X2 Mini Mill Power Feed

Stieglitz · Mar 10, 2015

Hi, is there anyway of controlling a stepper motor via a potentiometer.As yet I have limited knowledge of these motors.Any advise most welcome.
Cheers.

RonGinger · Mar 10, 2015

Not directly, but its not hard. You need some kind of pulse generator. A simple circuit with 555 timer IC will do it. I think there are a couple kits available for just a few dollars, ask Google. Its also very easy with an arduino, but that is kind of overkill.

I just finished a power feed for the Z axis of my Grizzly G0704 mill. I used an arduino and have a push button for up and down. I also have a push button that sets a limit position so the motor will not run past that point.

davidl · Mar 10, 2015

Griffin said:
David

Can I ask how you powered your stepper motor and what program you used to make it move, this was the part that I had the most trouble with, of late I've been messing with powering the X axis, I don't think the Y axis is going to be a problem as it should take a stepper straight onto the back, heaven only knows if I can manage to adapt the Arduino to run all three steppers though.
Mark

Griffin,
I did not use a program. The motor was powered by a stepper motor drive board . I added a pulse generator to provide the clock pulse and switches provided voltage to the "enable" terminal and earthing to the "direction" terminal. The driver and pulse generator were bought on eBay. I include a couple of pics. One day I might get to and build a proper CNC unit. Currently I'm just happy not to have keep cranking handles.
Cheers