I Made a Cape for the BeagleBone Black and Other Boards From Beagleboard.org

I built, with a template, a Cape (add-on card) for a BeagleBone Black Wireless to handle motor control via different 16 DIP pinned hardware like the ULN2003...

I used a soldering iron and some pen like end tips for the soldering iron to handle the soldering.

You will also need the the template from KiCAD for the BeagleBone Black. Here is a photo of the template:

First, what I did was a 3D Print of a three-sided open ended cube of sorts to handle the emergency shutoff switch for the build process of making motors maneuver.

The photo is attached of this small open ended build that was 3D Printed.

Then, I went to KiCAD, and then it was v8.x.x, v9.0.5 to build the parts needed from the template for my three axis machine.

I purchased the e-stop, ULN2003 16 pin DIP parts from TI, and then got some 16 pin headers for placing in chips that have 16 pins. I soldered the ULN2003 headers on this build first and then attached wiring...

It was not really that well thought out obviously, i.e. as this was my first go at building around this template.

Still, the build got done making the 16 pin holes routed to left and right of the headers I was going to attach via soldering.

The photos show it well enough. I stopped utilizing the ULN2003 with this set up because of other subject matter that arose in my life.

The ULN2003 has a very detailed datasheet for its simplicity. You can see it in the photos where the person who wrote the documentation discussed the Bipolar Stepper Motor circuitry...

I then used the final product from KiCAD to get some business to handle the building of the Cape for my GPIO peripheral access from the BBB to the Cape to the Bipolar Stepper Motor(s), end stops, and e-stop.

The company I used was PCBWAY.com.

Even with the current tariffs, the price was very inexpensive. When you are using the Cape template from beagleboard.org on KiCAD, you are not solely stuck on just what little I have done. The sky is the limit...

Anyway, that is what I built to handle stepper motors from given tools and technologies.

Seth

P.S. I am just showcasing what can be done easily with little to no experience and then progress through reading, learning, and comprehension on electronics. I see sometimes people make Capes or other circuitry with two to four layers or more...

I only used the layering provided in the template and then routed the pins for the ULN2003 IN from the BBB headers to the OUT of the ULN2003 soldered on component holders.