00100			THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE STANFORD ARM
00200	
00300				BY VIC SCHEINMAN
00400	
00500		This paper explains some of the  operating  and  maintainence
00600	details of the Stanford Arm.
00700	
00800		Installing the arm:
00900	
01000		The  arm  must  be  bolted  to a solid table surface or other
01100	suitable mounting plate. The 1/2 inch screw threads on the bottom  of
01200	the base plate are for this purpose.  Use them all! The wires running
01300	down the side of the main column indicate the out of  range  area  of
01400	motion  for  joint  #1,  thus,  these  should be placed away from the
01500	workspace.  The supply cable for joint #1 can exit either thru a hole
01600	cut  in  the  table  surface, or thru the slot cut in the base of the
01700	arm.  The two wide cables running  to  the  other  joints  should  be
01800	strain  relieved in such a way that they do not get in the way of the
01900	arm  when  it  is  operating  in  its  normal  workspace.   A  little
02000	experimentation  will  easily  show  where  a suitable clamping point
02100	should be.
02200		Place  the  power amplifier and control box such that all the
02300	cables from the arm will reach the box.  Do not add extender  ccables
02400	to the arm, as this will increase the overall resistance of the motor
02500	drive cables and will result in slower motions and increased response
02600	times.  A  typical  location for the amp. box is under the table with
02700	the cables being fed thru the table surface.   Plug the amp. box into
02800	the  power supply.  Again, do not attempt to extend the cable length.
02900	The power supply plugs into 117 v.a.c. and is fused for 8  amps.   An
03000	extension  cord  can  be  used  here  is necessary. For semi-portable
03100	applications, where the arm is mounted on a dolly or cart,  the  amp.
03200	box, and the power supply should be mounted on the same device.
03300		The manual control box plugs into the front of the  amplifier
03400	box,  with  the  cable orientation colorcoded as is the case with the
03500	cables to the arm.  DO NOT PLUG THE CABLES IN  BACKWARDS  OR  CONFUSE
03600	THEIR  ORDER! If the hand held control box is not plugged in, the arm
03700	will not operate as the "OFF" mode is automatically selected in  this
03800	case.
03900	
04000	Plug  the  computer  into  the computer plug using a 50 pin 3M ribbon
04100	connector wired to the A-D channels and  DAC  channels  as  described
04200	later.  This cable need not be plugged in if the arm is to be used in
04300	manual mode only.
04400	
04500	OPERATION IN MANUAL MODE
04600	
04700	
04800		Set  the  manualcontrol  switch  to  OFF, either one will do.
04900	Turn on the power supply, indicated by the pilot  light.   Place  all
05000	the brake switches in the ON or LOCK position.  To grab and place the
05100	arm somewhere, release the brakes on the proper joints, grab the  arm
05200	and  move it to where you want it. Then LOCK the brakes.  To move the
05300	arm remotely, Put all the brakes in the LOCK position and then select
05400	which  joint  you  want  to  move wtih the joint select switch on the
05500	manual controller.  Now turn the speed and direction control knob and
05600	the  selected  joint  will  now move slowly.  If anything goes wrong,
05700	release the knob immediately and it will return  to  center,  turning
05800	off  the servo and locking the joint. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INCREASE THIS
05900	MAXIMUM VELOCITY-IT IS SET LOW FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION. If the  joint
06000	stalls  under  too  great  a  load or because it has hit its own stop
06100	(joints 3-7 only) do not hold the knob on any longer than necessary,
06200	as this may cause excessive motor heating and possible motor damage.