More advanced drivers also provide a serial port or a USB interface for configuring and tuning the motor parameters. The configuration of the main driver parameters like microstepping and motor current is usually done using DIP switches.
Some driver enclosures are even suited for direct mounting on the back of a stepper motor. Often, the enclosure doubles as a heatsink for the electronics inside. Industrial drivers are commonly used for a broad range of applications and come mostly in an enclosure with terminal blocks for connecting power, the motor leads and control signals. This is mainly a problem in more demanding applications like CNC.įurthermore, stepsticks don’t offer electrical isolation between the motor power supply and the control signals, making them less suitable for complex motion control systems. Due to their very small size, most use driver ICs with integrated MOSFET bridges that tend to overheat on small boards with almost no copper planes, even with a heatsink mounted on top. While stepsticks are small and easily swappable, they also have a number of disadvantages. Modern 3D printing software like Marlin supports these drivers and can even autotune the motor drivers via the SPI interface during printing for best results. SilentStepSticks not only allow the printer to run silently but also help to achieve better, smoother and more consistent print results.īesides the standard Enable, Step and Dir signals used to control the motor position, speed and direction, the TMC2130 and TMC5160 based stepsticks also have an SPI interface that allows tuning and configuring several driver parameters. When using less advanced drivers, stepper motor noise may become objectionable soon. These SilentStepSticks are a good choice for 3D printing applications, especially during lenghty print jobs. Some of the better stepsticks are the so-called SilentStepSticks built around Trinamic stepper driver ICs of which the TMC2100 and TMC2130 are the most popular ones. Stepsticks come in many flavours allowing you to choose from a range of driver ICs from several semiconductor manufacturers.
They consist of a small PCB with a stepper motor driver IC and pinheader connectors allowing the module to be plugged into a larger board. If you are into hobby projects involving stepper motors or if you are building 3D printers, you are probably familiar with stepstick drivers.
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