The Robot: Base, Wheels, Motors, and Sabertooth Motor Controllers

[ Thanks to Adam Palmer for this link. ]

"Here is the base, the insulation tape all over the place is to hold down the connectors that I won’t be needing. The motors all contain encoders which I didn’t just want to rip out, so I’ve preserved the connectors for future usage, and just cut the - and + cables in a way that they can easily be reconnected to the connector if I ever want to. They were expensive motors so I didn’t want to ruin them!

"If anyone is wondering why I didn’t attach standoff cylinders to the controller’s super large heat sink rather than attaching it directly to the acrylic base [which would normally be a bad idea], it’s because I didn’t have any standoff’s left, and the controllers are capable of 25A per channel. I will never drive them at higher than 4A, and the motors running on 4A for 30m or 2A for 2 hours solidly as a test didn’t generate any noticeable heat on the heat sink at all. At first I had also predicted the use of a fan to suck air in from the base, but I’m not sure it will be necessary, as nothing seems to get remotely hot so far.."

Complete Story

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• Linux Robot - Watch This Space(Oct 08, 2008)