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NR360S Motorized 360° Rotation Stage
Chapter 3
Operation
3.1
Using the Nanorotator
3.1.1
Background
The hybrid stepper motor used in the actuator, with its rotor that consists of 50
individual magnetic teeth, is ideally suited for micro-stepping applications. Aside from
the obvious increase in resolution provided by increasing the steps per revolution
from 200 to 409,600, micro-stepping also ensures smoother low speed motion by
allowing the discrete 1.8º step size, which produces vibrational noise, to be reduced
to much smaller steps with inherently lower resultant vibrational noise.
The rotation stage utilizes a worm gear assembly which provides one complete
rotation of the platform for every 66 turns of the stepper motor. When used with the
APT™ Series stepper motor controller, the stepper motor provides 409,600 steps per
revolution resulting in 66 x 409,600 steps per revolution of the stage. This results in a
360/(66 x 409,600)° or 13.3 x 10
-6
degrees of platform rotation per microstep.
The Nanorotator is connected to the Stepper Motor Controller via a flying lead
terminated in a D-type type connector. A 3m extension cable (PAA613) is also
supplied.
Manual control of the Nanorotator can be achieved by switching off the drive to the
motors. Please refer to the relevent controller manual.
3.2
Selecting the Stage Type
To ensure that a particular stage is driven properly by the system, a number of parameters
must first be set. These parameters relate to the physical characteristics of the stage being
driven (e.g. min and max positions, leadscrew pitch, homing direction etc.).
To assist in setting these parameters correctly, it is possible to associate a specific stage
type and axis with the motor controller channel. Once this association has been made, the
server applies automatically, suitable default parameter values on boot up of the software.
Caution
The relevant stepper motor controller or channel must be switched off/disabled
before the Nanorotator is plugged in or unplugged. Failure to switch the controller
off may result in damage to either the controller, the Nanorotator, or both.
Caution
The electrical limit switch does not operate when the motor is being turned by hand.
Care must be taken to to avaid fouling if the drive is turned past the limit switch.
