Seems as though the Improvised Explosive Devices are the main killing
machines used by the terrorists... ok, militants. Our aim is to quickly
deploy a device capable of doing point work as a convoy goes into dangerous
territory.

I'm having a ball trying to relate specs from metric originated suppliers of
motors and controllers which really seem to be contrived and not really
honest metrication... but massaged from prior art in HP, inch, pound... the
so called Newton is a joke in the real world. Try as I might, I can't
visualize applying a force to a one kilogram bowling ball to accelerate it
to a speed of one meter per second par second. But I can see a horse lift
550 lbs one ft. in one second. No problem there. I know I can do a 1/20 HP
for a second or two. Easy to see. Impossible to visualize that rolling
kilogram bowling ball... on what surface? In zero gravity? out in space?
with a spring loaded plunger?

Oh well, live and learn something every day. This has been an exciting
thread!


"Spehro Pefhany" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:48:16 GMT, the renowned "Wayne Lundberg"
wrote:

I am on the team developing a robotic device which we hope will help find
and destroy IEDs in our fight against terrorists.

Sounds interesting, and valuable, although I don't see the connection
with terrorists.

We are having a ball going
through all the catalogs with specifications in both systems trying to
match
one to the other. For example a motor for sale boasts 65 Newtons while
another catalog boasts a motor with 10/inch/lbs torque at 180 RPM. I can
visualize ten pounds at the end of a rod attached to the shaft rotating
at
180 RPM but damned if I can visualize the Newton thing. So why bother?
I'll
go for the inch pound solution since it is visible. Let the rest of the
world wrestle with non-visializable dimensions if they want. Five ft. two
and eyes are blue... how many cms around the waist? and what cup size?

100gm of meat and/or cheese is about right for a sandwich.

A thou is big for precision work, a tenth a bit small, wheras 0.1mm or
0.05mm is about right.

100kg is a big guy, 50kg is a small gal

When I design in Solidworks I key in mm or inches interchangably or
even mixed (0.125" + 0.5mm, for a clearance dimension for example).

It's like you speaking Spanish, I'd imagine, a bit of effort but no
big deal, and you see benefits in the long run for a some work in the
short term. There are lots of people who say scr*w Spanish, let them
speak English if they want to do business, right? ;-)


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers:
http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers:
http://www.speff.com