Basic Robotics Book on Mechanics
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Hello,
We've got a customer in Florida (a high school electronics instructor) who
is building a robot with the class. The primary difficulties they encounter
relate to mechanics - mounting motors, basic designs, working with metal
(the easy way, if there is one), etc. He asked me for a good book that
focuses on the mechanics. I think their robot is a bit larger than the
typical hobby bot, and maybe they are using some surplus motors. This is a
typical request -- their lab is electronic-based and they have minimal
mechanical capabilities. Now that they've converted the industrial classes
into technology courses we still need the mechanics to make any use of our
circuits!
Could anybody recommend to me a good book that focuses on the mechanical
aspects, with minor consideration to electronics? I will forward your
suggestions to the instructor. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey, Parallax
Take a look at the Microcontroller Application Cookbook
on our web site http://www.parallaxinc.com
Educational site: http://www.stampsinclass.com
(916) 624-8333 ~ fax (916) 624-8003
We've got a customer in Florida (a high school electronics instructor) who
is building a robot with the class. The primary difficulties they encounter
relate to mechanics - mounting motors, basic designs, working with metal
(the easy way, if there is one), etc. He asked me for a good book that
focuses on the mechanics. I think their robot is a bit larger than the
typical hobby bot, and maybe they are using some surplus motors. This is a
typical request -- their lab is electronic-based and they have minimal
mechanical capabilities. Now that they've converted the industrial classes
into technology courses we still need the mechanics to make any use of our
circuits!
Could anybody recommend to me a good book that focuses on the mechanical
aspects, with minor consideration to electronics? I will forward your
suggestions to the instructor. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey, Parallax
Take a look at the Microcontroller Application Cookbook
on our web site http://www.parallaxinc.com
Educational site: http://www.stampsinclass.com
(916) 624-8333 ~ fax (916) 624-8003
Comments
through inter-library loan, and at the normal booksellers.
Mechanical Devices for the Electronics Experimenter, Britt Rorabaugh, 1995
TAB Books, ISBN: 0-07-053546-9 (h) 0-07-053547-7 (p)
Practical Robotics, Bill Davies, 1997 WERD Technology, Inc., ISBN:
0-9681830-0-X
Electric Motors and Mechanical Devices for Hobbyists and Engineers, Bill
Davies, 1997 WERD Technologies, Inc., ISBN: 0-9681830-1-8
Davies' books seem to be a suitable mix of practical mechanical and
electronics how-to, theory, and practice. Rorabaugh's book is more
mechanical in focus.
Hope this helps,
Daniel McGlothin
Original Message
From: Ken Gracey [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=8s9UWW4yTmiHC-cytOWtmT48NO8vlZgkAcRSTHTrlRUwM3Zhb8QF-XJvUmA8dqFJuUN97Ar8JTgPfHNTtCQ]kgracey@p...[/url
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2001 11:10 AM
To: stampsinclass@egroups.com; basicstamps@egroups.com
Cc: pgmelton@e...
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]stampsinclass] Basic Robotics Book on Mechanics
Hello,
We've got a customer in Florida (a high school electronics instructor) who
is building a robot with the class. The primary difficulties they encounter
relate to mechanics - mounting motors, basic designs, working with metal
(the easy way, if there is one), etc. He asked me for a good book that
focuses on the mechanics. I think their robot is a bit larger than the
typical hobby bot, and maybe they are using some surplus motors. This is a
typical request -- their lab is electronic-based and they have minimal
mechanical capabilities. Now that they've converted the industrial classes
into technology courses we still need the mechanics to make any use of our
circuits!
Could anybody recommend to me a good book that focuses on the mechanical
aspects, with minor consideration to electronics? I will forward your
suggestions to the instructor. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey, Parallax
Take a look at the Microcontroller Application Cookbook
on our web site http://www.parallaxinc.com
Educational site: http://www.stampsinclass.com
(916) 624-8333 ~ fax (916) 624-8003
To unsubscribe via email: From your email program, send a blank message to
stampsinclass-unsubscribe@eGroups.com
I live in Winter Park, Florida and have built a robot with two BS2 stamps,
servos, light-follower, IR detectors, whiskers, and a color video
camera/transmitter. Each sensor device is mounted on its own little PC
board, and I installed a "power platform" which holds the power supply for
the top BS2 and a separate power supply for the video equipment. Gabe Duran
and I have talked many times and I have sent him several photos. If I could
be of any assistance to the Florida group you were referring to I would be
happy to help. My local phone number is 407-671-9528 and my e-mail address
is Newzed@a....
