David,

David P. Anderson wrote:
> 
> Howdy
> 
> Eric, excellent!  Kip also suggested we put the encoder
> board PC (gerber file?) there as well.

Great!  I was wondering if that was available.  Add some HC11
code and you round it out to cover the 3 R's of Robotics:

	Electronics, Mechanics, and Software

> 
> I'm not sure how to handle anything except the jpeg and gif
> images.  What do you suggest?  In particular, the *.dwg and
> *.gxf files.  I think Kip's stuff is maybe Eagle (?).
> 

The JPEG's are just pictures of the CAD drawings mainly there to
make the drawings easy to view.  To really use them in another
drawing either the DWG (AutoCAD R14 native Drawing) file or the
DXF (more widely compatible, Drawing Interchange File) file can
be imported or loaded by another CAD program that understands
AutoCAD R14 level files.  I've been using and loving the free
IntelliCAD 2000 I found at "cadopia.com".  See also IntelliCAD
Consortium at "intellicad.org".

> 
> Maybe I could just add the links and folks who know what 
> they are doing can download directly?  
> 
> What do you think?
> 

I think adding links to the DWG and DXF files would work for
those that lean that way.  If you'd like pretty pictures to link
>from, the JPEGs might work or I could create smaller thumbnails.

> 
> this is really getting to be pretty cool!
> 
> dpa
> 

It sure reminds me how nice it is to have such a wonderfully
diverse group of like minded tinkers working together to raise
our overall level of Bot building proficiency and efficiency.
Big-brained monkeys _can_ learn something from the lowly ant!    ;-)

BTW, I noticed the film canister pictured in 3rd & 4th photos
of section "III. Contruction" is cut shorter and deeper than the
one pictured in section "II. Home-brew Encoders, B. Mounting."
How much does the final construction extend the motor's length?
I'm assuming the shorter, deeper cut is the better and that it
extends the room needed for motor mounting about 1/2" or 5/8".
I've started laying out a BOTBone frame to hold 2 motors with
the piggy-backed "CanCoders" end-to-end.  The motors are 2.91"
in length, plus figuring 5/8" for the CanCoder (neat term?) I've
allowed a little over 7" width for end-to-end mounting.

Does that sound about right for minimal allowances?


         |--------------- 7.15625" --------------|

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    ##---|     |8712  |  |  | |  |  |      |     |---##
    ##---|     |      |__|  | |  |__|8712  |     |---##
    ##   |_____|------|_____| |_____|------|_____|   ##
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Thanks for your fine efforts!

--
Eric