An A4988 stepper motor driver is a great way to drive stepper motors. It requires a digital pulse signal to run the stepper motor for consecutive steps. It also features a micro-stepping function. The RPM of the stepper motor depends upon the frequency and duty-cycle of the input pulses. In this project, I will be showing you how you can make a simple stepper motor controller by using a 555 timer IC as a digital pulse generator and get the motor running.
A 10k Ohm potentiometer(Also, try using a 100k one)
A 9-12 volt DC power source
A 1k Ohm resistor
An LED(Optional)
A 1k Ohm resistor(For the LED)
A voltage regulator with a 5-volt output(L7805CV, use a regulator if you don't have a separate 5 volts power supply)
2
Follow the Circuit Diagram and Set Up Everything
Follow the circuit diagram(click on it to get full view) and start by plugging on the 555 timer IC and the motor driver on the breadboard.
Then, continue by connecting the capacitor and resistors to the 555 timer IC. Check the images above for reference.
3
Connect the Stepper Motor to the Motor Driver
Connect the two pairs of the stepper motor's wires to the outputs of the A4988 driver board. Connect 1A and 1B to the first pair and 2A and 2B to the second one.
Neat. Just what i was looking for. I needed an alternative means to drive my stepper so I could free up my Arduino (which was currently doing the job). I have a Sparkun "Big Easy Driver" board which uses the Allegro A4988 chip (also A4983 versions about), and an NE555 currently unused. I was after a way to ajsute spped and directiuon with a simple hardware solution, so I'll add ability to pull the DIR pin High/Low as I need to be able to change direction.
Neat. Just what i was looking for. I needed an alternative means to drive my stepper so I could free up my Arduino (which was currently doing the job). I have a Sparkun "Big Easy Driver" board which uses the Allegro A4988 chip (also A4983 versions about), and an NE555 currently unused. I was after a way to ajsute spped and directiuon with a simple hardware solution, so I'll add ability to pull the DIR pin High/Low as I need to be able to change direction.