I see some StepSticks locally available for approx. $5. Did you mean these?
Anyway, I'd like to try building my own driver with the parts I got right on my desk: L293D and ATtiny85. There are some free evenings coming during Christmas and I can spend them over the breadboard and learn something before any new components arrive. If I understand the protocol well, in the microcontroller I should:
And it seems that halfstepping is possible on L293D (or perhaps even microstepping if I harness PWM into the process), so there's a lot to learn :)
Anyway, I'd like to try building my own driver with the parts I got right on my desk: L293D and ATtiny85. There are some free evenings coming during Christmas and I can spend them over the breadboard and learn something before any new components arrive. If I understand the protocol well, in the microcontroller I should:
- code the truth table for the motor,
- provide an interrupt handler activated by raising slope on the STEP input,
- in the handler check DIR level and cycle over the truth table accordingly, then energize coils accordingly via the L293D.
And it seems that halfstepping is possible on L293D (or perhaps even microstepping if I harness PWM into the process), so there's a lot to learn :)