Stepper Motor Basics - Demo with just Push Buttons!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_...
Skip to around 10:00 for the switch demo
In this quick n dirty video on stepper motors I explain the difference between unipolar and bipolar stepper motors and even control one using only pushbuttons. This helps to visualize the sequencing needed to rotate the shaft in either direction. I also demonstrate full-step vs half-step control.
Check out my Tindie store (trigBoard is available) www.tindie.com/stores/kdcircu...
Thanks to all the Patrons for dropping a few bucks in the tip jar to help make these videos happen!
/ kdarrah
Twitter: / kdcircuits
For inquiries or design services:
www.kdcircuits.com

[@JothMoss]

Congratulations on probably the best stepper motor tutorial on KZbin - well done!

[@electronicjunky6940]

I love how you break things down to simple terms to understand the whole picture. Thanks!

[@Zythyr]

The best explanation of how stepper motors works and how to control the steps I have seen! Thank you for taking the time to explain the fundamentals of operation, explaining the circuit, and using a cardboard labeled with degrees to visualize.

[@TheFrog4u]

Have watched quite some stepper motor videos but this was by far the best one. A very cool way to explain it - this is how it should be explained in school or entry level electric studies!

[@jodycullimore6637]

Keep up the great work Kev. I am sure we all appreciate your time and effort.

[@mohammedkhais4728]

You explained the concept easily and simply . This helped me a lot . You really deserve a medal for this

[@AllongLawl]

Practical and straight-forward, as always. Love it. Keep calm and control the shaft in a very precise way

[@SadamFlu]

Thank you Kevin! Loving these push button break downs. They really show you what you have to do in the code.

[@jasonllapp]

Thanks for taking the time to explain this. What a great learning tool. Seeing it work in its most basic form really drives the point home. Very cool

[@ToddFun]

Super great explanation! Thanks for making and sharing this video.

[@PhilipStephens007]

Thanks for that. Concise, clear and understandable. I now know heaps more than I did before, on this subject.

[@thetooginator153]

This is exactly what I needed! I haven't built this yet, but it looks like an excellent way to get an intuitive feel for how to control a stepper motor. Thanks!

[@iarde3422]

FINALLY!!! A good, sane explanation about a stepper motor driver! The best and the only, actually! I was fuzzy about the stepper motor driver functionality. I didn't understand it's purpose and what used for and finally, I understand it!. Thanx a lot!

[@PhilJonesIII]

nice intro for stepper motors. Took a degree in electronics back in the 80s and never touched the subject again even as a hobby. So much has changed and an awful lot hasn't changed at all. Still, your videos are clearing away the cobwebs so thanks again.

[@RicardoTorres5]

Thank you so much! This helped me a lot to understand how stepper motors work, as I never learned very well :). Keep making this kind of videos, I'm sure they help a lot of people like me.

[@EEEnthusiast]

Awesome vid Kevin; I was watching a lot of your tutorials to make my own. Keep up the good work!

[@DieCastoms]

Thank you VERY MUCH for making this video!! Really-impressively simplifies what's actually going on in the H-Bridges and motor driver!

[@BuildswithBrian]

That was a cool demonstration! Thank you for taking the time to make it.

[@nicholasfinch4087]

Thank you so much for this! I was able to figure out what i was doing wrong with the stepper motor. I didn't stop to think that i could do each coil one at a time!

[@akhileshp2007]

Very Helpful!! You are a good teacher and I like the way how you have bolstered your explanation with a white board and a live example!

[@fstanovich]

Watched a lot of stepper theory videos. This short video cleared up a lot of my confusion. Will be watching more of your videos..

[@BradleyMakesThings]

Fantastic explanation! Thanks for taking the time to share that!

[@becker990]

Best video on the subject, all that i wanted to see! subscribed!

[@Sullendust]

Useful and easy to follow video, great job on explaining it very clearly.

[@mikestanzel1192]

Good explanation Kevin. Easy to follow. I'm a CNC programmer from way back and the electronics has always been a bit of mystery.

[@bruceberadino]

This answered every question I had about stepper motors, nice and easy to understand as well.

[@terrehautehackers]

I love these videos. You make it so simple. Hope you keep making them.

[@ranboo1412]

i didnt need any of stepped motor informations at all but i satisfied with the explanation and diagrams and actual practical motor demonstration. I really loved this video U r awesome Kevin

[@lasersbee]

Excellent and easy to understand explanation. Thanks for sharing. I think you just solve an issue with a Stepper Motor project I was having.

[@noelingle3151]

Thanks for this super simple explanation. Exactly what I was looking for.

[@82968438]

In a practical manner you demonstrated so clearly the function of a stepper - great

[@tomcatmeow69]

that was probably one of the best explanations I've seen on stepper motor fundamentals .

[@frank2398]

Excellent! Thank you so much for making this video!

[@mrdouble]

When you were sequenceing the buttons I thought "wow, is he actually going to be able to do that" lol. Good job. Great video

[@mrdouble]

@Walter Theodore Reported

[@quaternion-pi]

Great! Please consider continuing the tutorial - MOSFET selection and software control. I always look forward to your tutorials - very well done.

[@moracabanas]

First time I easy understand H bridges applied to Stepper. Thanks you so much

[@gdelospalotes]

Thank you! Again, you've made it really easy to understand :)

[@flymypg]

In the US Navy's Basic Electricity & Electronics school (called "B-double-E" school) we approached stepper motors in a sequence of increasingly complex control mechanisms: 1. Take two batteries, one for each coil, and flip them together/separately to make the rotor turn. 2. Do it with one battery. Getting the leads connected and moved was hilarious. 3. Use pushbuttons, as done in this video. Notice the smoke from the wires melting their insulation when fingers get confused. 4. Replace the pushbuttons with a pair of DPDT center-off toggle switches. Muuuuuuuuuch easier. 5. Replace the toggle switches with H-bridges. Success! Our stepper motor collection included some the size of a peanut, up to the size of a 5 gallon bucket, and we got to control nearly all of them. We felt so good. Then came Synchros, Servos and Control Transformers...

