drivers are limited
to a few hundred rpm or so.

5

If you don't want to order parts and wait forever just to get your feet wet most inkjet printers and scanners have a unipolar stepper motor in them. It won't have much torque or rpms but is most likely about the same as the cheap stuff on ebay. These motors can be driven with a uln2004a ic which is easily found at mouser.com for about 58 cents. This is a cheap and easy way to get your feet wet in stepper motors.