how to use hard disk spindle motors - Electronic Circuits Projects Diagrams Free

mrmmani22 · 7th March 2006, 01:11 PM

hi every one
i m need to use hard disk spindle motor for my proj bcos it gives constant high rpm like 5400 or 7200rpm. i have some dumb harddisk. pls tell me how to run them. is it possible to use normal power transisotr to drive those motors. samsung harddisk motor comes with 4 wires and seagate harddisk motor comes with 3 wires. if i give a voltage to any of those pin the motor just jerks and stops.

**Nigel Goodwin** · 7th March 2006, 01:35 PM

Presumably they are DC brushless motors?, and the electronics required to make them work will be on the PCB. I've just taken a number of Maxtor drives to pieces, and they have four surface-mount power transistors feeding the motor windings.

maazbuzdar · 26th June 2009, 07:12 AM

Hi every1....!!!
I've a maxtor 40GB HD's spindle motor(4 terminals). when i supplied 12volt & ground to its 4 terminals one by one....it jerked only. i know there must be a circuit running it properly but how can i make such a circuit (as the one in HD)...???
Also tell me how to identify the four terminals of motor..?
plz if anyone has some idea share it with me....

**Nigel Goodwin** · 26th June 2009, 10:04 AM

Try reading the previous post - you can't just supply power to it.

Frankco · 26th June 2009, 02:49 PM

Hi mrmmani22,

You can send a timed pulse to each of the windings using a 555 timer and a 8-bit shift register. It's not very efficient to turn it this way but it will work.

To find the common wire test the ohms across each of the three windings. One wire will give you a slight lower value. That's the center tap.

There are some new chips out on the market with emf back sensing that should work nicely. The benefit of them is that you have better control in speeding up and slowing down the drive. The problem is that I haven't found a source were you don't have to purchase a 1000 of them.

For the circut using the 555 timer:
(Howto) Walz a Hard Drive Spindle Motor | Let's Make Robots!

Chippie · 26th June 2009, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Presumably they are DC brushless motors?, and the electronics required to make them work will be on the PCB.

In the R/C world, we have brushless 3 phase motors that are self starting...

The three phases are provided by sets of P and N channel mosfets driven by a microcontroller( usually Atmel )...To start the motor the micro energises 2 of the phases and measures the third for back emf...once started the phases are energised in turn and the emf from the offline phase is used to determine how fast the motor spins when compared to the r/c signal it receives...

Well summat along those lines..you get the gist...

Something like that could be cobbled together to spin up the hdd motor...Writing the code for the micro is the hardest part...

Have a look here...:
BLDC controller - RC Groups

**Nigel Goodwin** · 26th June 2009, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chippie

In the R/C world, we have brushless 3 phase motors that are self starting...

Hardly 'self-starting'

You then go on to describe the processor based electronics that starts it and runs it.

Chippie · 26th June 2009, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Hardly 'self-starting'

You then go on to describe the processor based electronics that starts it and runs it.

Awww.....stop nitpicking..

be80be · 27th June 2009, 02:55 AM

It's not hard at all to run a harddrive motor the 4 wire is easy to do never tried a 3 wire
the thing is it spins up to speed so you can't start at full speed i used 4 half bridges and switched from one to the next with a delay between each step

Frankco · 27th June 2009, 04:21 AM

Hi Burt,

What do you for the delay?

Frank

be80be · 27th June 2009, 04:28 AM

It was a 10ms delay I was going to make a clock with one and didn't want to use but the motor

Frankco · 27th June 2009, 04:59 AM

Hi Burt,

What chips or circuit did you use for the 10ms delay to drive the half bridges?

**Nigel Goodwin** · 27th June 2009, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankco

Hi Burt,

What chips or circuit did you use for the 10ms delay to drive the half bridges?

I would imagine he used a micro-controller to do it all?, it's the obvious and easiest way.

maazbuzdar · 27th June 2009, 01:25 PM

Well...i think now i have some clues to start work on that motor :-)
It's my very first chance to deal with a spindle motor....
Thanks to everyone...

