4 Axis Unipolar Stepper control...

[zip_256]

Hello. I am currently working on a project involving four vexta unipolar stepping motors. They are rated at 0.8A and 6VDC. I need to build a motor controller for these and I was wondering if my idea is plausible. I plan on using 8 MOSFETS for my power switching hooked up to the LPT1 port of my laptop. Four of the mosfets would work to enable the desired motor power, while the other 4 would be a general interface to send the correct sequence. The program I am writing would continually switch from reverse to forward sequence, but it would only enable the particular motor whenever it was needed. Does this sound possible?

Thanks...
zip

 

[marcello100]

i do have a circuit diagram somewhere ....it controlls 4 stepper motors via a parallel port ....if your interested in this diagram e-mail me marcelhot@hotmail.com

 

[philba]

for unipolar, you will need 4 mosfets per stepper. there are lots of designs on the internet. google for stepper unipolar circuit

since you seem to be a little new at this, read this overview - https://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Hi Zip,

I know what you mean. I thought about doing the same thing as my steppers didn't need to stay powered after I moved them. I thought about wiring the windings in parallel and switching the high-side or 'source' to the individual motors but somehow I felt it wouldn't work (have you ever wired two steppers in parallel? It's almost magical how moving one will move the other. Grin).

Mike