Re: translators, Drivers, indexers (For Jon E.)

Jon Elson wrote:

>No, absolutely not!<snip>
>A translator is different from a stepper driver. In fact, many of the
>translators were just devices to count out pulses, and were
>connected to a stepper driver to actually drive the motors.

Jon,

I think I'll let the WEB speak to this. I limited myself to 5 min.,
and didn't go to my "paper" archives including old superior
electric stuff.

BTW, the things with thumbwheels were called INDEXERS; unless they
included a driver. THEN they were called TRANSLATORS.

Ballendo

'*************************************************
from the eio stepper forum: (this is an old unipolar full step drive)

Hi,
Does the old Slo-Syn translator you got have any part numbers or ID
on it ?? It could be an old STM101 or something similar. It should
have 4 fairly large power transistors mounted on it ?
'**************************************************
from the eio stepper forum:

I have a drawing for a translator unit for full and half step motor
operation, Oriental model number CSD2112-T the 2 phase driver.
Information on the faxed drawing is not clear from the standpoint of
control lines. I need to get control pin connections, definitions and
logic levels required to operate the translator/driver.
'***************************************************
from the laser surplus site:

Slo-Syn STM-103 Translator Modules
Slo-Syn STM-103 modules / Plug in type stepper motor driver cards /
SEVERAL AVAILABLE (Price US Dollars $30.00)
'****************************************************
from the Journal of the Home Metal Shop Club of Houston:

But the Superior Electric division (once just Superior Electric,
Inc.) of Warner/Dana is the "granddaddy" of stepper-motor
manufacture, and they now also offer quite a number of "translator-
drives"
'****************************************************
from the journal of the Home Metal Shop Club of Houston:

A stepper-motor translator/driver circuit has at least two inputs per
motor which make the motor "step" CW or CCW, either of two ways: One
way (I prefer!) is that ONE of these two lines pulses "HI" (to 5VDC)
and "LO" (0 VDC) again to make a step in the CW direction, and the
OTHER line does the same to make a step in the CCW direction. The
opposing line remains "LO" when either is stepping.
'******************************************************
from Dan Mauch Camtronics website:

NEW 9-1-98!! 5AMP 3 axis stepper motor translator drivers -
Introducing the worlds first 5amps per phase bipolar stepper motor
driver kit. Easy to assemble. Uses step and direction pulses. Half
step mode for finer resolution and anti-resonance.
'*******************************************************
from Camtronics site:

NEW 3-3-98 SINGLE AXIS DRIVERS
FEATURES:
* 2amp per phase Bipolar Chopper translator-driver
'********************************************************
from ability systems website:

What Else Do I Need?
All step motor systems must consist of an indexer, translator-driver
and motor. The indexer portion of the system controls timing and
direction for each step of motion. Under control of the indexer, the
translator-driver powers the motor windings so that each step of
motion is accomplished.
'********************************************************

P.S.
Surely these are the kinds of examples the members of this list will
come up against!

If we want to get MORE technical and historical, it is the
TRANSLATION of the CW/CCW pulse trains to the phase information the
motor needs. (for those on the list, most early stepper systems used
two inputs: one to move CW, the other to move CCW. This LATER was
refined to the step/dir most common today)