Robotics & CNC / Stepper Motors

Stepper motors are used for CNC machines, 3D printers, and whenever else one needs precise, powerful motion. But to get good behavior from steppers you need a motor driver chip that can provide high bursts of current, and for smooth motion, be able to PWM that current for microstepping support. You can DIY this with a lot of timers, a microcontroller and an H-Bridge...

Stepper motors are used for CNC machines, 3D printers, and whenever else one needs precise, powerful motion. But to get good behavior from steppers you need a motor driver chip that can provide high bursts of current, and for smooth motion, be able to PWM that current for microstepping support. You can DIY this with a lot of timers, a microcontroller and an H-Bridge...

Spin two DC motors, step one bi-polar or uni-polar stepper, or fire off two solenoids with 1.2A per channel using the TB6612. These are perhaps better known as "the drivers in our assembled Adafruit Motorshield or Motor HAT." We really like these dual H-bridges, so if you want to control motors without a shield or HAT these are easy to include on any solderless...

This tiny stepper motor is the same quality and step-size as the big NEMA-17's we stock, but so cute so it will work with compact CNC builds. This 4-wire bipolar stepper has 1.8° per step for smooth motion and a nice holding torque. The motor was specified to have a max current of 600mA so that it could be driven easily with an Adafruit motor shield for Arduino,...

Let your robotic dreams come true with the new DC+Stepper Motor HAT from Adafruit. This Raspberry Pi add-on is perfect for any motion project as it can drive up to 4 DC or 2 Stepper motors with full PWM speed control. Raspberry Pi and motors are not included. Works with any and all Raspberry Pi computers with 2x20 connection port. Since the Raspberry Pi does not have...

This is a great first stepper motor, good for small projects and experimenting with steppers. This uni-polar motor has a built in mounting plate with two mounting holes. There are only 32 step (11.25 degree) per revolution, and inside is a 1/16 reduction gear set. (Actually its 1/16.128 but for most purposes 1/16 is a good enough approximation) What this means is...

This is a great first stepper motor, good for small projects and experimenting with steppers. This uni-polar motor has a built-in mounting plate with two mounting holes. There are only 32 steps (11.25 degree) per revolution, and inside is a 1/16 reduction gear set. (Actually it's 1/16.128 but for most purposes, 1/16 is a good enough approximation) What this means is...

A Feather board without ambition is a Feather board without FeatherWings! This is the DC Motor + Stepper FeatherWing which will let you use 2 x bi-polar stepper motors or 4 x brushed DC motors (or 1 stepper and 2 DC motors). Using our Feather Stacking Headers or Feather Female Headers you can connect a FeatherWing on top or bottom of your Feather board and let the...

Stepper motors are used for CNC machines, 3D printers, and whenever else one needs precise, powerful motion. But to get good behavior from steppers, you need a motor driver chip that can provide high bursts of current, and for smooth motion, be able to PWM that current for microstepping support. You can DIY this with a lot of timers, a microcontroller, and an...

Let your robotic dreams come true with the new DC+Stepper Motor Bonnet from Adafruit. This Raspberry Pi add-on is perfect for any motion project as it can drive up to 4 DC or 2 Stepper motors with full PWM speed control. We basically took our super-popular DC+Stepper Motor HAT and squeezed it down and made it fully assembled - plug and play ready to go, no soldering...

Sometimes we wonder if robotics engineers ever watch movies. If they did, they'd know that making robots into servants always ends up in a robot rebellion. Why even go down that path? Here at Adafruit, we believe in making robots our friends! So if you find yourself wanting a companion, consider the robot. They're fun to program, and you can get creative with...

You have a stepper motor, but you need to attach it to your CNC project, eh? Not so easy if you don't have a stepper motor mount just like this fine one here! This mount will fit any NEMA-17 motor (with 31mm hole spacing) with four screws. There are two 30mm long slots, 30mm apart so you can easily attach it. Made of steel with welded 90-degree support triangles, its...

Connect this to that with a set-screw coupler. These couplers are made of machined aluminum and have a spiral cut that makes them slightly flexible so they can be fit to two shafts even if they are not perfectly co-linear and will help reduce binding effects. The way they're cut, they're a little springy in the X Y & Z linear axis but not in the rotational axis....

