Stepper motor jittering

Question

I'm trying to make a nema17 stepper motor work using ramps1.4 and A4988 driver.
But when I'm trying to rotate motor, it spins with almost no torque and constant shaking.

Motor 2-phase nema17 , Step Angle 1.8° .
Power supply 12v/60w.

Here is the sketch:
(I copied it from RepRap wiki , and removed everything except X Motor)

#define X_STEP_PIN         54
#define X_DIR_PIN          55
#define X_ENABLE_PIN       38

void setup() 
{
  pinMode(X_STEP_PIN       , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(X_DIR_PIN        , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(X_ENABLE_PIN     , OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(X_ENABLE_PIN, LOW);
}

void loop () 
{    
  if (millis() % 10000 < 5000) 
  {
    digitalWrite(X_DIR_PIN    , HIGH);
  }
  else
  {
    digitalWrite(X_DIR_PIN    , LOW);
  }

  digitalWrite(X_STEP_PIN     , HIGH);
  delay(1);
  digitalWrite(X_STEP_PIN     , LOW);    
}

The wiring diagram:
(I have only X Motor plugged in)

and video: (Google Video link is dead @ 2017-02-09)

Does the stepper motor breakout have a potentiometer to set the maximum current? — Gerben, Dec 11 '16 at 14:40

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 11 '16 at 14:31

1

Add a second delay after:

digitalWrite(X_STEP_PIN , LOW);

Also try increasing the delay maybe you are pulsing the step pin too fast.

answered Dec 11 '16 at 14:31

Andre Courchesne

676
5
11

Nothing changed , it keeps doing the same , but slower . – haxscramper Dec 11 '16 at 14:43
Have you tried removing your if that control the dir pin? – Andre Courchesne Dec 11 '16 at 14:47
You may also want to check your driver current: https://www.pololu.com/product/1182/faqs – Andre Courchesne Dec 11 '16 at 14:50
If i remove if completely it is just shaking . If i remove if , but leave `digitalWrite(X_DIR_PIN , HIGH);` it keeps doing the same thing . – haxscramper Dec 11 '16 at 14:55
Yes , checked driver current limit , it is set to 700mA and motor has Rated current of 400mA . – haxscramper Dec 11 '16 at 15:05
And you did try with a different step motor and driver right ? – Andre Courchesne Dec 11 '16 at 15:06
Yes i tried three different motors and two drivers but nothing changed . – haxscramper Dec 11 '16 at 15:08
How is your power connected to the arduino and driver board? Ground is common ? – Andre Courchesne Dec 11 '16 at 15:10
And i also forgot to mention that copied code from RepRap wiki and just removed everything except X Motor . But original code does the same thing . [link](http://reprap.org/wiki/File:RAMPS1.4_TestCode.pde) – haxscramper Dec 11 '16 at 15:10
Yes ground is common , if i understand everything correctly . – haxscramper Dec 11 '16 at 15:41
According to the A4988 datasheet the driver requires 200ns setup time to read signals MS1, MS2, MS3, RESET and DIR, before the STEP signal can be set. Maybe all you need is delay(1) at the end of void setup(){}? – Filip Franik Aug 14 '17 at 11:17

Stepper motor jittering

1 Answers1