stepper motor + beamsensor

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

Hi, I used arduino before to control a stepper motor by using ULN2003 circuit(http://electronics-diy.com/electronics/stepper_motors.php) as the driver of my stepper motor.
I am trying to build a small conveyor (Length : 300mm x Width : 130mm), which rotates for a designated distance(for about 100mm) every time a beam sensor is disturbed.
So, I figured that this kind of simple process can be done by other controllers that are way cheaper than arduino.
Definitely arduino is much better to work with but I also would like to try it out with cheapter method for a simple process like this.
My question is (1) can I use arduino development environment to program other controllers?
(2) In order to use a beam sensor with this stepper motor driver circuit(http://electronics-diy.com/electronics/stepper_motors.php), how should I connect the sensor to this circuit(or to controller circuit)?

My stepper motor has a specification like this.
*Voltage *Current *Resistance *Inductance *Holding torque
4.0V 0.95A 4.2Ohm 3.3mH 1.6kgf.cm

Any word of advice from you would be very helpful to me.
Thank you.

2

You can program the chip on the arduino to do what you need and then move it to a "carrier board" that can cost as little as $5 and use that in your circuit. As for the sensor you could hook it to one of the interrupt pins to generate an interrupt when it is triggered.

3

so, I can use arduino's developement environment to program other chips. That's great.
Could you tell me what type of chips and carrier boards are available for my specific application?