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LabVIEW interfacing StepNet Copley Controls and CME2.0 to Control Stepper Motor

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I am new to this, and I would please like to ask how can I communicate between LabVIEW and Stepnet Copley Controls (and its Software CME2.0) to be able to send commands to the stepper motor from LabVIEW and Copley Controls is controlling the motor. Do I still need the CME2.0?
Help me with a chain of thought, how to start, and what steps are needed on LabVIEW?

 

Thanks

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Accepted by SamA2026

Hi Sam,

 

Looks like the Stepnet motor driver is what we call a "communication-based" driver, it can accept commands coming from your PC/PLC via RS-232.  Here's how I would get started:

 

1. Use the Copley Controls CME 2.0, and see if you can control the motor from this tool.  This would be a good foundational check to see if all of the hardware is working properly.  You don't want to go down the rabbit hole of LabVIEW, without knowing that the hardware is OK.

 

2. Refer to the Copley Controls documentation to see how to send commands to the motor driver via the RS-232 port.  A good keyword to search for in the manuals is "ASCII".  Anytime ASCII comes in documentation, it means you can send a string command to the motor driver.  You'll probably need at least 2-3 basic commands, such as "move motor" and "stop motor".  (I won't dive into the commands for Copley, as it's different for each vendor.)

 

3. Use the example finder in LabVIEW and find a VI called "Serial Read and Write.vi".  For RS-232, make sure your baud rate settings are correct, and try to send a command from LabVIEW from the PC RS-232 port to the motor driver RS-232.  If it works, great!  Try out different commands and see if they all work as expected. 

 

If everything is successful, you should have proved that you can send commands to the Copley driver from LabVIEW.  From here, you can continue to develop your LabVIEW application, which is another field of discussion.

 

If the above doesn't work, the Stepnet driver also accepts I/O-based commands in the form of digital pulses.  In this case, you'll need a motion controller or a PLC to produce these pulses.  Check this out for a LabVEW-compatible motion controller: https://geco-lv.com/geco-motion.html

 

Hope this helps.

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Thank you! Happy New Year! I just got back from the holidays and I will start implementing your feedback 😄

 

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Yes, this is the right approach!  I'm currently working on a subset of commands for the Copley Stepnet STP-075-07 controlling an Intellidrives rotary stage. Would be glad to share info with the OP above as I progress.

Cheers,

Ted

 

PS-- the CME v8 software has an ASCII command line feature where you can test individual commands with a known working interface.  Once you see how your command works there, you can use that text as part of your serial interface vi.

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Thank you!

Yes that would be great 🙂

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Have you made progress?

i was pulled away from this project for a while.

 If you’re still pending I can check my code and see what might help you.

 

 Regards,

 Ted Anderson

 Original Code Consulting 

Boulder, CO

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