Please drop me a line. This list is guaranteed to be incomplete. If a place you know of is missing, please let me add it to the list. Sunrise Electronics Plano and Arapaho Carrollton, TX Dallas Surplus Electronics 2640 Northaven Blvd. In this article we'll discuss the various types of stepper motors, coil configurations, wire arrangements and drive schemes and hopefully help the robot hobbyists make use of these delightful actuators.
Lets start with a brief description of the stepper motor.
Attached to the motor's shaft is a special permanent magnet with gear-like teeth. Attached to the case of the motor is a series of coils also known as windings or phases. These coils can be energized through the motor's wires creating an electromagnetic field. This field causes the permanent magnet to move so the fields are aligned. This motion is called a step since the motor's shaft only moves a certain distance and does not simply rotate endlessly like other motors.