alternative pulse/direction signal for a stepper.

[veteq]

Hello guys,

i would like to use a small stepper motor and drive to open and close the cabinet for my mill,

lets say the stepper needs to turn 4 times to open the door off my cabinet.

would there be a way to make a electric device to generate the pulses and direction in a smooth programmeble curve, so the move cann be made.

I would like to control it with a switch that has 2 directions:
open/close the door.

i only see very expensive hyper pulse generators on the www net.

regards,

Roy Bakker

[veteq]

do i need some kind off electric board that is controlled by software?

[jeffs555]

You could build a board to do that, but you would probably have to design it yourself. It would be a simple task for a microcontroller like a PIC or AVR. You could even reprogram something like the PICStep drive to do this. If you don't program microcontrollers or know someone to do it for you it would be difficult.

It would be much easier and cheaper to do this with a small geared DC motor and limit switches for the open and closed position. Here is how you would wire it.

[veteq]

Hello,

Sounds nice to hear it cann be done.

The dc motor can be done but i don`t like the construction, i really want a totaly controlled movement. acc/decc etc.

today i spoke a second with one off my electronic teacher and he said the last course off this year will be about the programming part.

But tell me some more about the system?? ,
So a processor runs on own written software (firmware)???
A view other components complete the elektrical board.
Will the difficulty off this small project be in writing the firmware.

Cann somebody explaine some deeper about the build-up in great lines?


regards,

Roy bakker
Student Automotive engineering
the Netherlands.

[jeffs555]

Roy,
Yes, the only difficulty would be in writing the firmware. It would be a rather simple program, so this would be a good project for learning about microprocessors and programming.

The hardware would be simple. It would be just a small microcontroller, with inputs for the open and close buttons, and outputs for the step and direction signals. Something like this would be all you would need. http://www.olimex.com/dev/avr-p8.html http://www.olimex.com/dev/index.html

The program would have to read the inputs, then set the direction signal, and then generate pulses on the step signal. It would increase and decrease the rate of the step pulses to control the accel/decel and would count the step pulses to know when it had moved enough.

Good luck,

Jeff

[veteq]

would it also be possible to use 4 steppers (2 open / 2 close).

i don`t know wath i`m talking about, but know this one off the thousands off possibbilities off a micro-procesor. This "basic" function i need will be easy for me in about a few months. (hopefull thinking)

Again hands up for the people like Mariss etc that make this complicated **** easy!!! GREX and other elektronics/software

Regards,

Roy

[mcpltd]

If you cant be botherd to design it yourself, there are products that will do it all for you.
The IMS Mdrive is a good start, this is a stepper motor with integrated drive electronics and motion controller.
It can easily be programmed to index a set distance from an input and index back again from another.
you could also add a pot to the rear shaft and use that for absolute movements (No need to home)
All of this for about €250

[veteq]

sounds nice to hear about the controller and drive,

If i don`t make it designing one it will be a good option, but i have enough time to design and since i`m getting lessons on school about the subject in a few weeks, the education and budget will be pleased.

It`s in the end to open a glass frontpanel in two stages,
first horizontal out and than vertical down.
This all thrue a shinny pulleysystem with toothed belt, small duall servo or stepper will do.
both sides of the mill two motors.

Also on the pictures the mill i`m going to produce within say 1 year.


The design is almost finished, Incl. calculation off al the machining proces parameters and thus a valid analyse off strenght in cosmosmotion (SW).

Packiging and layout are optimized for application and good budget.

Application:

milling alu, carbon fibre, mild steel
x/y/z/ 10/4/5
at least up for 10 years problem free intensive hobby on rc cars.
hiwin lineair bearings preloaded and also ground preloaded ballscrews.
Servo driven high speed industrial spindle.
All important surfaces ground and epoxy base.
All thick structurel parts are castiron or castiron surrounded by epoxy.
The design is much further but i dont show everything now.

regards,

Roy Bakker

[veteq]

Hey Jeff,

Is this the setup it will look like.

Or are there other important devices?

Regards,

Roy

[Al_The_Man]

If you want some info on PIC motor applications this is a place to start, includes sample source code etc.
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/id...param=en026676
Al.

[veteq]

Thanks for the site Al(bert),

Wath do you guys think off my design?

The main objective was for the machine is:

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler
--Albert Einstein


Regards,

Roy