Stepper motors divide a full rotation into hundreds of discrete steps, which makes them ideal to precisely control movements, be it in cars, robots, 3D printers or CNC machines. Most stepper motors ...

Adjust the phase current, crank up the microstepping, and forget about it — that’s what most people want out of a stepper motor driver IC. Although they power most of our CNC machines and 3D printers, ...

Stepper motors produce accurate, computer-controlled motion for applications such as robotic arms and paper-feed mechanisms for printers. They require current pulses delivered through a special ...

Brushless servo motors are all the hype these days. But stepper motors still provide a number of advantages while being more cost efficient and robust. Together with precision linear and rotary ...

Step motors are a natural choice when design specs call for low-cost automation with accurate, open-loop control. But finding the right stepper for a given application can be a challenge. There’s a ...

In a recent article, I wrote about step-motor system performance emphasizing key concepts that all engineers need to understand about this widely-used electro-magnetic-mechanical digital actuator. As ...

Several different styles of stepper motors in different NEMA sizes. CNC machine centers offer many benefits over manual machining such as greater productivity, precision production, and reduced labor ...

Increasingly elaborate Rube Goldberg schemes for controlling step-motors have developed over the years that try to pace stepping to avoid missteps. This direction of development is fundamentally ...

When it’s time to specify a high-performance motor that offers both precise positioning and cost efficiency, stepper motors offer many advantages over DC motors thanks to their brushless technology.

When applying step motors, designers need to consider several factors, including output torque, rotor inertia, step angle, and speed. Having already discussed the effects of torque and inertia (August ...