Comments: Getting Started with the AutoDriver

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  • Member #718660 / about 9 years ago / 1

    Hi all,

    These few days I have been testing the autodriver with this stepper motor (Stepper Motor - 125 oz.in (200 steps/rev)), rated for 3V and 2A per phase. The power is supplied by a 12V lead-acid battery. When I try to ramp it up beyond maybe 600 steps/s (full) the stepper seems to exhibit some de-syncing behavior.

    In a related note, I have also tried to drive the same stepper with a quadstepper board power with a 12V lead-acid battery. When I try to dial the current limit up on the potentiometer all the way up (max current limit) the stepper will start to shuttle. At this point the current fluctuates to and fro to a max of about 2A. When I turn down the current limit to about 0.5A the stepper behaves properly. I was wondering was this due to a thermal shutdown issue (although I have stuck on a small heat sink).

    Anyone has any idea how to remedy this?

    Thanks you...

    • Member #753699 / about 8 years ago / 1

      Hi,

      I just encounterd the same issue today. I need a high holding torque but as soon as the current gets to high the motor shuttles. Could you solve your issue, and if please let me know how you fixed it.

      thanks in advance

      regards

      mat

  • Member #656002 / about 9 years ago / 1

    Could someone clarify the section Connecting the Power Supply?

    It says "All you need is a four pieces of hookup wire with bared ends. Here’s a picture of the power connections all wired up:" But it doesn't show where those 4 cables go to. My power supply only has two outputs, +/-, so what are the other hook up wires for?

  • dracovial / about 9 years ago / 1

    Hey a few questions about the Getting Started with Auto Driver tutorial.

    1) It does not mention which pin on the red board to connect the second boards chip select pin ? 2) In the setup() and loop() section of the code, the code uses pin 10 and 9 for CS, and pin 6 for Reset … AutoDriver boardA(10, 6); AutoDriver boardB(9, 6); But the Tutorial does not hookup pin 6 to the red board? 3) Also are pins 10 and 9 the correct values for CS? and the last question: 4) Regarding Q3, in the Arduino sketch image pin 9 is not even hooked up, and pin 10 has a yellow wire going to the 6 pin ribbon cable on the breadboard, and seems to coincide with the green wire on that rainbow cable.

    Thanks!

    • turbclnt / about 9 years ago / 1

      Did this ever get checked out? I'm scratching my head a bit as well on board design. If these are working on SPI, then the code looks correct to me as well, but then I don't understand why there are headers for chaining the control pins since you would be unable to use a separate line for chip select.

      • turbclnt / about 9 years ago / 1

        Never mind - I found it - lots of wires to trace, and I missed the little added CS connector above the 6 pin ribbon cable connection.

    • SFUptownMaker / about 9 years ago / 1

      Chip select is defined at instantiation time. When you create an AutoDriver object, you tell it what pin to use for chip select, what pin to use for reset, and (optionally) what pin to use for busy/ready.

      I'll review the pics and drawings and see if I can get them fixed. It's not as easy as it sounds, I'm afraid.

  • Eide / about 11 years ago / 1

    Anyone using this as the basis for a CNC type setup? I'm not there yet, still gathering parts and pieces but hope to have something soon.


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