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Amphibionics 01 3/24/03 8:01 AM Page 12
Amphibionics
electronics experimenter much easier. There is nothing more
frustrating than finding out that a circuit you are working on is
malfunctioning because of a dead battery or an oscillator cali-
brated to the wrong frequency. If you use a good power supply
and oscilloscope when building and testing a circuit, the chance
of these kinds of problems surfacing is much lower. I have always
found that if I am working late at night and start to encounter a
lot of small problems and make mistakes, the best thing to do is
to shut my equipment down and get a good night’s sleep.
Sometimes the difference between frying an expensive chip or
the circuit’s working perfectly on the first try is just one mis-
placed component.

Construction Materials

The robots in this book are constructed using aluminum and fas-
teners that are readily available at most hardware stores. Five
sizes of aluminum will be used. The first stock measures 1/2-inch
wide by 1/8-inch thick, and is usually bought in lengths of 4 feet
or longer. Many of the robot parts are constructed from aluminum,
with the dimensions as shown in Figure 1.16.

FIGURE 1.16
1/2-inch by 1/8-inch
aluminum stock.

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