Bruce D. Wedding wrote in a message to All:

 BDW> From: "Bruce D. Wedding" 

 BDW> Roger said:

 BDW> "I'm basically an application/utility writer, with no experience
 BDW> working down to the metal like you do.  I would love to get into
 BDW> it though. I'm a PA certified Tool & Die Maker, but I've given up
 BDW> the trade to work in IT.  I have a pipe dream that involves
 BDW> turning my garage into a machine shop and delving deep into
 BDW> robotics."

Interesting that you should bring this up in here,  as this is starting to
become an interest of mine.  Not robotics per se,  as that's more in the
realm of toys than anything useful,  but CNC and similar stuff.  I'm
currently subscribed to a whole pile of yahoo groups that deal with this
stuff and have been researching web sites for a while now as well.

 BDW> I encourage you to go for it Roger as it can be a lot of fun.  You
 BDW> should start with a few stepper motors and some ball screws to
 BDW> build an x-y table. There are now smart motors available with all
 BDW> the electronics built in that are controlled serially with an
 BDW> ASCII protocol.  ie:
 BDW> http://www.servosystems.com/animatics_features.htm  You can get
 BDW> good deals on ebay sometimes too.

Ball screws are an expensive item,  and may not be needed for a lot of
stuff. I also can't see going with those specialized motors (nor that you'd
get that high a speed performance out of them),  and besides that I've
scrounged whole piles of motors out of things like old floppy drives, 
printers,  etc. along with a whole lot of electronics over several decades.
 My background goes much more along those lines than programming (c or
otherwise :-). 

 BDW> I have a some computerized woodworking projects in my mind like a
 BDW> computer controlled router.

Do a google search on "otocoup".    :-)

 BDW> Once you get into automation stuff like this, it is highly 
 BDW> contagious.  I've put sensors and controls on my pool pump, home 
 BDW> AC unit, golf clubs, car, you name it.

Maybe we could kick this around some,  but not here...

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