One Step Beyond...

I have just finished sheathing the stepper motor cables and wiring the end connector. I used 6mm diameter expanding braid sleeving to cover the stepper leads. I secured each end of this with adhesive impregnated heatshrink tubing. I'm not sure how long this will last, only time will tell.

The connector is a five way locking type, obviously the fifth pin is not used. The locking feature means that the stepper cannot be inadvertently disconnected whilst being driven. The pin assignments in the connector are as follows:-

1 = White

2 = Green

3 = Black

4 = Red

I realise that the above means nothing to any of you, but the more places I write it down, the less likely I am to forget it.

As mentioned earlier, the major mechanical part of this tool build is now complete. I will still have to make a hand wheel for the other end of the stepper shaft. This will allow manual operation of the table if required.

Here is a photograph of the (almost) complete motorised rotary table:-

And here is a view of the end connector:-

Tomorrow I will begin boxing up the electronics. Now, the bare minimum of front panel buttons would be five. These would be UP/DOWN LEFT/RIGHT and SELECT. Various trial button layouts on the front panel always looked cluttered, so I wanted to find a simpler solution.

You already know that I like a recycled component or two. Rummaging through my stock of useful parts, I found some small spring return to centre SPDT switches. So I can use one each of these for UP/DOWN LEFT/RIGHT and then one push button for SELECT.

Here is a view of one of these switches:-

More updates to follow.