Organization: Sponsored account, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Path: brunix!news.Brown.EDU!noc.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!cb1p+
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Message-ID: <8fe8kk600YUo0g30da@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1993 09:50:24 -0500 
From: Chris Beasley <cb1p+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Miniboard parts & Construction
In-Reply-To: <199303180225.AA79794@knock.aa.ans.net>
References: <199303180225.AA79794@knock.aa.ans.net>
Lines: 39


Well, I got my two miniboard parts kits!
Thanks Steve Wallace!!!
This kit is so complete it includes all the sensors AND the CPU!

Now, I have a couple 'o questions. (or three :) )  Since I don't have
the full docs yet I just have the three or four pages that Greg
Ratcliff sent me with the bare boards.

Which motor LEDs are supposed to be red and which green?  The parts
list says the low numbered ones are red and the high numbered ones are
green but on the silkscreen it is difficult to guess which one or each
pair is the low numbered LED and which is the high.  I realize that it
really doesn't matter much since it's pretty arbitrary but I would
like to try to build up my boards like the instructions say.  Also, I
assume the short lead of the LED should go thru the shaded side of the
silkscreen like on the 6.270 board.

Are all the connectors supposed to be made from the female header
stock?  I assume this is the case and that the male header stock is
provided for the "other half" of all the connectors.

How come there is no room for sockets for the motor driver chips?  I
am actually thinking I may try to trim a couple of sockets down enough
to work unless I am talked out of it. I will use nice gold machine pin
sockets of course.  I am also thinking about piggy-backing the motor
driver chips with heat sinks just like on the 6.270 board so I can
power more current.  Will the traces on the miniboard handle the 1600
or so mA that this setup can control?

Thanks for any and all input.

Special thanks to Fred Martin, Alan Killian, Steve Wallace, Greg
Ratcliff, Greg Kulosa, and any and all others I have forgotten who
have been selflessly supporting the comp.robotics crowd and helping to
populate the world with lots of new robotic critters!

Chris Beasley
redzone!beez@sunpitt.east.sun.com
