stepper control for rubiks cube scrambler.

Hello everybody! I need help woth a project that is not a 3d printer but will probable end up being controlled by the software and hardware of one. What I want to do is make a rubiks scrambler that will mix up the cube. I have decided to use stepper motors to turn the faces to scramble the cube. Here is my problem. I have to be able to turn 5 of the six faces to fully scramble the cube. What I need is suggestions on what board i shoukd use to control the motors and then how to go abouttelling the motors to turn each face. Suggestions and advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Steppers are not a good solution to this. DC gearmotors with switches telling you when 90 degrees of motion have passed would be much more appropriate.

I see no problem using stepper motors. They're a bit more expensive, but don't need additional switches for position control.

That said, any RepRap controller should do. Firmware is a bit more tricky, because they usually support 4 simultanuous axes, only. However, Teacup currently receives development with the goal to support 9 simultanuous axes and other firmwares like Marlin, Repetier, etc. support additional Extruder axes, so you're fine unless you have to move all five sides at the same time.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

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That said, any RepRap controller should do. Firmware is a bit more tricky, because they usually support 4 simultanuous axes, only. However, Teacup currently receives development with the goal to support 9 simultanuous axes and other firmwares like Marlin, Repetier, etc. support additional Extruder axes, so you're fine unless you have to move all five sides at the same time.

You'd never move adjacent faces simultaneously as the rubik's cube face won't spin unless it's at one of the 4 orthogonal positions. You could get away with as few as two if speed wasn't an issue although more definitely speeds things up

Hi. Have you already finished your project? I did something like this, but I've only used one stepper motor. The rest of the movements are done with three servos (cheaper and easier). The whole thing runs on an arduino uno (four pins for the stepper, and 3 for the servos), and of course you could use an arduino nano. One servo for openning/closing two "arms". One servo for lifting the cube (with arms closed). And another servo "wrist", to rotate the servo with the arms closed and the cube lifted (X translation). The base, with arms opened, can do a Y translation, and with arms closed, rotate the "down" side of the cube. You can achieve every rubiks combination with this moves (is not the fastest robot in the world, although). The more difficult part was the "hardware" stuff... the arduino program is very easy.

I get the stepper from an old printer, drived by the driver of one BYJ48 stepper (BYJ48 motor is cheap, but very slow for this). Of course, you will need a separate power supply to power the stepper and even the servos (I used 12v for the motor, and 5v for the servos, from the same external source). Be aware that the stepper you have may need a more powerful driver (the BYJ48 driver can only handle 500ma)

I could post a little video, if you are still interested.