[EZMEF]

Is it bad to rotate an unpowered stepper motor?
I want to set up my limit switches,, but I don’t have my G540 set up yet. So I was going to use a drill on the back side of my 2 shafted stepper motor to move my axis’s. Will this harm the stepper motor?
Or I will have to take off my motors and set up couplers and a shaft.

Thx EZ

[Al_The_Man]

Never had a problem with it, why do you suspect there may be?
The harm is often when the rotor is removed from the stator.

[EZMEF]

I just didn’t know if you could wreck them by spinning them. I need to move my axis to set up my limit switches while I wait for my SmoothStepper to arrive. Also the steppers are not wired up. Thought it might be fine to do so, just like double checking.
Thx for the reply.
EZ

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I just didn’t know if you could wreck them by spinning them. I need to move my axis to set up my limit switches while I wait for my SmoothStepper to arrive. Also the steppers are not wired up. Thought it might be fine to do so, just like double checking.
Thx for the reply.
EZ

[phomann]

I just didn’t know if you could wreck them by spinning them. I need to move my axis to set up my limit switches while I wait for my SmoothStepper to arrive. Also the steppers are not wired up. Thought it might be fine to do so, just like double checking.
Thx for the reply.
EZ

Hi,
A couple of things to keep in mind.
1. As the steppers are not wired, if two of the wires that are part of the same coil in the stepper touch each other, it will be difficult to rotate the motor. It effectively applies a brake on the motor
2. When you do wire them up and connect them to your controller, turning the motor by hand will generate energy and "push" it into the controller. Some controllers are sensitive to this and it can harm the stepper driver in the controller. That said many good quality drivers such as Geckodrives have protection against this.

Cheers,

Peter