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Two-, and Three-Channel Stepper Motor Controller
when contact is made. Select Rev Switch or Fwd Switch as required, then select the
relevant operation.
Switch Makes - The switch closes on contact
Switch Breaks - The switch opens on contact
Ignore/Absent - The switch is missing, or should be ignored.
Motor
These parameters are used to set the 'resolution' characteristics of the stepper motor
connected to the selected channel. The resolution of the motor, combined with other
characteristics (such as lead screw pitch) of the associa ted actuator or stag e,
determines the overall resolution.
Steps Per Rev - T he number of full steps per re volution of the stepp er motor
(minimum '1', maximum '10000').
Gearbox Ratio - The ratio of the gearbox. For example, if the gearbox has a reduction
ratio of X:1 (i.e. every 1 turn at the output of the gearbox requires X turns of the motor
shaft) then the Gearbox Ratio value is set to X. (minimum '1', maximum '1000').
Note
The Gearbox Ratio parameter is applicable only to motors fitted with a
gearbox.
Note
The ‘Steps Per Rev’ and ‘Gearbox Ratio’ parameters, together with the
‘Pitch’ and ‘Units’ parameters are used to calculate the calibration factor
for use when converting real world units to microsteps. However, the
‘Steps Per Rev’ parameter is entered as full steps, not microsteps. The
system automatically applies a factor of 128 microsteps per full step.
The stepper motors used on the majority of Thorlabs stages/actuators
have 200 full steps per rev and no gearbox fitted. For these motors the
Steps Per Rev and Gearbox Ratio parameters have values of 200 and 1
respectively.
The correct default values for Steps Per Rev and Gearbox Ratio are
applied automatically when the APTConfig.exe utility is used to associate
a specific stage or actuator type with a motor channel. See the APTConfig
helpfile and the tutorial Section 3.6. for more details.
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