Foo - unipolar or bipolar steppers?

my uncle sent me 3 brand new stepper motors for my birthday (sunday) :D . Heres the problem:
I know very little about these things and I need some way of determining if they are unipolar or bipolar motors. My instincts tell me they are unipolar but i won't trust that. Is there some way of determining if they are uni or bipolar?

Watch for mood swings? :lol:

Happy early birthday PC2. I always enjoy your enthusiastic posts. I remember when I was a young, idealistic engineer, instead of the jaded old crow I am today.

I would say they are unipolar. I'd have to do some research. I haven't used steppers in about 24 years!

Doesn't the documentation for the DIY CNC board tell you about the steppers? I would just plug them in and go...what's the worst that can happen?

*do you smell smoke?*

Alright here is what i know about the steppers:
THey are from Japan Servo Co.
They are unipolar (confirmed)
The number they have is KH56KM2B093

Im trying to avoid the smoke ;)

What exactly is a "stepper motor"? anyone have a picture of one?

For future reference, here's a good article on how to tell the two apart:

http://www.eio.com/jasstep.htm#types

With the Mfg. and P/N you can search very quickly for the spec sheet...usually...

Im trying to avoid the smoke ;)

Actually you need the smoke. That's how it works. All electrical devices use smoke for their operation. Since smoke is warm it heats up the device during operation (feel a motor that's been running for a while). The problem comes when you let the smoke out of the device, as evidenced by a rising dark cloud. Then, as you know, it stops working.



What exactly is a "stepper motor"? anyone have a picture of one?

A motor that moves in pulses, with each pulse being a known amount of rotation. They're very useful if position is important, since you can control the distance the motor is travelling by counting the pulses you give it (electronically, of course).

Stepper Motors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor)
Motors in General (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motor)

alright now thats all figured out. I need a power supply and i THINK thats it.

What exactly is a "stepper motor"? anyone have a picture of one?

Look in your inkjet printer, that's a stepper motor.
Basically, you THINK the printhead's shushing across the paper left and right spraying down crap. It's not.
It's a stepper motor that basically moves the print head a bit, stops, sprays ink, then moves, stops, sprays ink, moves, etc. It's just stepping so fast you think it's one continuous smooth motion back and forth. And it's doing this thousands of times a minute back and forth.