Stepper Motor Drivers

So, you have a motor and a microcontroller. How do you make the motor go? You need a stepper driver.

RMS Technologies has some nicely priced stepper drivers:

Their R208 is a basic driver for $90. Their F101 is a smart driver (RS485) for $130.

After reviewing the different drivers discussed here, I was naturally attracted to the cheapest (the EZinch board below, for $70). but then I noticed that the R208 comes with the necessary connectors with pigtail wires and that the R208 is optically isolated AND comes in a nice little metal box, not just a loose circuit board, so you definitely get your moneys worth. I ordered an R208, I'll tell you more when I get it.

Pololu robotics and electronics sells all kinds of stuff, including motor drivers, at attractive prices.

EAS Electronics sells circuit boards and programmed PIC chips to help you build a stepper controller. Their controller is based on the National Semiconductor LMD18245 full bridge motor driver.

StepperWorld along with having lots of background information about stepper motors, also has some nice drivers. In particular their FET3 is a 3 axis unipolar driver for $99 (on sale in 9-2011).

All motion sells in nice little 1x1 inch driver module for only $69 that they call the "ezinch" - it uses FETs. It takes power from 12 to 30 volts.

Applied Motion Products has some fancy (and expensive) stepper driver products. (Their 3540M is a recommended microstepping driver.)

Building your own

There are many circuits available online. I got my hands on some L298N driver chips (a dual H-bridge), and have collected some notes on the L298 chip.

Links and information


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Tom's Computer Info / tom@mmto.org