I`ve managed to complete the first phase of my motion-controlled photography rig: setting up a pair of bipolar stepper motor controllers. This is the most important non-mechanical part of the project, as without control of motors there can be no awesome-tastic motion. I went over some preliminary planning in my first MoCo-related post, but
Click here to download the full size of the above Circuit.
I`ll go through my list of materials again as well as the general process of building and operating the controller in this post. And if you need a refresher on stepper motors well blah. To start out, I purchased an L298N dual full bridge motor driver. Another option would be to use an SN7544 H-Bridge, as demonstrated on the Arduino site. However, I couldn`t find a wiring schematic for that particular implementation that included back-EMF protection diodes. Regardless, both IC`s are designed to power inductive loads (like a motor) and allow you to do bi-directional rotation on a DC motor, or control a stepper motor. The only problem with the L298N is that it comes in a 15-lead Multiwatt package, aka something you can`t plug into a breadboard. Sparkfun sells a breakout board for $3 intended specifically for this IC but that costs more than the chip itself, so I opted to skip it and work out my own ridiculous wiring methodology. The L298N functions basically as such: It has 4 inputs and 4 outputs. Each input corresponds to an output, and by powering these pins in a specific sequence, you can advance a stepper motor (see Wikipedia picture below). There are variations on the 1-2-3-4 stepping scheme, like 12-23-34-41, that increase torque by engaging more coils of the motor but they complicate the wiring and also the control. Apparently one drawback is that it does not guarantee absolute position as well as the 1-2-3-4 scheme...
This project fits more for custom made battery casing that can have more space to hide things inside. This switch with few alterations can be used for any other project as well but is designed based on e-bike needs! This project use a clever functionality of....
The circuit described here uses ultrasonic oscillations and operates based on the propagation velocity of these oscillations in the air. Thus, we can easily determine the distance of two points if the time within which the wave travels this distance is....
Sometimes the precious metals are hidden too deep and are not detected except with complicated devices. In many cases, however, small pieces of precious metal buried near the surface can be detected by relatively simple means. Everyone is very attractive to....
Many times for various reasons we forget or can not water the plants that we have in our homes. And many humidity sensors units just notify us with a beeping sound or with a flashing light, that the pot needs watering. But what if we are away from home? This....
The principle behind a metal detector is really very simple. Proof of this is the circuit that follows, in which it proves that the construction of a metal detector can be done in the minute, with few components that we find very easily everywhere. With the....
The sub-harmonic bass generator is a sound producing unit for guitars. The sound it produces looks very much like that of the bass guitar. The octave generator is sometimes quite unusual since it does not produce any of the usual ways of coloring the sound,....
In the past the sounding (sea bottom measurement) was done with the "bullet", that is, with a heavy lead object that the seamen plucked into the sea hung from a calibrated rope. As soon as the "bullet" reached the bottom, the depth appeared directly from the....
This Amplifier was designed to have the following specifications: Distortion less than 0.1% at full power of 100W even at 20KHz. Power has to be attributed to an extended bandwidth. The output transistors must be protected against short circuits. The power....
A series of LEDs serve to alert the gardener when plants need water. Using two conventional digital integrated LEDs and a series of LEDs, we make a very useful device for gardening. The device detects the amount of water in the pot and alerts the grower.....
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