New stepper motors hard to turn by hand

[BrianV]

From email:
I just received my kit. I am able to turn by hand pretty easily 1 stepper motor, the second motor I can barely turn by hand and the 3 motor looks like it is jammed ? any thoughts?

Please disregard the last message, I found out the wires of the step motors were touching each other and this is why there was a resistance when trying to turn them by hand.

[BrianV]

Yep. The motors ship with the wires already stripped and kind-of ‘bunched’ together, so it is very common for the conductors to be touching. If the proper wires are in contact, a stepper can be very reluctant to turning by hand. In fact, this is one trick some folks use to determine which coils are related to which colors.

Keep the wires separated when spinning the motor by hand and they will move very easily (you will feel the ‘detents’ as you turn the shaft)

BrianV

[Author]

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