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Two Steppers - One Driver

Discussion in 'Controller Boards' started by nbuckles, Jun 16, 2017.

  1. nbuckles

    nbuckles New
    Builder

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    Hey all,

    I'm working on a project and have come to the point where I need to use two stepper motors to drive lead screws to lift a Z axis gantry instead of one. If possible, I'm hoping to use one driver to control both motors as they should always be moving at the same speed and direction.

    Can you wire up two of the same stepper motors to one driver? Would they be connected in series or parallel? I'm guessing series as the driver is a "constant" current source.

    The motors: NEMA 17, 76 oz-in, DC 1.68 A/phase, 2.8 mH/phase inductance, bi-polar
    NEMA 17 Stepper Motor


    The driver: DQ542MA, 1.0A - 4.2A output current, 24V power supply, average current controlled 2-phase driver
    DQ542MA Stepper Motor Driver


    Questions:

    1) The rating of 1.68A/phase is RMS, correct?
    2) The rating of 1.68A/phase, does this mean that the 2-phase controller needs to supply 1.68A/phase * 2 phases = 3.36A?
    3) Can two of these steppes be driven by one driver in parallel without fire and brimstone?
    4) What are the tradeoffs here?


    For further reference, this is some further development of some previous work:

    NEMA 17 - DQ542MA - Arduino Stepper Setup
     
  2. nbuckles

    nbuckles New
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    Rick 2.0 likes this.
  3. Gary Caruso

    Gary Caruso OpenBuilds Volunteer
    Staff Member Moderator Builder

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    Yes you can do that no problem, with those nema17 steppers you will have plenty of power with the DQ542MA, connect in parallel.. and yes you add the amps.
    With drive screws they will be moving the same direction so keep wire colors the same from both motors.
    With the x-carve I used to have they run two nema23's with one channel off a little grbl type shield, not a problem!
     

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