Sometimes we wonder if robotics engineers ever watch movies. If they did, they'd know that making robots into servants always ends up in a robot rebellion. Why even go down that path? Here at Adafruit, we believe in making robots our friends! So if you find yourself wanting a companion, consider the robot. They're fun to program, and you can get creative with...

This stepper motor is a little different than the large NEMA-17 types you may be used to. These are often used in gauges for motorcycles and cars to replace the old-style fully-analog type. They have extremely fine step precision of about 1/2 a degree per step, 600 steps for single stepping, fast response for quick movements, and a range of ~315° degrees. Their...

Run four solenoids, two DC motors, or one bi-polar or uni-polar stepper with up to 600mA per channel using the L293D. These are perhaps better known as "the drivers in our Adafruit Motorshield". If you accidentally damaged the drivers in a shield, you can use one of these puppies to replace it. Or you can breadboard something on your own! Each chip contains two full...

Create your very own Arduino-controlled 3-axis CNC machine with the gShield. The gShield for Arduino (formerly known as grblShield) is a complete hardware solution for Dank’s CNC motion control system called grbl. The gShield is compatible with the Uno and other 328p versions of the Arduino development platform. Version 5 is now compatible with running TinyG on...

The TinyG project is a high performance, USB based CNC 6-axis controller that supports XYZ linear and ABC rotary axes with 4 motor outputs. It is designed for small CNC applications and other applications that require highly controllable motion control. TinyG is meant to be a complete embedded solution for small or medium motor control. Main Features: Full,...

Get your Particle (formally known as Spark) Photon moving with a PhoBot Robotics shield. No, this is not a robot that makes you a delicious bowl of Vietnamese soup. Instead, it's a board from Simon Monk that's kind of like a Motorshield for your Spark Core or Particle Photon that makes controlling small robots easy! The board features bi-directional motor control...

Spin two DC motors or step one bi-polar or uni-polar stepper with up to 1.2A per channel using the DRV8833. This motor driver chip is a nice alternative to the TB6612 driver. Like that chip, you get 2 full H-bridges, but this chip is better for low voltage uses (can run from 2.7V up to 10.8V motor power) and has built in current limiting capability. We set it up for...

A stepper motor to satisfy all your robotics needs! This 4-wire bipolar stepper has 1.8° per step for smooth motion and a nice holding torque. The motor was specified to have a max current of 350mA so that it could be driven easily with an Adafruit motor shield for Arduino (or other motor driver) and a wall adapter or lead-acid battery. Some nice details include...

The original Adafruit Motorshield kit is one of our most beloved, so we decided to make something even better. We have upgraded the shield kit to make the bestest, easiest way to drive DC and Stepper motors. This shield will make quick work for your next robotics project! We kept the ability to drive up to 4 DC motors or 2 stepper motors but added many improvements:...

Sometimes we wonder if robotics engineers ever watch movies. If they did, they'd know that making robots into servants always ends up in a robot rebellion. Why even go down that path? Here at Adafruit, we believe in making robots our friends! So if you find yourself wanting a companion, consider the robot. They're fun to program, and you can get creative with...

For precise motion control, GT2 belts and pulleys offer excellent precision at a great price. This pulley is meant for use with GT2 6mm wide belts only - MXL belts will slip due to the different tooth profile. This pulley has 20 teeth, and a 5mm inner bore. Two set screws can be used to attach it firmly to any 5mm diameter shaft such as one of our stepper motors....

For precise motion control, GT2 belts and pulleys offer excellent precision at a great price. This pulley is meant for use with GT2 6mm wide belts only - MXL belts will slip due to the different tooth profile. This pulley has 36 teeth, and a 5mm inner bore. Two set screws can be used to attach it firmly to any 5mm diameter shaft such as our stepper motors. Full...

For precise motion control, GT2 belts and pulleys offer excellent precision at a great price. This pulley is meant for use with GT2 6mm wide belts only - MXL belts will slip due to the different tooth profile. This pulley has 20 teeth, and a 8mm inner bore. Two set screws can be used to attach it firmly to any 8mm diameter shaft. Full aluminum construction means...

These NEMA-23 Size Stepper Motors come to us from X-Carve, they're used by folks to make CNC machines so they're very strong, fast and reliable. In the X-Carve, these run the three axes on their routing machine and have pulleys pre-attached (see datasheet for the pulley specification). For wiring, there's a snap-in wiring harness This 4-wire bipolar stepper has...