Stepper Motor Tensioning

[rhgwynn]

My searches havent yielded much on this particular avenue of tensioning so, here I am.

Pulled apart an old printer - now I have two stepper motors - yay! A little and a big one. Now here is my plan, and do correct me if I am wrong on anything. I am thinking that I can apply a light voltage - between 1.5-2v (3v is too much, makes it spin!) through a pot that will allow me to dial it to a decent amount somewhat close to the breaking point (but not too close!). Am I correct in my thinking on how this works?? I do not wish at this point to control the tension with software and a driver - but would not be against non-hijackery minimal discussion of such. I would like to keep this simple and cheap at them moment.

I applied 1.5v(AA) to the smaller motor, both ways, and can feel how it resists turning but does not "spin"; I just hope it's not too "jumpy or bumpy", you know what I mean? It all makes sense in my head. But where can I get a grooved wheel for it? Mouser maybe? Anything I am not thinking about? I know this is still "experimental" in the CNC winder...

-Robert

[rhgwynn]

Interesting observation:
The smaller motor does not turn on AA voltages, the larger motor DOES. Hmm...

-Robert

[David King]

Robert,

Try putting winder related threads under the Coil winders and tools section up top. It makes it much easier to search for later on. David will move this one if he's paying attention.
You do not want a "notchy" tensioning device. Steppers are not suitable for this application. A brushless disc motor like a hard drive motor would be much better and has been discussed at some length already. Basically you want a constant tension regardless of feedout speed and that's going to be difficult to achieve without some sort of feedback loop.
If your motors are spinning on application of DC voltage then they are DC motors, not steppers. Steppers have 4, 6 or 8 leads and require timed pulses to work.

[rhgwynn]

Robert,

Try putting winder related threads under the Coil winders and tools section up top. It makes it much easier to search for later on. David will move this one if he's paying attention.
You do not want a "notchy" tensioning device. Steppers are not suitable for this application. A brushless disc motor like a hard drive motor would be much better and has been discussed at some length already. Basically you want a constant tension regardless of feedout speed and that's going to be difficult to achieve without some sort of feedback loop.
If your motors are spinning on application of DC voltage then they are DC motors, not steppers. Steppers have 4, 6 or 8 leads and require timed pulses to work.

They have 3, though the connecting wires only utilize two. They are pretty snazzy, hefty too. I may use the larger one for a new project.

-Robert