Five Phase Stepper Motor -- I need to find a Driver

I have just purchased this superb mechanism from a fellow microscopist, who saved it from the Skip !!

For very good reasons, it has a Five Phase [ten wire] Stepper Motor; so I now need to find a suitable Driver for it.

Can anyone please suggest a modestly priced Driver Module, or a suitable DIY circuit ? ... Frankly, I am out of my depth with this one.

MichaelG.

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Edit: Here is the datasheet [in German ] ... it's the one in the Right-hand column on the first page.

Edit: and here is the explanation of why 5-Phase is Good.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 18/10/2014 17:31:36

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 18/10/2014 17:33:05

Jason,

Many thanks for this.

Last night, I did eventually find a helpful article ... but my electronic construction skills are not in his league!

I would certainly welcome your guidance, and will send you a P.M. this afternoon. I have no experience with the Arduino, but I am very willing to learn, and I know there is plenty of tutorial material around.

In the first instance, I'm sure that full steps will suffice: I am led to believe that the unit came from a custom-built laser scanning microscope ... so my humble aspirations in the field of optical photomicrography should be an order of magnitude [or two] less demanding.

MichaelG.

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For info. Here is another photo of the unit:

The motor is almost certainly a standard frame size. Measure the spacing of the flange screw holes in decimal inches and multiply by 10. Probably get 14, 17, or 23. Small new steppers are quite cheap, eg from Zapp Automation. Replace motor with standard 2 phase type with 2 windings and use a standard controller.

Edited By jason udall on 19/10/2014 10:33:31

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John,

Thanks for the thought, but ...

Please see the second link in my opening post.

... this is a rather special piece of kit [I already have plenty of two phase motors]

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 19/10/2014 11:04:18

Thanks again, Jason

I will send a P.M. with my eMail address, which may be more convenient.

MichaelG.

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Its actually a clutch; and the two "gears" that are visible are flat belts [or maybe timing belts, used inside-out].

These two photos were provided by the seller ... I will take some detail shots next week.

MichaelG.

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Edit: Machine Components Corp. were very helpful in identifying the "slip clutch" for me ... as a special item, which is not in their regular catalog.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 19/10/2014 12:00:34

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 19/10/2014 12:01:06

Michael, "custom-built laser scanning microscope" does that mean you found someone who built a LSCM (laser scanning confocal microscope) and then dismantled it? I ask as I have had some involvement with LSCM's and they tend not to be your average shed project!

Mark

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Mark,

Not quite ...

Possibly my error of interpretation ... it now appears that although the drive assembly is British, the microscope may have been more "production" than I thought.

... I will send you a P.M.

MichaelG.

Hi Michael

5 phase stepper I just did a bit of research....

Found these?

**LINK**

Regards
John

Jason,

Very interested in your Arduino controller - but have you tried micro-stepping? Reason is that I would like to take the step size on my Emco 5PC CNC lathe to a smaller value than the current which is set by half stepping the 5 phase steppers.

The electronics and the Arduino side I can cope with but I have not seen any information on how to do micro-stepping. Vexta supply 5 step micro-stepping drivers but they have very little information to go with them I think - and extreme care appears to be necessary to select the correct version.

Regards,

Simon

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Many thanks, John

Those are astonishingly low prices compared with what I found.

... Must investigate further.

MichaelG.

Simon - off topic, but on the LinuxCNC mailing list, Sam Solik showed an Emco CNC lathe converted to LinuxCNC using the original electronics. Might be of interest?

John,

PM'd you to ensure the topic is not further cluttered!

Simon

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Simon,

Feel free to clutter ...

Jason has pointed me in the direction of Arduino and, despite John McNamara's amazing finds, I'm pretty sure that's the way I'm going. ... Anything broadly in the same area is good by me !!

It could all come in useful some day.

MichaelG.