Beginner's Guide to Controlling Stepper Motors with Arduino

[@stevepritchard7957]

Yay my first program that’s running. Thank you Rachel, great teaching style. Makes learning so much fun. I’m 72 so who says can’t reach old dogs new tricks 😊

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

I got started with coding and electronics late in life so you can learn anything at any age!

[@stevepritchard7957]

@ thank you Rachel, looking forward to learning more from your channel 👍

[@carwils1956]

You are the most knowledgeable Arduino demonstrator. You make learning about Arduino projects easy through your excellent tutorials. Well done!

[@lohikarhu734]

You really do a "fine-grained" presentation! Nothing left out...

[@lucaslra]

How is this channel not bigger? Excellent content!

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Glad you enjoyed it! 🥳

[@TypeSC2]

I just found her channel and I totally agree! So much good info!

[@HighlineGuitars]

Is it possible to set the rpm as a decimal rather than a whole number (e.g. 6.61 instead of 7)?

[@hebertfelix1]

watching from Brazil, learning to program and understand English. Tks for your video!

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Isso é ótimo! Espero que você esteja progredindo em seu projeto.

[@FreeShaima]

Thank you so much, You are really talented and good in explaining things in a simple way!

[@Iskelderon]

Thanks for the demonstration, that's a perfect starting point for most use cases.

[@Thaedeim]

Just getting into Arduino and back into some programming. I bought a Keyestudio Mini tank robot and thought you might like to know it came with a L298P shield with power switch that stacks right on top of your UNO board so no extra wiring needed. Wanted to share if you haven't seen them yet. Keep making the awesome content it helps so much, I will for sure be joining the community of artistic builders!! love it

[@danielquinana1489]

Nice! I’ll be trying it out this weekend!

[@joaoferreira3642]

Rachel De Barros, thank you so much for your time. Very clear!

[@Deepak-h6j6h]

Very nice explained, thanks

[@lun4rkid]

how to power up the ardiuno board after hooking 5v to stepper motor. can i plug in usb power to power up the board.or should i use the same 5v dc

[@Saleemsan]

Thank you! I've been struggling with this

[@lancetaiwhanga4127]

Great content also the humor, good presentation.

[@wereldvrede628]

Dear Rachel where I search the entire internet for connecting and the code for a close loop driver a small nema 17 driver unit HBS57S, could you help me with this in a video

[@ASAN]

Nice video❤ well explained in a simple fun way.

[@NevesProjects]

Can you do a video on how to control a stepper motor with a Flysky or any rc controller ? There's no video on youtube longer then 30 seconds showing that

[@jackrichards1863]

My word, I think I'm besotted Rachel! You are such an exciting woman. Love the T shirt. AND the content , thank you kindly! This instruction is fantastic. It may appear obvious to many but it's not. I really am investing my focus in this series. Looking forward to my engineering project taking on a new persona! 😘

[@HobbyOrganist]

I'm considering adding some kind of 12VDC stepper motor to operate some wood swell shades on my pipe organ, they sell a "swell shade engine" to do this but they cost like $1500 and are usually powerful enough to operate a whole lot of them together. These run off a shoe on the organ console that is operated by your foot- tilted downwards the engine progressively opens the shades, returing back to the closed position the shades progressively shut with the shoes' movement in that direction. The shades only move when your foot moves the shoe, much like driving a car. Typically the shades only move about to about a 40 degrees open position- their angled edges are felted and their purpose is sound control, after watching this video I'm thinking something like this Arduino and a larger motor than the one shown might work since the shade i have only number 7 about 22"x9"x1-1/2" thick poplar wood, they pivot on brass pins resting on ball bearings, so they would move pretty easily. They would not have to move very fast- the speed shown in the video is quite a bit more than needed. The mass of the 7 wood shades would likely need a larger sized motor than in the video to start moving, even though they are on ball bearings. They would also need to be operated not by a script per sei, but by a row of mechanical contacts the shoe has in it. Might you have any ideas on how this kind of application might work and what might be needed?

[@DBB-KE5DUO]

step right on up to this! 🎼🎵🎤🎶 🎉 The live chats with you are always a blast 💥 The steps was not clear to me before your tutorial! Since you added the math, my engineer brain instantly latched on! 😊 🤗🤗🤗🤗

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

👍 Always good to have an engineer brain in the mix 🥳

[@Electronzap]

Very good tutorial.

[@ewasteredux]

Very cool! Could you do a tutorial on interfacing a NEMA 17 stepper? These are the same type used by most 3D printers.

