Hi, I have built a microscope out of curiosity and out of the standard parts listed on the website.
I decided to buy he sangaboard v0.5.5 from the preferred supplier.
I cannot, however get the steppers to turn. The buzz and vibrate, but do not produce any motion. I have tried unmounting the X axis from the microscope and have even removed the cog, but no luck.
I have installed the sangaboard extension and tried the release and beta firmware.
I have also tried 3 usb-pd PSUs. And apple 61W, a belkin hub and a battery. All claim 5V3A support.
I am at a loss as to where to go next. Any assistance would be much appreciated.
Welcome to the Forum. I don’t think it will be a power problem, the Pi itself will complain about low voltage first. Buzzing sounds as though the coils are not being energised in the right order. This would be very odd, the motors would need to be wired differently from the standard wiring. Are you using the Microscope with a screen directly? The power warnings come as a lightning symbol at the top right of the screen.
We might be able to see something about the motor wiring if you can post a photo of the wires in the plug and the wires where they come out under the plastic part of the motor. If you have an Arduino Uno or Nano, then a test making a version of the electronics workaround gives you a build with the little LEDs so that you can see which wires are energised, and it gives the ability to swap the wiring order to test. It is not worth trying if you have not already got an Arduino and are familiar with using it.
Do the other functions of the microscope work? You should be able to calibrate the camera, and you should be able to focus the lens by hand if you lift off the motors.
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Hi,
Thankyou for the reply. I have attached some pictures of the wiring. All pretty standard. I am reasonably sure I have seated he motor connectors correctly. The photographed motor, I removed to see if it turned without any load.
The camera works ok and I was able to provide a focussed image when I removed the optical assembly as you suggested.
I am using the pi directly with a kvm., and have not seen any alerts of power issues. I also have not noticed anything getting unduly hot.
Thankyou again for your kind help.
edit: I can only post one pic at a time, so I will post a couple more replies
The stepper motor I am using. I think this is the recommended motor… Maybe a faulty batch?
It is often the unexpected that is the source of the problem, but photos always help! The motor photo is not the one that I thought we needed, but it clearly shows the issue. The motors that you have are wired for 12V operation, rather than 5V. The 28BYJ-48 designation unfortunately is not completely specific. They are almost always 5V, but occasionally there are other voltages and other gearing. To work with the Sangaboard you will need to have 5V motors.
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A good spot…and it does say on the BOM!
Thankyou for your help, I have ordered new motors, 5V this time on Amazon… Now what to do with 12V steppers?!
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