How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

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AlexNadal

Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 25
Helped: 1

13 Feb 2007 11:54 kumko motor 49 info

Hi! I have to control 6 stepper motor, each motor have 4-phase therefore I have to use 4 bits of a PIC to control each one, so I will use 3 ports of my micro and I still need 2 more ports to other things.

How do you recommend me? what chips will you use?! what PICS will you use?

Thanks

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dkace

Joined: 13 Jun 2002
Posts: 365
Helped: 24
Location: Greece

13 Feb 2007 12:49 stepper motor multiplexing

Chec the 877 or 876. They have enough I/O pins ( two 8bit at least) that will address your problem.
D.

cancel

Joined: 27 May 2001
Posts: 286
Helped: 11

13 Feb 2007 14:17 stepper motor control pic

use shift register or other "port expander"
or use ic for stepper motors e.g. from alegro.
then you need just 2 wires (direction, step)

nomad13

Joined: 29 Jan 2007
Posts: 154
Helped: 12

14 Feb 2007 3:18 multiplexing stepper motors

It is probably better to use stepper motor driver ic/circuit because it solved the timing problem. Definitely timing will be your problem because some stepper motor requires different clock from the other. If you can use a different clock source for every motor then it is better.

az25

Joined: 18 May 2001
Posts: 59
Location: USA

14 Feb 2007 5:42 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

Use PIC16F84a if needed, go to www.microchip.com to download the datasheet for it

nguyennam

Joined: 06 Sep 2006
Posts: 459
Helped: 28

14 Feb 2007 6:14 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

Agree with az25, you can use PIC16F84A, the most popular PIC with reasonable price, to control your 6 stepper motors via motor drivers. You also can multiplex the input - output functions at port pins so you need no 4-port PIC!!!

nguyennam

AlexNadal

Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 25
Helped: 1

14 Feb 2007 9:49 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

Well using stepper motor drivers ar not a very good idea, thought, becouse they are so expensive, at least in Spain, and also still have to use 3-bit for each motor (enable,direction,step).

Multiplex the input was also one of my ideas using before the motors a latch or insted of multiplex the input use a small pic to drive the motor, but of course it complicate the programation of the PIC.

Thanks for all!

msadek_eng

Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 123
Helped: 5

15 Feb 2007 11:38 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

simply you need a pic of atleast 3*6 = 18 pin if there is no more I/O's
try PIC16f876

AlexNadal

Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 25
Helped: 1

19 Feb 2007 9:24 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

well, that was my first idea, but at the end I will use 2 pics to control the motors and an other one that will be the "brain", the key thing is that I will use SPI interface to connect the differents PIC.

The main problem is tha I need many I/O.

Thanks for all !!

msadek_eng

Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 123
Helped: 5

01 Mar 2007 14:33 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

if you need extra IO's use 74HC595 shift register with latch for Output and 74HC164 for inputs

ldanielrosa

Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 71
Helped: 6

03 Mar 2007 20:49 How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

Since you are asking, I recommend the '877. This will give you 24 I/O for the steppers alone, and I2C SPI or USART for communication. You will also have some ADC inputs available for power monitoring.

There are some questions I still have though. What is the maximum speed you will want for the motors? This may determine whether all the motors can be controlled by one chip.

steve_rb

Joined: 17 Feb 2004
Posts: 64

04 Mar 2007 5:09 How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

After all these you will end up with a step motor driver. Why not spend some money and purchse driver and put your time on other issues. This is if you don't want to design a step motor driver of course but if you do the way is what our friend posted so far.

Regards

Beowolf

Joined: 19 Jun 2006
Posts: 135
Helped: 7

04 Mar 2007 10:36 How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

steve_rb has a point.. Where I live, you can purchase driver IC from just 3€, and it can directly drive .5 A motor coil. 16F877A costs 5-6€, plus you need external FETs to drive the motor.

But if you insist on building your own, here are some guidelines for you:

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vsmGuy

Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 489
Helped: 28

05 Mar 2007 2:07 How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

Any SCH + PCB + Code to turn a PIC into a Bipolar stepper driver with half stepping ?

akvii

Joined: 04 Nov 2006
Posts: 47
Helped: 2

08 Mar 2007 13:08 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

yaar use ucn5804 , it wil make ur task as easy as u can imagine
werna lund per char

AlexNadal

Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 25
Helped: 1

14 Mar 2007 9:26 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

Well is not that easy, each motor stepper driver cost at least 4€ plus the external FET´s couse my motors use 1,5 Amp. The easiest (for me) way is to control them by 2 micros, are cheaper and smaller. Don´t know exactly what to use if a ´877 or a couple of ´818.

The velocity is not a problem, I want to drive a robotic arm so it wouldn´t go very fast, and also with a couple of ´818 will drive two motors at the same time or I can program the PIC to alternate the steps betwen the motors.

vsmGuy

Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 489
Helped: 28

14 Mar 2007 18:07 How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

@akvii

I want to use PIC to implement a Bipolar stepper driver with half stepping.

Laand pe chaar ho to kya, humko koi matlab nahi...

Adnan Tanveer

Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 12

01 Mar 2008 21:25 Re: How can I control 6 stepper motor with a PIC?

USE PIC16F84A, DEFINETELLY YOU HAVE TO DO MULTIPLEXING IN ORDER TO CONTROL 6 MOTORS, USING MORE PICS IS JUST INCREASING YOUR EXPENDITURES AND THATS NOT A GOOD THING. A GOOD ENGINEER IS ONE WHO MAKES THE COST EFFECTIVE THING. DEAR IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO MULTIPLEXING THEN LET ME KNOW, I WILL SEND U A MANUAL WHICH WILL GIVE YOU THE CODE OF MULTIPLEXING, BUT FOR THE TIME BEING TRY TO DO YOURSELF BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE A GOOD EXPERIENCE IF U TRY IT YOURSLEF