I am trying to build a persistance of vision hard drive clock based on the 
idea here... 

http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/04/25/top-5-uses-for-a-dead-hard-drive/3/

Everything was going well, I got my 16F88 programmed with my shiny new 
PICkit2 (Thanks guys!) and the hardware was installed and I JUST got it 
all working where it would display hands in various static positions, and 
a bit of metal shorted out something in the hard drive controller board 
which means the motor no longer spins.  Dang!  Troubleshooting showed the 
3.2 and 2.5 voltage circutry was dead, so none of the vips would function.

Does anyone have a suggestion on what the easiest way to spin this thing 
back up would be?  It's a standard, brusless and sensorless three-phase 
motor that all new hard drives use.  I'm open to building it if it's not 
too involved, or buying an off the shelf driver if a cheap one exists.

I know it's possible to use a PIC and a three-phase inverter to run one.  
I have seen source code for a 16F84A to output PWM to drive one, but no 
schematics and I still need to build or buy a three phase inverter.

RC people make and sell controlers that look like they would work, but I 
don't need a $50-$200, super tiny light weight controller.  

I certainly don't need anything industrial. :-)

Finding another drive is my current option, but many will spin down 
without a computer hooked up or if the read/write heads are moved off of 
the drives, which is required for this project.  Plus not all drives have 
the space to get everything installed and so it will take a while to find 
another suitable drive.

Having a source for simple or cheap drivers for these types of motors 
would be great in general.  Those motors are plentiful but useless without 
the complex drivers needed.

Thanks!

--
Ian Smith
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