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Recycled Stepper Controller Followup

I have built the stepper controller from recycled parts from the instructable
http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy_To_Build_Stepper_Controller_from_a_Recycled_M/

I really built up the solder on the bottom and doubled some wires to carry alot of current because i didn't know what kind of motors I would be useing in the end.

I haven't tested the controller with a computer, but by running 5v across the connecter pins quickly it did make a stepper turn.

Pay no attention to my terrible soldering skills :-P

31 comments

Apr 17, 2012. 2:15 AM

tgferreira184 says:

can I connect a 24v stepper motor here?

Apr 13, 2012. 4:53 AMgatts says:

Any 1 know the pinouts for fulling 6 wire motors?

Mar 16, 2012. 3:05 PM

tgferreira184 says:

how can I conect a 5 wire stepper motor?

May 22, 2011. 2:20 AMairhead__ says:

may i ask for configs for Turbocnc or EMC2 for this controller.. been searching and trial and erroring for a while now... a screenshot or just anything that can keep me going, will do just fine ;)

Mar 5, 2011. 3:30 AMmangustaimprevedibile says:

Hello everyone, I ask you now sorry for my bad English "are Italian, " I wanted to know if there are other programs that they are running up to govern questotipo windos XP Hardware

thanks in advance :-)
great job :-)

Dec 14, 2009. 8:34 PMLito bambito says:

I cant get the third axis to work, and i seem to be burning out a lot of the uln2003's. How would I add IC's or mofsets to this circuit to run larger motors?

Dec 21, 2009. 8:04 PMzoot686 says:

If you want to use big NPN transistors or mosfets, then you might as well not use the ULN2003's as, in this circuit the ULN2003's ARE the NPN transistors.

If you're still interested though, there's a drawing of how to do that at:
http://www.luberth.com/plotter/TIP120schematic.png

Feb 24, 2011. 6:08 PMRISL says:

VOLTS MANY HAVE TO USE OR CAN BE USED IN THIS DESIGN I SO SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH BUT YOU UNDERSTAND

Feb 26, 2011. 9:42 AMzoot686 says:

I use 1.7amp@12volt D.C. power supply.
My stepper motors rated 0.4amps@12volts D.C.
That is 400 milliamps.
500 milliamps limit for ULN2003 chips.

Feb 21, 2011. 6:16 PMdpsilver says:

hey people this is my little control box that i made but its rather dangerous to use with an unprotected computer

Feb 26, 2011. 9:19 AMzoot686 says:

That's a better looking setup then my generic tupperware case from the dollar store. *grins*
Mine already has a about a zillion tiny blue steel chips embedded in the plastic from using it to run my lathe.

Jan 18, 2011. 6:02 PM

mgriff says:

dpsilver is there anyway to give me a call i would like to have a chat with you as i am trying to make a cnc hot foam cutter for my sisters birthday if you email me at mag200181@gmail.com I will give you my number, hope to hear from you soon.

thanks
mike

Feb 14, 2011. 6:43 PMdpsilver says:

mike i sent the email form my yahoo address and included my hotmail address it might suit me better to call u from my computer since i have no idea what the international rates are like to call u from my little island jamaica

Feb 12, 2010. 1:49 AMwillie19a says:

Could i use a stepper motor for the drill motor? How would i go about adding a fourth motor(drill/milling motor) and can turbocnc control the pace of this motor. does this set up allow you to control each motor individually? its just that i want a 3 axis cnc machine but i also want the drill to be computer controlled, so i can change the speed settings for different materials/different sized milling tools.

Feb 20, 2010. 7:07 PMdpsilver says:

well you are going to need more than one parallel port to control the drill motor with turbo cnc and a normal motor can be use but you have to make an ESC control circuit and i have no idea how to wire that up to turbo

Feb 22, 2010. 2:45 PMwillie19a says:

know how the uln2003a ic's are capable of 0.5a. does that mean that my motor has to be at most 0.5a? alo, could i run 2 exact same motors off 1 uln2003a if i wanted them to run at the same time?

Feb 22, 2010. 5:04 PMdpsilver says:

no but you can run all three off of 2 chips you just need to connect the wire like this sorry about the horrible quality but the wiring is the same just use the loose pins on each uln chip
i hope at least the diagram can help a little

Feb 26, 2010. 11:48 PM

hondaman900 says:

Do you have a higher-res version of this diagram? I can't read it - too small.

Feb 27, 2010. 6:51 PMdpsilver says:

sorry about the other picture anyway in this one you will connect the wires in the places they normally go
just tell me if you need more info on this

Feb 11, 2011. 8:08 PMbalak95 says:

does this improve upon how much current we will be able to use because i need to get up to 1.2amp

Feb 14, 2011. 5:33 PMdpsilver says:

No what u can do is use the signals from the uln chip to operate relays using this method u will not have to worry about max current

Feb 27, 2010. 8:20 PM

hondaman900 says:

Excellent. Thank you. Do you have pin numbers for the connections to the parallel port?

Mar 1, 2010. 1:06 PMdpsilver says:

the wires on the left side that goes to the parallel port goes in thes order from top to bottom 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1,14,16 and 17 like in the diagram above

Jul 29, 2009. 9:32 PMLito bambito says:

What kind of motors are you using / how much power can the uln2003's take with this controller design? and will programs other than turbocnc work with it? Thanks in advance for any help

Dec 14, 2009. 6:33 PMzoot686 says:

This won't work with MACH3 because MACH3 only supports the step/direction schema......this driver uses the phase drive schema.

The third axis should work, as pins 1,14,16, and 17 can be either input or output pins, as they're defined as "control pins"

the ULN2003 handles a maximum of 500ma per phase.....check the data sheet.............

I think it's a great circuit myself.....

Mar 19, 2010. 12:17 AM

hondaman900 says:

Can Kcam support phase drive?

Sep 18, 2009. 3:18 AMflemron says:

Does the 3rd axis work?

Feb 20, 2010. 7:08 PMdpsilver says:

yup i can confirm that the 3rd axis works with no problem

Nov 17, 2009. 1:07 PMydeardorff says:

what are the specs of the stepper motors in the scanners?
Next what power source to use, how to hook up the motors to the circuit, and last, why wont this work with Mach3 software? Why only, turbocnc?

Jan 30, 2010. 8:26 PMdpsilver says:

i think the rreason why only turbocnc will work is because it will work in dos which wont affect the accuracy of each step
as for the scanner stepper motors look at there model sheet on the side u will see the company that makes it and its model number enter these in google and bingo but be warned u might not understand it
trust its complicated

Dec 22, 2009. 3:11 AMjessedev says:

Soon I will post photos of this pcb that I have etched.

Srry for my bad English, I'm Dutch...