How to Have Two Motors on a Single Axis Spinning in Opposite Directions on a CNC Machine

[@iheart3dprinting951]

I came looking to ensure I can drive two motors on 1 axis but running the step and direction in parallel to the driver. But your method of making the motors mirror is really really complicated when you can just swap the wires. Not trying to attack, your content is great. I think this would dissuade many DIY people who aren't aware of this.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@iheart3dprinting951 yes, swapping the wires is better. This video was made a very long time ago and is still a viable solution in certain situations so I did not remove.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

I've noticed many comments relating to switching the coil wires rather than adding a hex inverter. This is an obvious solution. This video is intended to show an alternative method that may not be widely known and in some cases may be a practical solution depending on the application. I greatly appreciated all comments and this comment is to clarify the approach I wanted to demonstrate. Thanks.

[@KwameSenecaLP]

Patrick Hood-Daniel Hi Pat, this is what i've been looking for; for my new gadget but i want a smaller, light weight motor (3 oz) that can move about 0.8 oz of load in about 4 inches max of space in the xy - plane

[@robertvarga1155]

Or you can just get one of the two motors with a dual shaft and turn the motor around

[@now_watch_this]

how does it work mate? i mean i have a 4 wire stepper nema 23 motor it has white red white blue cables. should i just invert it?

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@now_watch_this Just swap the A and B coil wires.

[@karlh.138]

Does this mean if I have a 4(lets say wires 1black,2green,3red,4blue) pin connector I can attach two motors by plugging into the cnc shield with motor one connected in order 1234 and other motor connected in the order 4321? so in result wires connected together from each motor would be (1,4),(2,3),(3,2),(4,1)?

[@begood3703]

Hi, nice video. You can change the wire connection in opposite direction instead of changing the signal. It save component.

[@kieran_hammond]

There are easier ways, invert the direction in software, or just reverse the four wires from your stepper where it connects to the stepper driver.

[@impactodelsurenterprise2440]

Using what software?

[@mytechexplanations6923]

@@impactodelsurenterprise2440 in whic you are coding the motor ie. Arduino's IDE..

[@martinvizar6430]

Just swap Two Phases of the oposite motor.. note 1: (both motors are driven with one stepper driver and splitter) Or use Dual Half Bridge Step Up/Down inverter in rare circumstances, rather just invert Up/Down Signal in Software motor settings.. note2: (both oposite steppers have their own driver) ps 2: didn't You just flipped the bidirectional cable? I mean swapped by rotation..? That means reversing "Phases with Cable" bye.. Video describing Phase Invert: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/mX3Lp6Gjj7CSo7M

[@grzegorzszymanowski4091]

Hi, if you connect this "direction pin" only to hex driver, then how you connect two other pins, i think it cannot be connect direct to a controller, just you must do a splitter as well. Greetings from Germany

[@paskmoe4969]

You should do a wiring plan for a "series connection" for both your solution and the obvious one.

[@woodsmokeWS]

What's wrong with just inverting one of the stepper coils?

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

That's another way (and a way that I would probably implement on my own). I like this method because the customer can maintain the simple wiring that is stated on the datasheets.

[@MakeTechPtyLtd]

Fair enough Patrick. I was wondering the same thing.

[@rok1475]

I am curious - before you posted this video did you really think introducing an inverter (circuit board +chip+supply voltage+additional wires) is in any way a better solution than reversing two wires and therefore worth recording and posting? It looks like a desperate attempt to generate any youtube content rather than sharing something useful.

[@tugaminhoto4969]

Hi friend , can You share the wire diagram please?

[@lukmannet]

Nice video, but now I'm finding a way how to connect both iron axises

[@wallstreet497]

Why not just reverse the the phase wiring of one stepper motor from the driver ?

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Yes, it is possible to do this and there are comments relating to this below, however, I haven't been successful reversing the poles on a closed loop stepper, so this is still relevant. This shows only one option for doing this. Thanks for the comment.

[@TheFrankmadrigal]

I ordered this he x from you, and can you send me a wiring diagram on how to put it together

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Hi Frank, certainly. I can send you a wiring diagram, but first I would like to know the circucumstance under which you are you using the hex inverter chip. Are you using it to reverse a stepper motor that cannot be reversed through software? Is the stepper motor a closed loop stepper and driver? Thanks.

[@ShadeTreeCNC]

I switched the b- and b+ wires to get one to turn CCW and the other to turn CW. I found that if one motor miss a step all he'll breaks loose. I now drive both sides with a single motor. Once squared up it never racks and I only need one limit switch to home the cnc.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

That my preferred method as well. One larger motor will eliminate any pulse train issues.

[@VincentLancon]

How do you limit switch mirrored axis'?

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

If you are connecting to a single step and direction signal for both motors, you will use only one limit switch.

[@nuchok]

@BuildYourCNC would this work that simply with two 3/4 hp motors? Is there something else that you’d need?

[@abilashchakaravarthyrajase8109]

Is there any chance if we use same step and direction pin for 2 steppers we would lose steps over time .

[@tugaminhoto4969]

We use one output pin from breakout board and connect this to two diferents Stepper drivers? Ex. BoB pin 2 connected to dir+ on driver1 and driver2 at same time?

[@LearnerBoy]

Is parallel connection in this case not acceptable? One middle liner shaft and both side will be used 2 motors .

[@MrCGChief]

I have this exact issue to resolve. Gracias!

[@DStrayCat69]

Smart stuff :-) Thanks for sharing

[@Hoss_1966]

So are you saying to just splice the the wires from the main board to the 2 motor controllers, I would be worried about the signal just between both controllers, or having a strain on the power. Is there nothing to worry about doing this. I am not worried about motor direction, I think I will do like one guy said, using the dual shaft way.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Remember we are only talking about digital lines here. If it were power motor wires, then that would be a different story.

[@mukhdi80]

I wonder why we should use 2 motor in an Axis such as OX CNC design .. why cant we use just 1 instead

[@paparoysworkshop]

That is a ridiculous way to do it. Just invert the wires on the stepper motor.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

You are correct.

[@360_tours]

or maybe just use the same driver and wire them together but in opposite order; solved

[@RPBCACUEAIIBH]

No offense but this method is only usefull if you're a board designer looking for a way to expand the capability of your breakout board without the need of extra programming. I mean it is not simpler(assuming that you're a newbie in this field), you have to look up a chip's manual to know how to wire, you have to know how to solder, you need to route at least 2 more routes(vcc and gnd for the inverter), it is not cheaper, you need a board, and extra component(s), and it also breaks the look of the overall interior desing having an extra custom board possibly hand drawn or on a prototiping board like in your case, because I wouldn't design it in a program and get trough the whole pain in the ass pcb making process just to invert a signal. Would you? :)

[@Spiderelectron]

Too many annotations! Stop trying to up sell.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Thanks for your input.

[@AR-jt4nu]

That easy way if you are electricians