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This Project is just beginning.......

2. Construct the control Computer

1.

Buy the Computer

  • Measures 2.0" x 0.9" x 0.3" (51mm x 23mm x 8mm) without headers soldered in

  • Light as a (large?) feather - 5.8 grams

  • ATSAMD21G18 @ 48MHz with 3.3V logic/power

  • No EEPROM

  • 3.3V regulator with 500mA peak current output

  • USB native support, comes with USB bootloader and serial port debugging

  • You also get tons of pins - 20 GPIO pins

  • Hardware Serial, hardware I2C, hardware SPI support

  • 8 x PWM pins

  • 10 x analog inputs

  • 1 x analog output

  • Built in 100mA lipoly charger with charging status indicator LED

  • Pin #13 red LED for general purpose blinking

  • Power/enable pin

  • 4 mounting holes

  • Reset button

  • SX127x LoRa® based module with SPI interface

  • Packet radio with ready-to-go Arduino libraries

  • Uses the license-free ISM bands (ITU "Europe" @ 433MHz and ITU "Americas" @ 900MHz)

  • +5 to +20 dBm up to 100 mW Power Output Capability (power output selectable in software)

  • ~300uA during full sleep, ~120mA peak during +20dBm transmit, ~40mA during active radio listening.

  • Simple wire antenna or spot for uFL connector

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2.

Buy the Motor Controller

  • 4 full H-Bridges: the TB6612 chipset provides 1.2A per bridge with thermal shutdown protection, internal kickback protection diodes. Can run motors on 4.5VDC to 13.5VDC.

  • Up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 12-bit speed selection (so, about 0.02% resolution)

  • Up to 2 stepper motors (unipolar or bipolar) with single coil, double coil, interleaved or micro-stepping.

  • Motors automatically disabled on power-up

  • Big 3.5mm terminal block connectors to easily hook up wires (18-26AWG) and power

  • Polarity protected 2-pin terminal block and jumper to connect external power, for separate logic/motor supplies

  • Completely stackable design: 5 address-select jumper pads means up to 32 stackable wings: that's 64 steppers or 128 DC motors! What on earth could you do with that many steppers? I have no idea but if you come up with something send us a photo because that would be a pretty glorious project.

  • Download the easy-to-use Arduino software library, check out the examples and you're ready to go!

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3.

Assemble the Computer and Driver Boards

Follow Directions Carefully

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4.

Buy 2 Motors

  • 200 steps per revolution, 1.8 degrees

  • Coil #1: Red & Yellow wire pair. Coil #2 Green & Brown/Gray wire pair.

  • Bipolar stepper, requires 2 full H-bridges!

  • 4-wire, 8 inch leads

  • 42mm/1.65" square body

  • 31mm/1.22" square mounting holes, 3mm metric screws (M3)

  • 5mm diameter drive shaft, 24mm long, with a machined flat

  • 12V rated voltage (you can drive it at a lower voltage, but the torque will drop) at 350mA max current

  • 28 oz*in, 20 N*cm, 2 Kg*cm holding torque per phase

  • 35 ohms per winding

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Thank You For Looking!

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