[@damianbutterworth2434]

They are quite easy. You can just use a simple blink program to step them.

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

I'm getting a few new stepper motors to upgrade from these starter kit ones so I'll explore controlling more than one!

[@airhammer6203]

Always full of useful information, good stuff, beautiful.

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@airhammer6203]

@@RachelDeBarrosLive ok, knowing some of your work, reading the your reply and reading the comments again, I can see a sequenced animatronics layout in the works...

[@leo3times]

Just getting into Arduino & stepper motors after getting a 3D printer. Wow this is SO helpful in understanding the code. Beauty and Brains... Thank you. Subscribed.

[@bslturtle]

I tore a copy machine apart and now am the "proud" owner of a pile of stepper motors. I cannot find them in the internet. Is there a generic way to determine how to drive them with an Arduino? Thank you for the help.

[@kachiko6874]

hello, ima anewbie in arduino, after uploading the code, idk why is the motor not running yet, should i do smth beforehand or what

[@chopperchuck]

Okay I got a question You showed all the hardware some of the hardware that can be used with the Arduino you've showed how to plug it in and then you pull up a screen where you're inputting code where did this come from? How do you apply it to the Arduino? So far I'm in I don't know 50 videos on how to use it in a duino and everybody does the same thing You go right from the hardware to a programming screen but nobody explains where the programming screen came from or how to use it

[@waynes3606]

I am a total newby to Arduinos and their programming, trying to create an electric turntable for a model railway, using a stepper motor and Arduino, needing to run in both directions and have it stop and start at 10 degree Intervals, any help would be appreciated.

[@lohikarhu734]

I'll subscribe, happy to encourage good content!

[@Millsbritish4x4]

This looks perfect for a model railway turntable project, where can I get the code for this? I'm a professional Tech trainer for a well-known earth moving machine manufacture, this video is to a very high standard...keep up the great work.

[@rahmatiadani54]

I like this project and this tutorial, good for me

[@ekhatchey]

I know you cover stepper motors in this video but just curious if you can use a 2 wire linear actuator for say a 6DOF simulator (not a full size but a small desktop preprogrammed prop.)

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Yep! Linear actuators are on my to-do list for videos. You can absolutely control then with Arduino.

[@markhodgson2348]

Could you contact 10 amp solid state relays to each of leds on the stepper board ,lots of room for exploration

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Definitely! 👍

[@war4tek]

Love it Rachel! Thank you.

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Great to hear!

[@esrefsavas-ue8ws]

Thank you very much. Your explanation was amazing.👍👍🤩 I wanna ask if we want to control 2 stepper motors at the same time not in succession.🤔

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Thanks! As for controlling 2 stepper motors at the same time, I have a video coming up on that!

[@JohnJohnson-ml2ll]

When I hooked my circuit up, everything worked as expected but -stepsPerRevolution wouldn’t reverse the rotation, rather it keeps going in the same direction :/ Idk what I’m doing wrong.

[@PabloD-yy1je]

Is the arduino directly connected to a power source?

[@vernonleeper]

Cool vid, thanks, can and encoder be hooked to the output shaft to mimic a servo?

[@mikebond6328]

Most modern machines use a homing limit switch to give the stepper motor a starting point and after that the stepper is so precise that it always knows where it is. That’s the whole point of a stepper motor.

[@karimaouadi9875]

if i join your channel can i learn how to make cnc machine, because i love how you explain

[@collaborativeclockworks]

I have found myself referring to your channel more and more for arduino projects, you cover a wide variety of cool stuff. Thanks! That said, the ask.. have you used solenoids in any of your props? I'm also curious about air pumps. I wonder if an air pump, for the sake of convenience lets say for a bubbling cauldron. Using an air pump from a 12v car air horn. Since it's a motor driven thing I think it could be hooked up to a motor driver and have the amount of air controlled?? Let's say you have a witch stirring a wicked brew and drops something into the cauldron and the amount of bubbles increase. Would this work? Seems like it would however I have more imagination than experience with these things.

[@emmamarx9284]

Idk if you've addressed this but would you ever think about making a video using the Pi Pico? It's a lot cheaper and much more powerful than an arduino so its kinda made the arduino obsolete in many ways. You can run C/C++ on it and even use the arduino IDE to program it. Just curious :) Anywhoodles, love the video! you are soo cool! Thank you for all the tutorials

[@adrianzlatarski5395]

Hello. Can someone tell me how many stepper motors I can control with Arduino uno?

