4-Axis Stepper Motor Driver with Sensor Inputs and Ethernet Connectivity for Creative Motion-based Applications

Published  September 28, 2020   0
STEP400 4-Axis Stepper Motor Driver

STEP400 is a 4-axis stepper motor driver designed around the Microchip SAM D21 Motor Driver IC. This new motor driver board provides a simple and creative coding environment to generate motion. The package comes with an Arduino Zero, Ethernet shield, sensor inputs for homing and limiting, and four stepper motor drivers placed together on one PCB board.

Features & Specifications

  • MCU: Microchip ATSAMD21G18A
  • Ethernet controller: Wiznet W5500
  • Stepper driver: STMicroelectronics PowerSTEP01
  • DC-DC converter: ROHM BD9G341AEFJ
  • Axes: 4
  • Applicable motor: Bi-polar stepper motor
  • Input voltage: 12-72 V
  • Maximum phase current: 5 A (under ideal conditions)
  • Power input terminal: M3 screw terminal
  • Stepper output terminal: 3.81 mm euro-style terminal block
  • Sensor input terminal: 8 JST XA (B03B-XASK-1)

Without the help of STMicroelectronics PowerSTEP01 driver chips, the STEP400 can drive 4 motors from tiny to high power motor at the same time. The new driver works well with Open Sound Control (OSC), a common protocol for a creative coding environment. The device can operate in two drive modes, a smooth and accurate voltage mode and a powerful current mode.  

The device also has an open-loop servo mode to target position stream in real-time. With the help of a simple configuration tool, a readable JSON file can be generated and it can be loaded in a microSD card. The Ethernet connectivity of the device makes it easily scalable.