Hi, encouraged by @bluehash I’d like to present a small project I am currently working on … maybe this is interesting for some of you …
I needed to integrate a stepper motor into a project I’m working on, and quickly found the EasyDriver by Brian Schmalz the easiest way to do so. To have a nice, small package I decided to make a custom MSP430 board for this purpose. As you can see on the images, the dimensions of the board (designed with DipTrace, fabricated by OshPark) equals those of the EasyDriver PCB.
I made a cut-out on the PCB to have easier access to the motor-pins of the EasyDriver, so that I can use a female header or screw terminals to quickly (dis)connect the stepper motor.
I’m using a MSP430G2452 (TSSOP-20) on my board, the DC jack is for the 12v motor power supply. The MSP430 is powered by the 3.3v output of the EasyDriver (nice feature, so you don’t need a LDO). I also added space for two LEDs (power and status) and two buttons (e.g. for start/stop/reverse). For programming I’m using Energia and a G2-Launchpad with a small Pogo-Pin-Adapter. You can see the four corresponding holes (VSS, RST, TST, GND) near the 47k-Reset-Resistor.
So, nothing world changing, but I’m happy enough that everything is working as expected. I'm still thinking about a revision of this PCB - I initially planned to flip the EasyDriver PCB so that the large cap is facing towards the MSP-board. That would give an even smaller package – but since the A3967 on the EasyDriver produces a lot of heat, I’m not sure if this would be a good idea (esp. in an enclosure). Maybe someone here can share his thoughts on that with me …
Best wishes
yosh