Greg, that idea also crossed my mind. Did you find out how much electronics is needed to condition the signal for detection by a microcontroller. If not much, then it is a very cheap way of making an encoder. One stepper, preferrably small (free), one PIC/AVR or whatever ($2-3), 2 opamps, 4 diodes and a few resistors? A stepper from a 3,5" floppy is small enough for fitting into a handy enclosure.
I will need such a device, so if you have experience on what goes between the stepper and MCU, please share it with us. I can teach a ATtiny15 to convert to step/dir outputs. It doesn't even need a crystal/ceramic resonator, and can drive an opto input directly. |