Microcontroller night, Tuesday the 17th of June, 1800 - 2200

[Nick Kolpin]

Hi all,

Microcontrollers are simple, generally cheap microchips that allow you to control electronic components by writing software. In recent years learning how to use them has become a lot easier, mostly due to the arduino development board that does a lot of the hard work for you, letting you concentrate on making something fun.

I want to organise a microcontroller night next Tuesday at the hackspace. If you are working on any microcontroller projects or are interested in doing so then come along. I'll try to arrange to have some development boards (probably arduinos or mbeds) and some components available if anyone new to microcontrollers wants to try using them.

Of course anyone who wants to drop in that evening for any other reason is welcome too.

See you there,

Nick

[Pawel Kozlowski]

Just out of curiosity, have you guys done any work with FPGAs?
(I'm new to this group and haven't had a chance to visit the hackspace yet)

-Pawel

[Lauren Hutchinson]

Hi Pawel,

We haven't had public workshops on them, but there are several people around who have used them in their work and I believe a handful who know quite a lot on the topic.

(I know Nick has used them.)

I'm sure you could find someone to answer any questions.  This mailing list is a good place for asking around too--in addition to the fact that if people know when you'll be around physically, they might also turn up.

Looking forward to seeing you at the space sometime,

Lauren

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[Adam Hocking]

Hi Nick,

I'd like to figure out a cheap reliable way to control a motor (stepper or otherwise) with two or three different speeds.

What components would you suggest I order to bring along to try this out?

Motor will need to be reasonably high torque, I was thinking a NEMA 17 since I can get them cheap but I haven't looked into what else i'd need.

See you tuesday

Thanks,

-Adam

On Wednesday, 11 June 2014 18:23:11 UTC+1, Nick Kolpin wrote:

[Tim Stephens]

On Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 04:58:12AM -0700, Adam Hocking wrote:
> Hi Nick,
> I'd like to figure out a cheap reliable way to control a motor (stepper or
> otherwise) with two or three different speeds.
>
> What components would you suggest I order to bring along to try this out?
> Motor will need to be reasonably high torque, I was thinking a NEMA 17
> since I can get them cheap but I haven't looked into what else i'd need.

You'll need something to drive current into the motor. There are loads of stepper driver boards available (e.g. those for driving 3D printers, etc. There are loads for sale on eBay). The drivers often have a step/direction control scheme where you send a train of pulses into the driver board and the speed of the motor is equivalent to the frequency of the pulses.

Also note that steppers work best when you ramp the speed at the start and end of motion, particularly if you've got a high load. If you care about the absolute rotational position of the motor, they're liable to skip steps (or stall) if you try to go straight to full speed.

Tim

>
> See you tuesday
> Thanks,
> -Adam
>
> On Wednesday, 11 June 2014 18:23:11 UTC+1, Nick Kolpin wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Microcontrollers are simple, generally cheap microchips that allow you to
> > control electronic components by writing software. In recent years learning
> > how to use them has become a lot easier, mostly due to the arduino
> > development board that does a lot of the hard work for you, letting you
> > concentrate on making something fun.
> >
> > I want to organise a microcontroller night next Tuesday at the hackspace.
> > If you are working on any microcontroller projects or are interested in
> > doing so then come along. I'll try to arrange to have some development
> > boards (probably arduinos or mbeds) and some components available if anyone
> > new to microcontrollers wants to try using them.
> >
> > Of course anyone who wants to drop in that evening for any other reason is
> > welcome too.
> >
> > See you there,
> >
> > Nick
> >
>

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[Graham Stabler]

I'm not Nick but I know my motors so here is 2p's worth

These are nice drivers:

http://proto-pic.co.uk/a4988-stepper-motor-driver-carrier/

Connect a little stepper, DC power (12-24v) and throw some pulses at if from the microcontroller, done. Good performance, current limited no fuss and cheap as chips, also as cute as a button.

Or you could use a DC motor driven with a single mosfet using PWM created by the micro... but if you want to guarentee the speed you need some form of feedback like an optical encoder or similar. Torque would require a geared DC motor.

Cheers,

Graham

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[Nick Kolpin]

Just a reminder for anyone interesting in microcontrollers to drop in this evening,

See you there,

Nick

[Nick Kolpin]

Here are some photos from tonight's session:

https://plus.google.com/+NickKolpin/posts/b5umefHN89J

If you didn't make it tonight but you are interesting in microcontrollers (or FPGAs) try to come along next Tuesday.

Nick

[Adam Hocking]

Thanks again for the intro, feeling inspired to order a few more parts to play with.

Next week i'm in Devon on Tuesday night but I should be free the week after.

-Adam