Driving stepper motors / schematic comprehension help
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Subject Author Date
Driving stepper motors / schematic comprehension help Adman 03-28-2008
Posted by pogo on March 30, 2008, 4:13 pm
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> Hi all... I'm a software guy trying to learn the ropes of electronics.
>
> I have the goal of controlling a stepper motor using my PC parallel
> port to create +5v control signals. Shouldn't be that hard, right?

Hi there.

Here are 2 great books to get you started:
1) Google for "Parallel Port Complete" and you can see most of the book online.
2) Google for "Controlling The World with Your PC" to see much of it online, too.

These are both old enough to be found in libraries or very cheap online.

also, here's a nice page: http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~ih/doc/par/

Good luck!
JCDeen

Posted by Adman on March 30, 2008, 5:03 pm
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http://electronics-diy.com/electronics/stepper_motors.php

This doesn't look that complicated.... right?

Posted by Wayne C. Gramlich on March 30, 2008, 7:39 pm
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Adman wrote:
> http://electronics-diy.com/electronics/stepper_motors.php
>
> This doesn't look that complicated.... right?

So far, you haven't actually told us what you want to do
with the stepper motor. Stepper motor control can range
from really simple to rather complex depending upon the
application.

For the simple stuff, the key is not to exceed the coil
current for the stepper motor and/or driver circuit.
The stepper motor spec. sheets rarely specify the maximum
coil current. They do specify a nomial voltage and (sometimes)
a coil resistance. If the coil resistance is not specified,
break out a volt/ohm meter and measure it directly. Use Ohm's law
to find maximum current.

Voltage = Current x Resistance

For the drive circuits, some of them have protection diodes
built in and some do not. Make sure that all components in
the drive circuit are rated for the specified current.

For beginners, I recommend using drive circuits that are
designed for driving inductive loads, rather than building
them from individual transistors and diodes. The L293D
has protection diodes built in and comes in a 16-pin DIP
package. The SN754410 is a more modern equivalent for the
L293D. For a higher current, the L298 is good device, but it
needs external protection diodes.

Everything starts from the current requirements of the
stepper motor.

-Wayne

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