Seem’s simple to ME being a mechanical engineer but? What I am trying to develop is a simple single bi-polar stepper motor to act as an encoder. The purpose for this is I want to move (rotate) the motor shaft X degrees, stop, record the number of steps for what I call a “step set” i.e., step set “A.” Then move the motor again X degrees and again record the steps into step set “B.” The procedure of establishing step sets could continue for as many as needed to establish a straight line path with variable stopping points. Could be as many as ten or more step sets which can have different number of steps within them.
I have read on the net where a low current signal was input to one of the bi-polar stepper’s coils and an distinguishable AC signal was identified as an induced feedback pulse signal. I have also identified some driver chips that will accept encoder signal input. However it seems so simple to me that a program containing the number of step sets could be easily developed from the aforementioned scenario. A specific program could then be labeled as program “A” for custom incremental linear movements with stop commands, auxiliary actuation’s between stops and so on. I need to build the program(s) from empirical data input from the actual movements made by the prime (stepper motor) mover. The movements that would provide feed back signals would be driven by hand so any base reference “carrier” input to the stepper would not interfere greatly with free movement. After the empirical program is established it could be written to a SD card for future use.
Any suggestions for directing my objectives will be greatly appreciated, thank you.