> Any advice? Pointers to advice? I suppose it should go without saying
> that I don't want to spend much money on these things, so any hints on
> finding them used or otherwise cheap would be much appreciated (the
> reason I thought of windshield wiper motors is that I figured I could
> get them from a junkyard).

Electric window motors are about the same size and torque and
will run in either direction (just swap the two wires over).
Be warned - like anything automotive, they suck lots of current
(30A startup).
I don't know about robot platforms (they are intended for a low duty-
cycle application), but I've just used one for shifting an automatic
transmission and it is quite well behaved. ie. Not too noisy, start-up
and run-down times fairly constant, speed and torque quite
reasonable, etc.

Steve.


======================================================
Steve Baldwin                Electronic Product Design
TLA Microsystems Ltd         Microcontroller Specialists
PO Box 15-680, New Lynn      http://www.tla.co.nz
Auckland, New Zealand        ph  +64 9 820-2221
email: steveb@tla.co.nz      fax +64 9 820-1929
======================================================

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.