The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Stepper Motor Winding Current Rise Time

    Here’s how the stepper drive voltage affects the current rise, using that kludge to sync the scope on one of those motors with L=2.6 mH and R=2.2 Ω. The peak winding current is 1 A, so the first step current-limits at 200 mA.

    At 9 V:

    Current Rise - 9 V 1A 3 RPS
    Current Rise – 9 V 1A 3 RPS

    At 18 V:

    Current Rise - 18 V 1A 3 RPS
    Current Rise – 18 V 1A 3 RPS

    Knowing the rise time and current change, you can calculate the actual voltage across the inductor using:

    VL = L di/dt

    With 9 V drive the motor sees:

    4.4 V = 2.6 mH x 220 mA / 130 us

    With 18 V drive the motor sees:

    14 V = 2.6 mH x 240 mA / 45 us

    So, in round numbers, the driver MOSFETs, winding resistance, and all the crappy solderless breadboard connections soak up about 4 V of the available supply voltage. There’s some back EMF in there, too, but I haven’t measured that part of the puzzle yet.

    The motor is turning at 3 rev/s in 1/8 microstepping mode, so each microstep is:

    200 us = 1/(3 rev/s x 1600 step/rev)