Control NEMA 17 Stepper Motor With A4988 Driver and Arduino

In this tutorial we will use stepper driver A4988, NEMA17 stepper motor, Arduino Uno and Visuino to run a stepper motor for a certain amount of steps.

Watch the video!

Step 1: What You Will Need

• Arduino UNO (Or any other Arduino)
• Stepper motor NEMA 17
• A4988 Stepper Motor Driver or (DRV8825)
• Optional DRV8825/A4988 Stepper Driver Expansion Module
• Jumper wires
• Breadboard
• Power Supply 12V
• Visuino program: Download Visuino

Step 2: Brought by PCBWay

Thank you PCBWay for supporting this tutorial and helping users learn more about electronics.

What I like about the PCBWay is that you can get 10 boards for approximately $5 which is really cost effective for professional made boards, not to mention how much time you save!

Go check them out here. They also offer a lot of other stuff in case you might need it like assembly, 3D printing, CNC machining and a lot more.

Step 3: The Circuit

Step 4: Start Visuino, and Select the Arduino UNO Board Type

The Visuino: https://www.visuino.com also needs to be installed. Download Free version or register for a Free Trial.

Start Visuino as shown in the first picture Click on the “Tools” button on the Arduino component (Picture 1) in Visuino When the dialog appears, select “Arduino UNO” as shown on Picture 2

Step 5: In Visuino Add Components

Step 6: In Visuino Set Components

How to set the amount of steps, for example 20000 steps:

• Select “CompareRange1” component and in the properties set “Include Limits” to True and “Range” > “Max” to 20000

This means that as long as the number is within the range of 20000 the Motor should run

How to set the Motor Direction:

• To set the motor direction the “Value” of the “DigitalValue1” in the properties window should be either True or False

How to set the Motor Speed:

• Select “PulseGenerator1” and in the properties window set “Frequency” to 1200 or less, you can set it to a higher number but the motor might have problems spinning at that speed
• Select “PulseGenerator1” and in the properties window select “Enabled” and click on the Pin Icon and select Boolean SinkPin

Step 7: In Visuino Connect Components

• Connect “Counter1” Pin [Out] to “CompareRange1” Pin [In]
• Connect “CompareRange1” Pin[Out] to “PulseGenerator1” Pin [Enabled]
• Connect “PulseGenerator1” Pin[Out] to “DigitalMultiSource1” Pin [In]
• Connect “DigitalMultiSource1” Pin[0] to “TFlipFlop1” Pin [Clock]
• Connect “DigitalMultiSource1” Pin[1] to “Counter1” Pin [In]
• Connect “TFlipFlop1” Pin[Out] to Arduino Board Digital Pin [2]
• Connect “DigitalValue1” Pin[Out] to Arduino Board Digital Pin [3]

Step 8: Generate, Compile, and Upload the Arduino Code

In Visuino, at the bottom click on the “Build” Tab, make sure the correct port is selected, then click on the “Compile/Build and Upload” button.

Step 9: Play