PWM/HPWM Stepper Motor Controller

[mark_s]

David, at 200 steps per revelolution the motor will run rough. Once you get it running change the dip switches on the driver to 1/8th step or 1600 pulses/rev. It will run much smoother.

Mark

[DavyJones]

Mark thanks for the info. I'm new to working with stepper motors and their controllers. Seems a little easier to use a controller than to do all the programming to pulse all 4 inputs on the motor manually.
It looks like the NEMA rating just has to do with the size of the front or something here is the NEMA 23 one I got. It looks like this is rated 2.8 amps so would you mind I should set my controller dip switches to reflect 2.8 amps right?
Thanks
David

[mark_s]

Mark thanks for the info. I'm new to working with stepper motors and their controllers. Seems a little easier to use a controller than to do all the programming to pulse all 4 inputs on the motor manually.
It looks like the NEMA rating just has to do with the size of the front or something here is the NEMA 23 one I got. It looks like this is rated 2.8 amps so would you mind I should set my controller dip switches to reflect 2.8 amps right?
Thanks
David

It's depends on your power supply voltage and what you are driving with the motor. I would start at half of the rated current and see how it works. Yes the NEMA number is the mounting size. What are you driving with your motor?

[DavyJones]

It's depends on your power supply voltage and what you are driving with the motor. I would start at half of the rated current and see how it works. Yes the NEMA number is the mounting size. What are you driving with your motor?

I'm going to be driving a drive pulley for a conveyer belt so things will be going slow don't need a lot of torque or speed.

thanks I will start off at half power and 200 rev's see how things go

Thanks
David

[DavyJones]

Normally I would design and build everything necessary to perform the tasks I need to with a PIC. In this case though to speed up development of my project I decided to use the stepper motor controller and relay module I am using to speed things up. The PIC is still doing all the work. I am working on a conveyer belt system that will move parts under a sprayer to get coated with a substance. I am controlling a solenoid to turn air on and off and a second solenoid to control dispensing the liquid, in this case for testing it is water. One thing I noticed since the nozzle is gravity fed and upside down as seen in my video, the gravity feed will produce a stream of water when the air is not engaged basically a constant drip so controlling the liquid flow (on and off) eliminates the drip. I did find no drip nozzles where I would only need to control the air flow but at $400 a pop that was not going to happen. The ones I am using are $20. My video is a mock up model for testing. I plan on adding a small conveyer pulley today and also control the stepper motor. If that succeeds I plan on moving to the next phase and build the working frame. I plan on using the extruded aluminum like many 3D printers use for frames.
If you or anyone else is interested in my progress as I move through this project I can keep posting the little videos I make.
Thanks for your help so far.
David
The air and liquid are not coming on simultaneously. The air valve is open first then 100ms seconds later I open the solenoid for the liquid. After 500ms of them both being on I turn them both off simultaneously then pause for 2 seconds to start the cycle again. This is producing almost virtually no drippage from the valve but I have on occasion seen a build up and a rogue drip is produced. I will mess with the timing to see if I can totally eliminate that or a tiny drip once in a while is not going to be bad since the part will have moved past the nozzle by that time.

[mark_s]

I am interested in following your project. It's nice to see a real application being developed.

Thanks for posting

[DavyJones]

I am interested in following your project. It's nice to see a real application being developed.

Thanks for posting

Sounds great I will keep posting to the thread as I go through my project... btw I am using a 12F683 since I had one laying around after my last project and I don't really need much for this. I'm setting up the stepper motor and about to give it a try in a few minutes.

David