Stepper Motor Vibrating in DIY CNC Printer or Writing Machine

Lynxmotion Electronics & Software
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1

I am trying to make a CNC Plotter (you can also call it Writing Machine)… In a tutorial on intructables.com they have used

  1. Arduino UNO
  2. 2* Stepper Motors from DVD Drives
  3. Mini Servo Motor
  4. Jumper Wires
  5. 2* L293D ICs (Remember: This is not L293D Motor Driver Shield…It is just a small IC)
  6. Breadboard

Parts mentioned in first four are found in almost every tutorial on YouTube as well, but, in this tutorial they have used two L293D ICs instead of the L293D Motor Driver Shield and used a bread board for connecting all the parts…

They also cut the USB wire and attached another wire to increase amperes but I did not do so…This is how they did it… Image Link: https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FVF/FAZG/IHQMAMCP/FVFFAZGIHQMAMCP.jpg

The issue is that…

… One of the two stepper motors is vibrating very much but there is no movement…

…I told someone about this issue and they recommended me to add an external power supply (not to connect in the DC power jack of Arduino UNO)… I would like to know according to the circuit diagram of my project where should I connect the power supply?

… I have 2* 3.7V 18650 cells which means a total of 7.4V… Would that be enough?

… I also have a 9V 2A Adapter for Modem… Should I use this?

…And most important… Is power supply REALLY the solution for this vibration of stepper Motor?

Link:https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Mini-CNC-Plotter-Machine-from-dvd-drives/

CNC%20Writing%20Machine%20Circuit%20Diagram
CNC%20Writing%20Machine%20Circuit%20Diagram960×516 107 KB

2

Hi,

What are you using exactly right now to power the Arduino and the stepper motors?
Are you using the 5V from the Arduino port to power the motors?

1 Like
3

Yes I am using the default 5V which is coming from the data cable of Arduino UNO…image

4

The issue you are experiencing in this case is due to the lack of current.
A standard USB port can supply a maximum of 500mA.
This is probably not enough with the setup you have.

I’d suggest you to verify how many current your motors, servos and such draws.
You can then use an external power supply to power the setup and the arduino, using the VIN pin.

2 Likes
5

OK! Thanks a lot for helping me out…

Would like to know that…
…how to verify how many currents I need?

6

You can take a look at the stepper motor specifications, it should specify a rated current.
Use that value and add the rated current for the Arduino and the servo.

Then, to be safe, you can multiply that result by 1.5 or 2 to make sure it will handle burst current.

1 Like
7

Actually (as also mentioned in the tutorial) I am using stepper motor from old DVD Drivers… So I don’t have any detailed specification of the inner parts of the DVD Drivers…

8

There should be a part number on the stepper motor.

You can use that to find a spec sheet on google.

1 Like