I am looking to build a controller to drive and xy stage with stepper motors. I think with an arduino
The motors are 8.6v 1A bipolar 1.8’ degree/step Vexta motors.
tavel is 20" x 20" and there are limits switches in place already that I want to use. I would like to microstep the motors.
I also have a z axis and a rotary unit on that z as well.
I am looking for;
what driver(s)
what is a good power supply - can I use 1 or do I use individuals ?
analog joysticks - maybe a game controller would make a lot of sense
I have done some arduino tinkering and think I can figure this out. do you know of a company that would build a package like this for me ?
are there prebuilt systems similar to this that don’t cost an arm and a leg ? I found one but was $4,000
Hi,
First, you can find stepper motor controllers here. One of the simplest boards we have for Arduino is the RB-Oel-31 which can control 2 stepper motors in a shield format. One problem is that they can only provide 0.6 A per bridge (1.2 A peak), which may not be enough depending on how much load is on your motors (since they are rated for 1 A). A slightly more powerful controller would be the RB-Dfr-539. According to the manufacturer, this one can provide 1.6 A (continuous), which should be more than enough. Here is an example of how it should be wired.
The power supply to be used depends on the combination of your steppers and motor controller. In this case, your motors are rated for 8.6 V DC and the motor controller supports 8.2 - 45 V DC. Therefore, a 9-12 V DC power source with sufficient current should work well, such as those available here. You may want a bit more current than what is required, so something like the RB-Pol-198 should do the trick.
You can find Arduino-compatible microcontroller boards here. As for joysticks, a quick search shows these.
We do not know either of a reasonably priced product of this kind, since it most likely requires customization for each use case. Of course, getting it custom made would be far more expensive than its base cost.
Sincerely,
