Good morning all, I am slowly getting into servos and controllers but I’m unsure where to start or what to look for in controlers. I have designed a cam system that will drive 4-5 sets of wings in a wave formation that will fit inside a 100mmx 50mm space, the cam will be between two bearings so the load should be minimum there will also be LEDS inside as well and if I could run them from a circuit board as well would be great. any help would be appreciated.
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Good morning Simon,
Thanks for posting on the forum 
When it comes to controlling servos you’ve got a few options to go with. You can either have a microcontroller/microprocessor set up that you can program such as an Arduino or Raspberry Pi which then has some form of breakout (if required depending on the load of the motor) to power the motor while providing control signals. I’ve linked a couple tutorials below:
OR
Another option is to use a dedicated servo controller. For example if you’re using the GoBuilda servos they often have compatible standalone servo controllers that can be interacted with via other signals (could still be a microcontroller, possibly a potentiometer/rotary-encoder, or even remote control depending on what you go with), there are generic servo controllers too which you can often interface with via USB or have onboard microcontrollers such as the RP2040 on-board that can be programmed.
The best option for what to go with will depend on the use-case, the other components (such as the motors chosen and project budget) you’ve got already or are planning to use, and how much leg-work you’d like to do yourself (going GoBuilda or a Raspberry Pi with a servo HAT will be much more plug-and-play and with more guides than a custom solution)
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Do you mean a cam or a crank? A cam would typically be used with a motor, whereas a servo would drive a crank.
A project of this type will generally be done as small steps, so you could acquire a simple controller and one or two servos to prove the process, and then decide where to go from there. The controller might be determined by the development environment that you prefer to work with, but if you are starting with small steps then you would start with the smallest and cheapest you can find. With this sort of project you have to be prepared to start over with different equipment.
The servos will be driven from a 5V supply. The development board will likely be driven from USB, while the LEDs could be either. Examples are:
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this is a great help mate, thank you for replying
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