Alternative Drive Idea

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Before I embarked on the build of the project I was torn between using servo motors or using stepper motors. I had originally opted for the servos because an Arduino can only control 2 steppers with the motor shield, and up to 3 with the EasyDriver Stepper controller. I need 5 motors, so each of these options was out and I went with servos instead.
After some frustration with the servos, I started to reconsider how I might control more steppers with the Arduino. I remembered back to my college days of basic circuit design and remembered a device called a demuxer that could control multiple output lines with fewer input lines triggered by a binary pattern. I checked out the EasyDriver again, and it has an "enable" pin that "enables" the board and the motor. If I could take 3 digital lines from the Arduino through a demux I should be able to control up to 8 stepper motors (each with their own EasyDriver).
I took down some notes (which I will add later) to detail more of this design, but unless my servo version complete craps itself I'm not going to ditch the current design. I've already sunk too much money in it to switch now. Maybe a version 2.0 later one will use steppers (or someone else can use this idea!)
Edit (5/2/2011): I found this chip (DM74LS138 8way demux) that could be used to switch up to 8 stepper motors with one Arduino. You could only control one motor at a time, but that should be fine for a clock. A counterpart 8-1 mux could also be incorporated to receive a location switch closure to make sure that the hands are where you think they are.

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