[@keithcitizen4855]

Brilliant, so interesting to learn - thanks for showing

[@amoghgajare2581]

Awesome explanation.Keep up the good work bro!

[@750RanchRoad]

Good job, dude. Crystal clear explanation. Thx a lot!

[@jeffmorris2520]

The board with the printed protractor is an excellent idea. Great learning tool.

[@jincyquones]

Kevin, you are awesome! This was so helpful, as are all of your videos!

[@willofthemaker]

great video! definitely helpful in understanding how to control stepper motors

[@mokuroglucnc]

I am sure all appreciate your time and effort.Thanks.

[@hightttech]

Your demonstration is excellent. 👍👍

[@charleselliott4943]

Clear, concise, and short. Thanks.

[@jimiokey229]

nice brief on stepper motor ... its understandable video for those who want to know about the working of stepper motors

[@EngineeringNS]

Very interesting video!

[@diyelectronicsguy]

Your videos are the BEST!!!

[@bradleymorgan8223]

This is very cool and informative! Subbed

[@snaprollinpitts]

hey Kevin, that was a great video on stepper motors, yeah I would be very interested to see a video on how you would connect the mosfets and a follow up video. thanks!

[@octavmandru9219]

Very nice idea and demo!!

[@williamconner8872]

Great video - I have a much better understanding of stepper motors and how they are controlled. Thanks!

[@SpyrosAplas]

Di Caprio Double explains electronics! Nice video mate!

[@myenjoyablehobbies]

Very well explained. Thank you!

[@AliAhmed-tm1jf]

Great explaination...keep up the good work

[@Nocturnes1984]

Give this man a medal

[@woudjee2]

Really clearly explained! Thanks :D

[@badfender223]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[@venkir1408]

fantastic explanation for the beginners to understand

[@NA12495]

Another great video.

[@jaxxonbalboa3243]

very nice simple demo.

[@TheOnlyTominator]

Thanks, man - very instructive!

[@histand]

Very clear tutorial. Thanks!

[@IntegralMoon]

Awesome video as always!!! :)

[@murraymadness4674]

Great video that explains them well.

[@lukmannet]

Cool broadcast, thanks...

[@foreignmx]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@tin9211]

hi, thanks for the video, it's very cool. question - i read from some other articles that when running and reversing power to the coil really quickly, it would create back-kick effects, and so capacitors and droids are needed? what's your thoughts?

[@lucbouchard8277]

Great tutorial - well presented.

[@maffysdad]

Interesting and informative video... I'm just getting into the Raspberry Pi, so has been helpful... Many thanks :-)

[@ProXicT]

Great video, thanks!

[@adradri1127]

Very good explanation

[@mtnmanchad]

Great video Good stuff, Thanks!

[@JohnClulow]

great explanation. Thanks so much

[@lantornify]

hey Kevin, what do I use to capture specific range in frequency to activate a specific stepper motor that is programmed to do a certain rotation in commands? Does the information have to be MIDI already then fed into this ...(thing i need to talk to specific motors)... or can I just get some device that doe this automatically? cheers

[@Electromaniaworld]

beautiful information.

[@scourtheearth]

Great Tutorial!!! I wonder if you know of any "higher level of abstraction" ways to control a stepper motor. I was considering getting into Arduino in order to control my blinds, or some other home automation, and I wonder if I could find some software to say "Go Left X number of steps" or "go right x number of steps." etc... any ideas?

[@daddy7973]

very helpful video. thank you bro

[@negratio]

Good job for this vid. Thx for sharing.

[@roberthatcher2773]

Good detailed explanation. Suggestion: Get some 'Sharpies' and color code the switches and create a color coded sequencing table on paper. Thanks for sharing.

[@herpadiana]

Good Job brother!

[@amtpdb1]

Thank for the explanation. I am trying to get a foam cutter board working that uses a mm2001 board with unipolar steppers. You mentioned using mosfets. As this board uses large resistors and they get hot, I was thinking about trying to figure out how to use mosfets to change things so there would not be so much heat. I am only a hobbyist with electronics, but it would be a great help if you did do a video showing how to move unipolar steppers with mosfets that were driven with a uln2003. Thanks for the video.

[@richardcollins2569]

Nice demo thanks. :)

[@something_of_a_dreamer]

you made my day thanks

[@kalyopi]

good vid, good presentation

[@Super997turbo]

great explanation thank you

[@yoramstein]

Wow great video ! Learned a lot thanks.

[@eivindmar]

Question, what will happen if you cut one of the wires to the stepper motor? When using hybrid synchronous stepper.

[@abpccpba]

Thanks so much; now I understand thanks to you.

[@georgedorner7943]

Good pedagogy. Take this into class.

[@jadesluv]

excellent vid, super excellent!

[@Ryzler13]

Diagram at 8:00 When a switch is closed the circuit is still broken. OK need 2 switches, I didn't get to that bit yet. Very informative video. Thanks.

[@automated6225]

great explanation, thx

[@nathandiven6749]

You are awesome thanks for the video!

[@sd4dfg2]

I made a driver from an h-bridge plan I found on the Internet. It seems to work fine, but I can't get any speed at all. I got a small boost by carefully adjusting the time between pulses, but it felt random - if I switch to another motor I would have to tune/guess again. Is there a way to achieve high speeds or tell what a reasonable speed is?

[@75whitehawk]

great video. thanks

[@m2autoworks]

Outstanding!

[@mehmetedex]

cool one of the best explanation