ROTARY ENCODER
A neodymium magnet attached to the back of the motor shaft, with a magnetic encoder chip, allow for north/south pole tracking of the magnet. With this information, the angle of the stepper motor shaft can be determined. The encoder has a 16bit resolution, so the shaft position can be tracked in steps of 1/65454, this corresponds to a resolution of 0.0055 degrees. Because the magnet and encoder chips are fixed, the measured shaft angle will not be reset during power cycles. This enables the uStepper controller to have the ability to perform closed loop regulation of the stepper motor position.
Many applications use RC Servos for their actuators, uStepper with it’s rotary encoder can replace RC Servos with no mechanical wear that can effect the measured position.
PERIPHERALS
STEPPER DRIVER CHIP
The uStepper S uses a TMC5130 Driver. It provides superb noiseless and smoother operation. The TMC5130 has a massive 1/256 microstepping with interpolation. This will significantly reduce any resonance generated by the stepper motors and insure the smoothest possible operation.
FEATURES
- Compact design, NEMA17 and NEMA23 Mountable.
- Arduino compatible, programmable using an Arduino IDE.
- USB Interface.
- Voltage supply 8-42V
- Integrated TMC5130 stepper driver. Up to 2.5A Peak.
- Stepper driver temperature monitoring.
- 16bit magnetic rotary encoder.
HARDWARE SPECIFICATION
- Microcontroller: ATmega328P (16 MHz clock speed)
- Input voltage: 8-42V
- I/O: 5V
- Digital I/O pins: 12 (5 of which provide PWM capability)
- Analog I/O pins: 3
- Up to 2.5A stepper drive current, potentiometer adjustable.
- Up to 256 x Microstepping (Interpolated)
- 16-bit rotary encoder resolution
WHAT IS INCLUDED
- uStepper S Controller Board
- NEMA17 Mounting Hardware
- Neodymium Magnet with bracket
- (Optional) NEMA23 Stepper Mounting Bracket
uStepper has two input power connectors options, either a mounted DC Jack, or mounted Screw Terminal.
Stepper Motors can be bought here: Stepper Motors