step motor DAQ /serial/ LPT or ???

[pern]

Hi

I need to make a setup to control how many bend a wire can handle before it breaks.

Currently I’m controlling a stepmotor using Labview and a DAQ-USB 6009

I’m using Digital I/O to generate the CLK and controlling the Direction and Enable.

I also use the Analog input to measure a DC voltage.

So flow is “one step” , ”take measurement”, “one step”,  “take measurement” (e.g. 150steps) ….. “turn direction “ repeat

However my setup is not stable, be course  of the software timing.

Is there a better way of doing this? Using a com port? Or a LPT or a ????

(remember the step and the measurement need to be synchronized)

Thanks 🙂

[Wes_P]

Ideally, you would have a motion controller, which will generate pulses deterministically instead of hacking it with a 6009. Ultimately, if you want to use hardware timing instead of software timing, you will need to have some hardware that can support what you are wanting to do. You could do something like have a limit switch that your motor activates when it reaches its forward limit, and use that to trigger an analog voltage acquisition.