PMinMO Step / Direction Motion Control Signal Standard

Almost all motion control uses just 2 signals: Step and Direction although a 3rd Enable line is often used as well.

Each pulse on the Step line tells the motor to move one increment in the direction specified by the Direction line.The Enable line can be used (or ignored) to power or release the motor at the driver.

These pins are sometimes referred to by other names:
Step: Pul+, Pulse, Clock, CLK, etc..
Direction: CCW+, Dir, etc...

PMinMO is a standard pinout defined by Phil Moore from .mo for Step and Direction signals, as well as logic power and Enable. It uses a standard 2x5 box header with pins on 0.1" or 2.54mm centers. When used with IDC connectors on ribbon cable, the back row of grounds on the even pins provides alternating shielding for the signal pins on the odd numbered connectors.

While not always named, this layout is often used in the connection between a motion controller and stepper or servo motor drivers.

See also: 

• Pololu to PMinMO Adapter Cable converts the popular Pololu stepper driver header found on RAMPs or GRBL shields to PMinMO for use with larger motor drivers.
• The THB6064AH and Linistepper open source stepper drivers as well as the
  BOB PID Servo Motor Control all accept PMinMO standard step/direction inputs.
• https://planet-cnc.com/hardware/#products-hardware Planet CNC USB and USB/Ethernet Motion Controllers are PMinMO compatible.
• https://www.poscope.com/PoKeys57CNC is a MACH 3/4 recommended USB Motion Controller with PMinMO compatible connectors
• The ClearPath servo SD line^ data connector follows the PMinMO standard for the first 6 pins. They correspond to pins 4,8,3,7,2,6 on the ClearPath cable. As shown here, the cable end is pointing at you with the tab on top. This is the opposite of the picture shown in the manual^, which shows the connector, NOT the cable:

  2 GND	4 GND	6 GND	n/c	PMinMO
  	----
  ORG 5 En-	BRN 6 InA-	YEL 7 InB-	RED 8 hlfb-	ClearPath data cable   Tab at top Colors may change
  1 En+ BLU	2 InA+ WHT	3 InB+ BLK	4 hlfb+ GRN
  1 En	3 DIR	5 STEP	n/a	PMinMO

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