SureStep Overview and Setup of STP-DRV-6575 Stepper Motor Drive from AutomationDirect

The new Stepper Motor Drive from Automation Direct has all the great features you are used to with the open frame stepper drives the new BUT the new drive ALSO has the following: Itís fully enclosed to protect the electronics All switch settings and diagnostics are printed right on the cover for quick and easy reference It has double the Current range so you can handle larger motors It has double the Voltage Range so you can work with more standard voltages It has double the step resolution for more accuracy and speed And while both have step and direction, the new drive also has CW/CCW mode too! It has an output signal so the PLC can actually monitor the status of your drive It has a switch selectable inertia setting so you can optimize performance for low and high loads It has a noise filter to help ensure accurate stepping even at the high pulse rates And while this drive will work with any compatible stepper motor, it is optimized for the Steppers offered by Automation Direct for the absolute best performance In full step mode while the stepping is usually very coarse there is a switch selectable step smoothing option which approximates micro-stepping so you get the best of both worlds ñ smooth operation at both high and low speeds. This unit has removable plugs ñ now you can swap out drives without having to re-wire! Just un-plug the drive and plug in a new one. Done. And finally, this unit dedicated status, error and fault code LEDs And the Best News is you get all of these added features for just $89 bucks. Thatís right ñ a MUCH better drive for a FRACTION of the price. And setting it up couldnít be easier. I have a STP-MTR-23079 Stepper motor from Automation Direct so we look at the drive cover and see we need to dial in an ìAî on the rotary switch ñ remember ñ while this drive will work with any general stepper with similar specs, itís optimized for - and will get you the best performance - if you use the ADC steppers! On our DIP Switches we can choose: Current Reduction ñ weíll use the 120% for this demo since we are going to use micro-stepping You can select the Load Inertia ñ we have a light to medium load so weíll choose that one Weíll choose the 50% idle current reduction for our example. Our stepper resolution will be 20,000 steps per revolution And letís enable self-test for our initial testing. Now we just wire it up ñ our example is wired like this: We have a Do-more PLC, controlling the stepper from a CTRIO module. We have a 4805 power supply providing power for the module. And we are using a 23079 motor with this convenient extension cable to connect right to the stepper drive. Thatís it ñ thatís our entire setup. Since we have the unit in self-test mode, we just turn it on. We expect to see the motor turn twice in one direction and then twice in the other. Perfect ñ exactly what we expect. The beauty of this self-test is it guarantees the motor is wired correctly and the voltages are correct ñ independent of the input wiring. In fact, the input wiring doesnít even have to be connected for self-test to work. Thatís a really handy feature. Now we just flip the Self-test switch back to the normal position ñ itís ok to do it while the unit is powered up. We have an Automation Direct DoMore PLC setup to drive this stepper with a simple dynamic velocity instruction. That allows me to change the rate to anything I want while it is running. Weíre setup for micro-stepping right now at 20,000 pulses per shaft rotation, so if we hit it with 40,000 pulses per second, then we should see 2 revolutions per second ñ right? Iíll enable this instruction by flipping the PLCís input X7 input, and sure enough the motor ramps up and we get our 2 revís per second. If we change that speed to 10,000 pulses per second then the motor ramps down to a half revolution per second. Perfect. Letís look at the pulse smoothing options when using a full step mode. To do that weí go back and change the dip switches to give us 200 pulses per revolution or DIP switches 5, 6, and 7 all ON and letís send it Ö oh Ö how about 20 pulses per second ñ something slow so we can see the stepping. Iím going to reach down and enable our instruction. I donít know if you can see it in the video or not, but you can certainly hear the stepper pounding against my desk as it makes each individual step. Iím going to turn that off ñ itís annoying. This time Iím going to turn it on, then Iím going to reach down to the motor drive and Iím going to switch DIP switch 5 to off. That will put us in smoothing ode and you will immediately hear the difference. Here we go. The motor is still turning, but all of that coarseness is gone. Now it is very smooth. This isnít true micro-stepping ñ itís an approximation - but itís pretty close. Thatís an awesome feature because now you have fast stepping AND smooth operation. One more thing ñ letís introduce an error ñ Letís power down, disconnect a motor winding, and power back up ñ BTW: you should never disconnect a motor lead while the system is powered up. Look the error code is being flashed on the LED. I see one green and 6 red flashes. On my drive housing I see that corresponds to an open motor winding. I love being able to do that without having to go find the manual. Note that you need to power cycle the unit to reset the error codes. A couple notes: This unit has a slightly different form factor than that open frame 4035 drive. So donít assume it is a drop in replacement. The new one is about the same width, but it is also a little shorter and a little longer. If you need to change the input signal type from Step and Direction to CW/CWW just open it up and move these jumpers. This one is setup for Step and Direction with the extra noise filtering turned on as shown in this chart. Well, that ought to be enough to get you up and running. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance. Our tech support is always free and available for you via phone at 1-770-844-4200, email or the absolute best place to start of course is right here on-line Ö where you will find a wealth of information in the form of FAQís, support documentation, examples, tutorials Ö you name it, it is probably there. Automation Direct ñ your price, performance and tech support leader.