Frankco · 27th June 2009, 01:38 PM

Thanks Nigel. Nice tutorials on your web pages.

It's been a while since I played around with electronics. I'm getting back into it again. We're about the same age, (I'm a year older), and it was back when I was in my late 20s and 30s since the last time I put circuits together. So, I've got a bit of catching up to do :-)
Respectfully bowing to my Sensei
Frank

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7th March 2006, 01:11 PM	#1
mrmmani22	how to use hard disk spindle motors hi every one i m need to use hard disk spindle motor for my proj bcos it gives constant high rpm like 5400 or 7200rpm. i have some dumb harddisk. pls tell me how to run them. is it possible to use normal power transisotr to drive those motors. samsung harddisk motor comes with 4 wires and seagate harddisk motor comes with 3 wires. if i give a voltage to any of those pin the motor just jerks and stops.

7th March 2006, 01:35 PM	#2
Nigel Goodwin	Presumably they are DC brushless motors?, and the electronics required to make them work will be on the PCB. I've just taken a number of Maxtor drives to pieces, and they have four surface-mount power transistors feeding the motor windings. __________________ PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at: http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

26th June 2009, 07:12 AM	#3
maazbuzdar	Hi every1....!!! I've a maxtor 40GB HD's spindle motor(4 terminals). when i supplied 12volt & ground to its 4 terminals one by one....it jerked only. i know there must be a circuit running it properly but how can i make such a circuit (as the one in HD)...??? Also tell me how to identify the four terminals of motor..? plz if anyone has some idea share it with me....

26th June 2009, 10:04 AM	#4
Nigel Goodwin	Try reading the previous post - you can't just supply power to it. __________________ PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at: http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

26th June 2009, 02:49 PM	#5
Frankco	Hi mrmmani22, You can send a timed pulse to each of the windings using a 555 timer and a 8-bit shift register. It's not very efficient to turn it this way but it will work. To find the common wire test the ohms across each of the three windings. One wire will give you a slight lower value. That's the center tap. There are some new chips out on the market with emf back sensing that should work nicely. The benefit of them is that you have better control in speeding up and slowing down the drive. The problem is that I haven't found a source were you don't have to purchase a 1000 of them. For the circut using the 555 timer: (Howto) Walz a Hard Drive Spindle Motor \| Let's Make Robots!

27th June 2009, 02:55 AM	#9
be80be	It's not hard at all to run a harddrive motor the 4 wire is easy to do never tried a 3 wire the thing is it spins up to speed so you can't start at full speed i used 4 half bridges and switched from one to the next with a delay between each step __________________ Burt http://mybe80be.com http://stores.shop.ebay.com/mybe80be__W0QQ_armrsZ1

27th June 2009, 04:21 AM	#10
Frankco	Hard drive spindle motor - timing Hi Burt, What do you for the delay? Frank

27th June 2009, 04:28 AM	#11
be80be	It was a 10ms delay I was going to make a clock with one and didn't want to use but the motor __________________ Burt http://mybe80be.com http://stores.shop.ebay.com/mybe80be__W0QQ_armrsZ1

27th June 2009, 04:59 AM	#12
Frankco	Hi Burt, What chips or circuit did you use for the 10ms delay to drive the half bridges?

27th June 2009, 01:25 PM	#14
maazbuzdar	Well...i think now i have some clues to start work on that motor :-) It's my very first chance to deal with a spindle motor.... Thanks to everyone... __________________ *ΠΠ√-\√-\'''/_*

27th June 2009, 01:38 PM	#15
Frankco	Thanks Nigel. Nice tutorials on your web pages. It's been a while since I played around with electronics. I'm getting back into it again. We're about the same age, (I'm a year older), and it was back when I was in my late 20s and 30s since the last time I put circuits together. So, I've got a bit of catching up to do :-) Respectfully bowing to my Sensei Frank