Sparkfun Big Easy Driver

With all the 3D printers and other projects sprouting up on the internet, it's good to know there's some easy ways to drive that stepper motor you salvaged out of the old office copier.

The Big Easy Driver uses the Allegro A4988 IC to push up to 2A per coil @ 30V through your motor, and includes onboard 5V/3.3V regulation so you don't have to worry about running logic power to each board. But be warned: Motor coils must be connected before wiring up, or you risk letting out the magic smoke! And running close to the 2A maximum does require additional cooling or additional heat-sinks. Also, the Vcc pin on the board is an OUTPUT, not input.

Each Big Easy Driver can drive up to a max of 2A per phase of a bi-polar stepper motor. It is a chopper microstepping driver which defaults to 16 step microstepping mode. It can take a maximum motor drive voltage of around 30V, and includes on-board 5V/3.3V regulation, so only one supply is necessary. Although this board should be able to run most systems without active cooling while operating at 1.4-1.7A/phase, a heatsink is required for loads approaching 2A/phase.

Note: This product is a collaboration with Brian Schmalz. A portion of each sales goes back to him for product support and continued development.

Features:

• Bi-polar Microstepping Driver
• 2A/Phase Max
• 1.4-1.7A/Phase w/o Heatsink
• Max Motor Drive Voltage: 30V
• On-board 5V/3.3V Regulation

Useful Links:

• Hookup Guide
• Design Site
• GitHub