How to test a stepper motor without a microcontroller?
Fast,

Different driver board designs can work differently. There are PWM output drivers and STEP/DIRECTION controllers. Can you comment back about the model of the board, or perhaps the model number of the driver chip?

Drivers using STEP and DIRECTION (and ENABLE) are fairly easy to prototype operation with a 555 timer or a benchtop frequency generator. If you had that type (consult the manual for that board), you would tie ENABLE to the inactive power plane (ground or +5), set DIR to a SPDT switch, allowing you to drive the signal with +5 or ground, and then drive the STEP input with the frequency waveform generator (or 555 output)...

The motor will turn if:


The driver is correctly sized for the motor
any phase current settings are correct (presumably a simple driver always uses max)
the loading of the motor doesn't exceed the torque calculated by phase current (up to the max capable by that motor)


Should be easy!







simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab