STP8X Misbehaving

[Insanity]

Does anybody know anything about STP8X Actuators?

I have one to steer the laser into my gratings, however the mirror on the arm is in the wrong place. It is on the left, dropping down as you look at it and I want it on the right lifting up. So I thought common sense prevails and rotated the arm 180 degrees, now the actuator is all over the place...

Any help would be appreciated as usual

Cheers
Mark

[ImageLight]

Did you loosen the set screw on the arm when you repositioned it?

[Insanity]

I think I have it working now...

I loosened the screw on the arm and rotated it about 180 degrees and re tightened it. The problem I had was that the arm never returned to the same position. I am now using the bottom right screw in the image as a stop. So the arm starts against the screw head and moves up about 15mm when activated.

I think what I have done is right, but is this the correct set up or will I end up burning out the actuator?

Thanks again
Mark

[dave]

This sounds correct, as a stepper has no means of working out where it is... Therefore the stop is necessary to make the stepper find a home position..

[Insanity]

Thanks Dave...

There was no real manual with the actuator... Common sense said it had no position detector and needed stopping, but my worry was that the motor would strain if using a stop...

Now I'm a happy man

Thanks again
Mark