usb6008 stepper motor control

[newbie09]

Hello,

I am loooking to use a USB6008 to control the direction and the enable for 3 stepper motors. How should the wires from the usb6008 be incorporated into the wiring circuit for the stepper motors. At the moment the stepper motors are powered using an external 24v supply, with a 5v supply for the pulse, and incorporating 3 solid state relays. Also looking for the usb 6008 to record the number of pulses by each motor.

Thanks in Advance

Newbie 09

[ben64]

You should detail a bit more what your trying to do and for what kind of application. Are your steppers 2-phases, unipolar, bipolar? Basically to control a stepper you need a controller that generate the pulse, direction and enable signals and a driver that generate the sequence for the stepper phases and amplify the pulses. I don't see the point in using the USB6008 just for the direction and enable signals. Why don't you use a 4-axis controller and drivers? Alternately for a very basic low cost application you could use the USB6008 to generate the pulse, direction and enable signals and build you own custom driver using ICs like the L297 and L298N. Also note that there is only one counter on the USB6008.

Ben

[newbie09]

Ben , thanks for your interest. The application is an automated panoramic tripod head. two motors are powering the xy table and one turning the rotation motor. I am using astrosyn P402 motors drivers, with astrosyn MY5602 stepper motors. I have made a a circutr board which generates the signal, and at the moment i have 6 toggle switches one for direction and enable for each of the motor. I am hoping to activate, and control each of the motors through the USB6008. I inherited this project as part of college, and i didn't spec the USB6008 myself. Is the USB6008 suitable for this application? Does the fact that the USB6008 only has one counter mean that i will only be able to judge the position of one motor? I have no idea how integrate the USB6008 with the existing circuit? any ideas greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Peter

[RavensFan]

If you have a motor controller already with hardware toggle switches, then you don't need to worry about pulses or counters.  All you need to do is to get the digital outputs of the USB-6008 to drive a relay, one relay to replace each of the 6 toggle switches you have now.  How are you determining the position of the motors now?  Do the P402 motor drivers have any sort of serial interface you can communicate with instead?

[newbie09]

THe P402 drivers have Pulse, Direction, Common, and Enable ports for inputs, and then DC voltage +-, Phase A +-, Phase B+-, outputs. I am planning to determine the position of the motors along trhe xy axis, is by energising limit switches, to determine the home postion of the motors, and then to move forward along the axis the required distance by counting the pulses. is the USB6008 capable to count the number of pulses in each motor? What type of relay would be suitable to replace the toggle switches?

Rgds

Peter

[newbie09]

Just boosting this up.... in a bad way ... any info greatly appreciated!!