Control of 3+ stepper motors: extension of SPI / PWM / Custom solutions

Archive
1

Hello everybody.

I’m looking for a possibility to manage 4 stepper motors simultaneously.
Thanks to GHI there is a Stepper L6470 Module (SPI).

But as I can see, there is no any main-board with more than two SPI ports. Also I did not find any extension module that can provide more additional SPI interfaces.

By reading the forum I found that there is a possibility somehow use PWM output for controlling the stepper motor. It was a piece of code but no any circuit schema.

Another question is a stepper motor type (model). I’ve investigated many tech papers but did not find range of voltage and circuit for connecting to L6470 module or PWM output (if it possible).

So there are questions:

  1. How to connect more than two stepper motors to the any mainboard?
  2. Is there any issues with threads in .net micro Framework? I meaning I would like to turn all the code that supports stepper engines into separate parallel threads.
  3. Can you please give me a links to the stepper motors that can be controlled by L6470 or PWM output.

Thank you!

PS: I have enough experience with .net framework but I’m novice in .net micro framework and constructing of hardware. So any help is welcome.

2

Welcome!

Use Justin’s SPI hub
https://www.ghielectronics.com/community/creations/entry/10

it was created exactly for that reason.

1 Like
3

Thank you very much guys.

Seems SPI solution is clear. Thank you for code sample (andre) and module (architect).

There is only question still ahead:

  1. How to select stepping motor?

In my solution I have to turn caret back and forward (like printing head of the inkjet printer) using screw drive. Caret is not heavy: about 150-200 grams. If you have experience with stepping motors - please help me with selection of such motor for my purposes. I need just example (link) to motor that should work correctly with L6470 Module.

Thank you!

PS: Thanks a lot for valuable answers.

4

Google for Mendel 3D printer. On their wiki somewhere they have info on different stepper motors.

1 Like
5

Ok. Thank you all!
Seems I found all I need.