Proper use of stepper motor enable/disable?

[Austin71]

Is it customary and proper to execute stepper_enable() each time before moving a stepper motor, then call stepper_disable() after each move?  Or is it better to enable the stepper when the overall process is started, make all desired moves, and then disable the stepper when finished?  What exactly is happening with the enable/disable functionality?

 

Thank you.

[photron]

This really depends on your use-case.

 

stepper_enable/disable enables/disables the stepper motor driver circuitry on the Brick. If the driver is disabled then the stepper motor coils are not powered and you can move the stepper motor shaft by hand or by what ever is mounted to it.

 

This might be okay if there is no external force acting on the stepper motor. But if you have some mechanical load on the stepper motor like some kind of pulley system, then you might want to have the stepper motor powered all the time to make it keep its position and stop it from being moved by the force from the pulley system.