MiaoDX / AccelStepperDecorate

AccelStepperDecorate, a wrapper and decoration of AccelStepper

ATTENTION! This library is still under heavy development, and to be honest, I make it a library just to test the functions more convenient (we can have more that one example to use the source code)

I will put more examples and design principle latter (hope won't be too long).

AccelStepperDecorate

We wrap and extend AccelStepper to provide more useful functions for our platform, aka AccelStepperDecorate and MultiStepperDecorate.

Usage

1.Download the original AccelStepper lib

Sketch -> Include Library -> Manage Libraries

Search AccelStepper and download. It should be in C:\Users\<Your-User-Name>\Documents\Arduino\libraries folder.

2.Clone and try the examples we provide and make sure put it in the libraries folder.

pwd
# C:\Users\<Your-User-Name>\Documents\Arduino\libraries
git clone https://github.com/MiaoDX/AccelStepperDecorate.git

TODO

• More examples
• Communicate with outside for a more usable perspective
• Documents

Some tips to use AccelStepper:

Use Driver version stepper

// For RAMPS 1.4
#define X_STEP_PIN         54
#define X_DIR_PIN          55
#define X_ENABLE_PIN       38
//#define X_MIN_PIN           3
//#define X_MAX_PIN           2
AccelStepper stepper(AccelStepper::DRIVER, X_STEP_PIN, X_DIR_PIN);

Use ENABLE_PIN

  stepper.setPinsInverted(false, false, true); // possibly inverted pin(this is true for rasp board)
  stepper.setEnablePin(X_ENABLE_PIN);

Disable pins to save energy and avoid stepper being too hot

  stepper.moveTo(800);
  stepper.runToPosition();
  stepper.disableOutputs();

Lesson Learned

Stop pin

We are using digitalRead to read a analog sensor (the Hall element), it's ugly but doable.

If the sensor reach LOW, then it will always emits LOW signal, otherwise, it will emits a wave, so it won't always be LOW.

So, we read the sensor via digitalRead many times (say, 20), and if all results are LOW, we (correctly) assume it is a true LOW, otherwise, it's not.

Maybe it's better to use analogRead provided by arduino, the problem is we are using RAMP1.4, which expose additional 6 digital stop pins by default, if we do not break it (to let the analog free by bend the pins), it's a replaceable and acceptable solution. Until other problems show up, we will stick to this workaround.

Oh, and don't forget we are using INPUT_PULLUP for our range pins (HIGH means still safe to move, so is default value).

pinMode(outRangePinPositive, INPUT_PULLUP);
pinMode(outRangePinNegative, INPUT_PULLUP);

Update

20170515, the limit stop function OK! 20170419, We made it a library!