stepper motors. can they be controlled manually?

Question

i need to power a stepper motor and i need to know the easiest way to do so. i know that under better conditions i would use a stepper program on a graphing calculator and a dcu but i have neither at the moment. can they be used without programming

ok i have 2 monetary on switches to work with but how do i hook them up. it would appear that i have (in a 6 wire configuration) 2 positive, 2 negative, a 2 brown wires are unknown to me.

Answer 1

Are your switches double throw? (three terminals, common, normally open, and normally closed) if so, then you can use them, however it might be a little easier to set up with 4 seperate single throw switches (and if the switches you have are single throw you'll need two more) What are you using for power? do you have a bi-polar supply (a positive voltage, a common terminal and a negative voltage)? or just a single supply?
If using a single supply, and a 6 lead motor, the center tap of the windings (might be the brown wires you mention) will be connected to one side of the supply and the other leads will be connected to the other side of the supply via the switches, if using two double throw switches, the common of the switch will go to the power supply and the normally open and normally closed terminals will go to specific motor windings, since I don't quite understand your description of the motor I can't tell you which wires to connect, but you may be able to find it by trial and error. If using four switches just connect one to each remaining lead, with four switches you will generally have to press two at a time (or at least some of the time if half stepping)

Answer 2

I see no reason why you cannot just use a momentary on switch to run the motor. You may need a forward reversing switch (6 or 8 terminals ) or just a common 2 terminal switch depending upon the motor configuration

Answer 3

Yes. An array if Oscilators like a 555 Timer in a Astable mode would work.