Stepper motor question

There are numerous methods. The best way is to use a microcontroller and communicate from a PC via a UART. Stepper motors are built with multiple coils and are actuated by energizing each coil in a sequence. This sequence determines the speed and direction of the motor. Their are two primary types of stepper motors, bipolar and unipolar. It's important to know which one yours are, since their coil arraignment is different and so requires a different sequence when energizing the coils. You can energize the coils directly from buffered IO lines on a microcontroller, although there are chips specifically for stepper motors. One I've used is the UCN5804 and allows you to control a unipolar stepper motor with only two IO lines, one for direction and one for the step.

And as always, Google is your friend.

Hope this helps.

Chris S.

Hi

They are 2 phase stepper motors if that helps. The only microcontrollers I have on hand are PIC 16F84's. I need to be able to use the stepper motors to do precise movements how would I be able to track the position of each one?

Justin

Justin,

Here's a good intro to steppers, by Doug Jones ...

http://209.41.165.153/stepper/Tutorials/UniTutor.htmhttp://209.41.165.153/stepper/Tutorials/BiTutor.html Hope this helps.

-Pete.

Just disassembeld an old Epson Dot matrix printer... position of motor was controlled via optic switch peeking through apertures on rotating disk attached to motor shaft.

One example.

I'm looking into diskdrive head positioning motors- the one with the helical screw. Anyone have a ready-to-assemble circuit for push-button operation for a near-know nothing?

(thought I'd ask, anyway!)