katsujinsetsunin

Hello all! After a mishap which resulted in the mysterious burnout of three ICs (subsequently replaced), my controller board finally works :) However, using my software of choice (KCAM), attempting to run the motors in one-phase or half-step mode (by changing jumper position) results in a rather jarring back and forth motion (the motor fails to rotate smoothly in one direction, and instead jumps back and forth, several steps forward, several steps backward, with no net movement) - I doublechecked the solder connections on the controller board and they look alright to me - anyone else have difficulty with this or is this a software specific issue?

Thanks for the reply MP - sorry if my post was unclear. This is the link to the CW Technologies stepper board: http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/pc/008/ The stepper motors are rated at 1.1A (printed on a sticker adhered to the motor housing). I assume this rating is the current per phase, so if I choose to run the motors in half-step mode (activating two coils at once; a higher theoretical torque yield and finer motor resolution at the cost of a higher current requirement). Am I making a stupid mistake by assuming that if the motor requires 1.1A in full step mode, it will require double that (~2A) in half-step? Regarding the voltage requirement, I am referring to an earlier post by administrator mixos (August 6, 2003) which states: "The input voltage can be anything from 8V to 35V, but keep it at the voltage that the motor uses and not below 8V." Hope this cleared up any confusion.

Hello all! I am considering building the 3-axis stepper controller - I was able to salvage several Sankyo-Denki stepper motors from old IBM printers, but I'm not sure whether they will work. The motors are rated at 4.1 V, 1.1 A. Assuming I wish to operate a CNC machine in half-step mode, each motor will draw approx. 2 Amperes - with three motors (one for each axis), I think I will need a power supply able to provide at least 6 Amperes *plus* the current requirement for the controller board itself. I am looking for suggestions regarding 1) power supply size (voltage and current), and 2) whether it would be possible to use a simple voltage divider to reduce the motor voltage (the circuit notes indicate that a minimum of 8V must be supplied to the board - dividing this in half should protect the stepper motors from burning out...right? :) Thank you all in advance - sorry for the newbie questions!