MONGOOSE
Assembly Instructions
Introduction
Mongoose was designed as an introduction to Mechatronics
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Before you start
The Mongoose is a complex kit and skipping instructions is not advised, the method below is the quickest
and easiest method we could find. If you take your time the kit will provide you with a reliable, durable
and fun robot chassis for your experiments. The main stages of assembly are mechanical, electrical and
electronic. An x2 means you have to repeat this step twice for both the left and right halves.
The Mongoose contains many small parts and it’s advisable to keep any loose parts in a tray to prevent
loss.
MECHANICAL
Chassis PreAssembly
Modifing the gearbox frame
The center frame piece must me modified before assembly. The
front opening on both sides must be enlarged towards the
center as shown in RED by approximately 5mm and is easily
accomplished by carefully trimming the plastic with a small
modeling knife or filing the material away. This makes room
for the optical sensors.
Apply foam spacers to the gearbox x2
Apply a self-adhesive foam spacer to both left and right gearbox halves.
Apply optical interrupters to two encoder gears x2
Two of the BLUE gears require the addition of self-adhesive foil
illustrated in RED to act as light blockers for the optical sensors. With
a sharp x-acto™ knife carefully trim the excess foil along the shown
with the GREEN line. The foil blocks IR light from the normally
transparent to IR gears.
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Assembling the axles x2
Short 28mm axle (round)
Press fit the long yellow bushing as shown in the image.
Hint: the small brass bushings are 4mm…
Long 50mm axle (hex)
Thread a small silver grub screw into a brass hex hub.
Slide the hub assembly over the hex axle and tighten (very tight)
at 29mm from one end of the axle.
Hint: An easier method than
measuring is to preassemble
the long axle. From right to
left you need a brass spacer, silver collar, blue gear then yellow drive gear.
When the brass bushing is flush with the end of the axle tighten
the grub screw with the small Allen wrench included with the Mongoose kit.
Installing the motor pinion gear x2
On a flat surface simply press a small purple pinion gear on to each motor as shown, do not
press on the motor but instead apply gradual pressure to the motor shaft.
Attach metal chassis sides to gearbox halves x2
Using a 10mm screw mount as shown, do not tighten yet.
Using a single 10mm screw mount as shown, do not tighten yet. This short screw
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ELECTRICAL
The motor wiring harness x2
There are two sets of blue & yellow #22guage wire, they are approximately 13cm long with 12cm of
insulation, 2mm of insulation is removed at the connector end and 8mm at the motor end. Each motor
requires one large 0.1uf noise suppression capacitor, be careful not to mount the capacitor too close to the
motor as it will be difficult to slide to motor into the gearbox later in assembly. A simple method is to line
the top of the cap with the front of the motor housing. Now insert the 10mm bare end of the blue and
yellow wires with the capacitor as shown below. Carefully solder the capacitor and wires to the motor
terminals. With you wire cutters clip off the excess wire and capacitor leads.
Make sure you put the blue and yellow wires on as shown; else your motors
will run backwards. You can crimp the connector terminals to the 2mm bare end of the both wires. Hint
if you are good at soldering; a very small dab of solder to the crimp terminal after crimping will improve
the reliability of the harness.
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ELECTRONIC
Necessary Tools (not included in kit)
As with any electronic kit the following tools are essential:
• Low wattage fine tip soldering iron <50W
• Resin core solder
• Wire cutters or side cutters (small)
• Needle nose pliers (small)
• Slotted screwdriver (small)
• Phillips screwdriver (#1)
• Multimeter (Ohms, Volts)
Assembly
Final Assembly
Initial Testing
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Parts List Mongoose Controller Board
Capacitors
C1,C2,C3
C4,C5
0.1uf
470uf
Small Monolithic Capacitor
Electrolytic 6.3V
Resistors ¼W 5% Carbon (tan body, 4 color bands)
R1,R5
R2,R3
R4
VR1
220
4.7K
10K
10K
Red, Red, Brown, Gold
Yellow, Violet, Red, Gold
Brown, Black, Orange, Gold
Variable Resistor (Horizontal)
Semiconductors
D1
D2
IR1,IR2
Q1,Q2
U1
U2
1N5817
1N4148
LTE-302
LTE-301
PIC18F2525
SN754410
Schottky Diode
Switching Diode
IR Emitter
IR Detector
Microcontroller
Quad Half Bridge with internal diodes
Connectors
CON1
CON2
CON3
CON4,6
CON3
2x
10 pin inline female connector
20 pin R/A inline female connector
2x5 R/A header
4 pin Molex KK male connector
2x5 R/A header
Spacers for Opto-Coupler pair
Miscellaneous
J1
2x
1x
1x
Ferrite Bead
AA Battery Holder
28pin Socket
16pin Socket
Motors
Cx,Cx
0.1uf
Large Green Motor Noise Suppressors
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Mongoose Gearbox Drive Train
The
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Mongoose Rotation Sensors
The Mongoose is equipped with two independent wheel rotation sensors
(one set per drive wheel). They are located on the gearbox and rotate 27x
faster than the drive wheels. The pair of light and dark zones will transition
4x per gear rotation remember it’s the transitions we’re counting so a single
rotation of a drive wheel will transition 108 times per rotation.
The sensors are connected directly to PORTB,4 (right) and PORTB,5 (left)
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Differential Drive
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Mongoose and other projects are available at
Retail Sales
255 College St. Toronto
Ontario, Canada
Tel (416) 977-9258
Fax (416) 977-4700
creatronpart@hotmail.com
http://www.creatroninc.com
Online Sales
Dealer Sales & Technical Inquiries
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4550 Dufferin St. Toronto
Ontario, Canada
Tel (416) 897-1962
sales@blueroomelectronics.com
http://www.blueroomelectronics.com
Info and all other inquiries info@blueroomelectronics.com
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