Stepper Motor Driver by AVR Microcontroller

The project utilizes scavenged stepper motors from disk drives or printers with some probing of an ohmmeter followed by some simple driver code on the microprocessor.

Figuring out the status of the motor if it is unipolar or bipolar is the first step of the assembly. In the motor, there can be 4, 5, or 6 wires which can be divided into two but can still determine which side each wire belongs to. A bipolar motor will contain 4 wires while unipolar motor has more than 4 wires. In each half, the ground is the part needed to be determined first. In a bipolar motor, the ground can be identified because it has half the resistance to either of the poles than the poles do across themselves.

In figuring out the stepping order, current is run through a pair and then through the other pair at the same time. The way the motor turns should be observed and noted down when the second pair is attached. By reversing the polarity on the first pair and then attach the second pair with their polarity also reversed, the direction should again be noted down.

Rest of the project