Regards
Sid Weaver
> is building a robot with the class. The primary difficulties they
> encounter relate to mechanics - mounting motors, basic designs, working
> with metal (the easy way, if there is one), etc. He asked me for a good
> book that focuses on the mechanics. I think their robot is a bit larger
> than the typical hobby bot, and maybe they are using some surplus motors.
> This is a typical request -- their lab is electronic-based and they have
> minimal mechanical capabilities. Now that they've converted the industrial
> classes into technology courses we still need the mechanics to make any
> use of our circuits!
>
> Could anybody recommend to me a good book that focuses on the mechanical
> aspects, with minor consideration to electronics? I will forward your
> suggestions to the instructor. Thanks.
>
A good start would be with "Mechanical Devices for the Electronics
Experimenter". It covers Hydraulics, pneumatics, gears,
mechanics of motion etc. A full table of contents can be seen here:
http://www.hvwtech.com/book_mechdevices.htm
This Book is my personal favorite for explaining gears, ratios, pitch
etc. in an understandable way.
Mark Hillier, VE6HVW
President, HVW Technologies Inc.
Canadian Distributors of Parallax Products and other Neat Stuff
Tel: +403-730-8603 Fax: +403-730-8903
See our NEW BASIC Stamp Prototyping tools !
simply page after page of mechanical devices used from
ancient times through present - drawings of levers,
escapements, differential windlasses, knots, locomotives,
archimedes screws, gears, etc, etc.... quite inspirational!
The only listing I found at amazon.com that looked possibly
similar was "The Engineers Illustrated Thesaurus" by
Herbert Herkimer.
The other thing is - go to a junkyard or recycle yard or
thrift store discard place.... and get old mechanical
devices and take them apart and see how they are built -
amazing complexity and cleverness will be found along with
the mundane... A variety of c-clips, set screws, pulleys,
belts, motors etc... even in cassette players and VCRs...
this also helps with mechanical skills in a situation where
failure is cheap... :-)
Some ARRL books [noparse][[/noparse]like the ARRL Handbook] used to give basic
sheet metal working tips to fabricate chassis for electronic
equipment - many libraries will have copies of this.
Hope this helps your customer some... Stamp On! premena
>>
You wrote:
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 08:10:25 -0800
From: "Ken Gracey" <kgracey@p...>
Hello,
We've got a customer in Florida (a high school electronics instructor)
who
is building a robot with the class. The primary difficulties they
encounter
relate to mechanics - mounting motors, basic designs, working with metal
(the easy way, if there is one), etc. He asked me for a good book that
focuses on the mechanics. I think their robot is a bit larger than the
typical hobby bot, and maybe they are using some surplus motors. This is
a
typical request -- their lab is electronic-based and they have minimal
mechanical capabilities. Now that they've converted the industrial
classes
into technology courses we still need the mechanics to make any use of
our
circuits!
Could anybody recommend to me a good book that focuses on the mechanical
aspects, with minor consideration to electronics? I will forward your
suggestions to the instructor. Thanks.
Sincerely, Ken Gracey, Parallax
<<
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>aspects, with minor consideration to electronics?
Years ago I bought two books at a government bookstore, put out by the
Bureau of Naval Personnel. Both have apparently been reprinted by Dover and
so are available through online and other bookstores.
Tools and Their Uses covers hand and power tools, measuring, fastening,
grinding, and metal cutting.
Basic Machines covers simple machines and also hydraulics, power trains,
gears, etc. A chapter on computer mechanisms is about analog (mechanical)
computing machines!
They're old, but clearly written with good illustrations.
>Ken, I used to have an "Engineers' Thesaurus" which was
simply page after page of mechanical devices used from
ancient times through present - drawings of levers,
escapements, differential windlasses, knots, locomotives,
archimedes screws, gears, etc, etc.... quite inspirational!
Mondotronics has a couple of books like this:
<http://www.robotstore.com/bin2/hazel.exe?client=31713223&action=serve&item=book\
s/mechanical_books.html>
Bill Davies' book on this page is also good.
I used to have a good reference manual that was part of a set of catalogs
from a company (in Indiana?) that sold gears, etc. The catalogs were about
4" x 6". But I don't remember the company's name.
Jan Axelson
http://www.lvr.com
jan@l...