[@MrAndBog247]

i am interested in steering 2 different stepper motors with different speeds on one arduino

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Definitely do-able! I'm getting a few new stepper motors and I'll do a video demonstrating how to d it 👍

[@MrAndBog247]

@@RachelDeBarrosLive would be very nice, i am going to build a rc car with stepper motors and the steering left and right should be done with different rpm of the steppers left and right ...

[@lohikarhu734]

That ULN2003 is almost as old as I am! It dates from the 1970's, I think, still getting design-ins...

[@Nick-xe2hu]

Great video.

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Thanks! 🥳

[@aaabbb-gu5pz]

Super! Thanks! 👍

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Thank you too!

[@sampamnl.8964]

ขอบคุณมากครับ..ติดตามสาระดีๆครับ

[@renxula]

Good that you mentioned the 2038 thing. With that strange gear reduction, the whole "stepper motors are precise" claim goes out the window! Imagine driving a clock face with this; it won't show the correct time for very long! But where does this 63.68395 come from? JustAnotherMakerChannel disassembled the gearbox, and the teeth counts that he listed produce exactly 64:1 (3 * 3 * 2 * 32/9). Maybe there's identical-looking motors with slightly different gear ratios? In any case, I'll stay away from all geared stepper motors for anything precise!

[@donm1547]

Thanks Rachel, you're so freaking cute and smart at the same time, I love it, thank you for all the info on these systems!

[@rudyvlog2897]

Hi ma'am may i request for arduino uno with tft project 🙂, thanks 🙂

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

That's a great idea!

[@kylewellman402]

May i ask what language is being used in your IDE to program your motor control? I know Python, and i know arduinos can use Python, which i am going to experiment with. However, it seems every video i watch about arduinos is using this same syntax, so I'm curious as to what language it is. Thank you for your videos :] new to your channel and enjoying it a lot so far! You go into a lot more detail than most which is very appreciated. Looking forward to the multiple bigger stepper control video you mentioned in another comment! Unless its already made and i just have to find it yet 😅 either way, still looking forward to it!

[@mikebond6328]

Arduino code was originally based on C++ so many libraries are written in the pseudo C++ /arduino language.

[@kylewellman402]

@mikebond6328 ok thats what I was wondering. I knew it was based off of c++, but arduino is its own language? I use the arduino MicroPython atm because I know python, but would coding in pure c++ work or would some of the syntax be wrong?

[@Dubot-f1v]

Cool ❤

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

Hope you get some time to work on your project this weekend!

[@Dubot-f1v]

@@RachelDeBarrosLive if the weather holds❤

[@StablestLeaf]

Yep i pull out one of these form my old split ac indoor unit 😅 like Thanos pull out infinite stone form vision head

[@gerardzi7930]

Super

[@RachelDeBarrosLive]

🥳

[@bestofbest8213]

Where is the code?

[@agahgokdag1845]

Sir,we are waiting NRF24L01's videos...

[@airhammer6203]

Sir???😂😅

[@SylvesterOziomek]

Sadly there's not much (serious) you can do with that motor and it's difficult to apply that knowledge to normal stepper motor because of different wiring, ask me how I know.

[@emmamarx9284]

idk, i've made fun lil projects with them. I designed and built my own cnc pen plotter with them for fun and it worked well. Also fun for miniature robotics projects. also great for prototyping large projects in miniature on the benchtop just to see if they'll work :) I personally love them. If i ever need anything heavy duty I switch to nemas though.

[@SylvesterOziomek]

@@emmamarx9284 I'd agree with all of that if they would be wired the same way, but they are not so I disagree.

[@emmamarx9284]

You can convert them from 5 wire unipolar to 4 wire bipolar. It gives them a lot more torque, albeit you have to run them at a higher voltage (a little over double if I remember correctly? idk I worked on that project about 5 years ago lol) Also I think it’s good to learn to use unipolar and bipolar steppers so you have more options under your belt when working on designing your projects. Not everything needs a nema17, sometimes projects require steppers with a smaller form factor and the 28BYJ-48 is a cheap and effective solution.

[@SylvesterOziomek]

@@emmamarx9284 I'll look into that conversion if I get chance. If you me you only learn essentials needed to get the job done, otherwise you have no time to do other tasks. Sadly not much time to play. And I am more into nema 23 or 34.

[@jeremiedaniels813]

How do you know?

[@_RsX_]

I like this new channel. Maybe it needs just a little nail polish 🙂

[@lohikarhu734]

What is a mill a amp? I always thought they were "Milli" amps... Just being ⛏️ picky, like how I hate people talking about "JiggaHerz" 👹

[@naeemhaq3504]

please don't use libraries. real programming is hidden in such case. anyway good methodology