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 12bit resolution, so the shaft position can be tracked in steps of 1/4096, this corresponds to a resolution of 0.088 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 with a sample frequency as high as 6.6kHz.
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-Lite uses a TMC2208 Driver. This isn’t the most powerful chip in the world, however it provides superb noiseless and smoother operation. The TMC2208 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 6.5-12V
- Integrated TMC2208 stepper driver. Up to 2A Peak.
- Stepper driver temperature monitoring.
- 12bit magnetic rotary encoder.
HARDWARE SPECIFICATION
- Microcontroller: ATmega328P (16 MHz clock speed)
- Input voltage: 6.5-12V
- I/O: 5V
- Digital I/O pins: 15 (7 of which provide PWM capability)
- Analog I/O pins: 6
- Up to 2A stepper drive current, potentiometer adjustable.
- Up to 256 x Microstepping (Interpolated)
- 12-bit rotary encoder resolution
WHAT IS INCLUDED
- uStepper S-Lite Controller Board
- NEMA17 Fixed Mounting Hardware (For a 62oz NEMA17 Stepper Motor only)
- (Optional) NEMA23 Stepper Mounting Bracket
uStepper has two input power connectors options, either a mounted DC Jack, or mounted Screw Terminal.
Magnetic mount for any size NEMA17 Stepper Motor can be purchased here: uStepper Magnetic Mount
Stepper Motors can be bought here: Stepper Motors