OK, so I have searched on the net to find the answer to this and I can't find a suitable answer, so I am turning to everyone here:) I have a stepper motor: 5 phase stepping motor A5729-9115FV DC 2.0A 0.34 OHMS/PHASE 0.72deg/ Step FG6-5569 01 xx8n601918 oriental motor co.ltd My question about this, is if there is a way to drive this motor without using an IC chip. From what I gather this motor is a Unipolar motor, it has 5 leads.I have the components to put an H-bridge together, but I don't know if that will actually drive this motor, coupled with the fact that I am new to building circuits.

The other type is the unipolar stepper motor, it is 4-phase brushless motor which has 5 or 6 wires. The popular controlling modes of of the stepper motor are: full step and half step. The full step can be divided into 2 types: one-phase and two-phase. In full step one-phase mode the driver energizes one coil at a time.

Buying an IC is not really an option at this point for me(I know they are cheap, but I have salvaged all my components and I am trying to do this without spending money). If someone would be so kind as to give me some pointers, I would greatly appreciate it.

How fast do you need to turn it How accurate do you need it to be What are you trying to do with it. Where are you in the world. YOU could drive it with 5 switches and do everything manually. You could cycle it with a few transistors and some timer ics but your unlikely to be able to do this at all well with a small number of components you just happen to have around or found in old equipment. You could spend 2 or 3 $ on a microprocessor and a hand full of transistors. Easier to buy a designed driver IC - but you already know that. It is true, I really wanted to source this from the equipment I have managed to salvage, but it really may boil down to just buying the IC's.

I intend to use this motor in a CNC application so it needs to be pretty accurate, as far as speed, I don't think it will need to be all that fast. I have numerous stepper motors that are smaller in size and I was thinking about going the SLS route, I have a few laser diodes salvaged from DVD-RW drives, but that is another beast all together, at this point I am just trying to get the base and gantry made and moving. Thanks for the input!