ramps 1.4 and external stepper driver
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:52 am
Hi all and thanks in adv for any help is appreciated.
I got an arduino mega and ramps board (wanted to start off cheep so when I cook it I wont feel bad. I will end up with a rambo or aligator) It is my understanding that the poloul driver clones (A4988) that it came with will operate at 12v and max at 2A. My stepper motors are Vexta/Oriental motor CSK266-at. They are rated at 5v and 2A so I dont think I can use the A4988 drivers. Lucky I have the drivers that came with the steppers (CSD2120-t) that are 24v or 36v input and 5v, 2A output. Sadly they only support full step or half step settings via jumper. But for now I was hoping it would all work.
So thats the electronics and here are the questions.
1. it looks like the ramps/arduino is providing a common ground and VDD to the board and then switching one pin HIGH/LOW fro the step and dir. From what I gather on this diagram.
[img]http://www.neverenoughlight.com/Forums/ ... driver.jpg[/img]
My stepper driver has separate + and - inputs for each input pair. If I understand correctly I should be able to use ground from the ramps 1.4 to all the - and the single pins on the ramps form "step" to "Pulse /CW" and "DIR" to "DIR/CCW" in the positive leads. Or is that backwards? Or am I missing something important ? I don't want to fry anything.
[img]http://www.neverenoughlight.com/Forums/csd2120-t.JPG[/img]
2. I intend to use Repetier firmware on the arduino for this. Where do I set the pulse frequency for the driver. It looks like it needs a pulse of 5 micro seconds min. If i understand Repetier correctly that is a firmware setting and not a hardware thing. If I understand it correctly I have to tell Repetier that I'm using half steps to right?
[img]http://www.neverenoughlight.com/Forums/ ... SD2120.JPG[/img]
Sorry for asking stupid questions Its been more than 15 years sense I took my last electronics class and I didn't do that well.
I hope some of what I am asking makes sense to someone.
Again thanks for the help
Cheers
I got an arduino mega and ramps board (wanted to start off cheep so when I cook it I wont feel bad. I will end up with a rambo or aligator) It is my understanding that the poloul driver clones (A4988) that it came with will operate at 12v and max at 2A. My stepper motors are Vexta/Oriental motor CSK266-at. They are rated at 5v and 2A so I dont think I can use the A4988 drivers. Lucky I have the drivers that came with the steppers (CSD2120-t) that are 24v or 36v input and 5v, 2A output. Sadly they only support full step or half step settings via jumper. But for now I was hoping it would all work.
So thats the electronics and here are the questions.
1. it looks like the ramps/arduino is providing a common ground and VDD to the board and then switching one pin HIGH/LOW fro the step and dir. From what I gather on this diagram.
[img]http://www.neverenoughlight.com/Forums/ ... driver.jpg[/img]
My stepper driver has separate + and - inputs for each input pair. If I understand correctly I should be able to use ground from the ramps 1.4 to all the - and the single pins on the ramps form "step" to "Pulse /CW" and "DIR" to "DIR/CCW" in the positive leads. Or is that backwards? Or am I missing something important ? I don't want to fry anything.
[img]http://www.neverenoughlight.com/Forums/csd2120-t.JPG[/img]
2. I intend to use Repetier firmware on the arduino for this. Where do I set the pulse frequency for the driver. It looks like it needs a pulse of 5 micro seconds min. If i understand Repetier correctly that is a firmware setting and not a hardware thing. If I understand it correctly I have to tell Repetier that I'm using half steps to right?
[img]http://www.neverenoughlight.com/Forums/ ... SD2120.JPG[/img]
Sorry for asking stupid questions Its been more than 15 years sense I took my last electronics class and I didn't do that well.
I hope some of what I am asking makes sense to someone.
Again thanks for the help
Cheers