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  • Author Author: phoenixcomm
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Documentation, Documentation

phoenixcomm

imageThat's right, you, me, and everybody. Documentation is like a hole in the road that you try an avoid. Well Bunkie, you can't. Do you know about the immovable stone and the tractor? Well, the tractor lost that round, then somebody said let's just blow the thing up! So out came the drill, dropped an igniter down the hole, filled it full of the stuff, and poured diesel fuel down the hole. They all got back and set the thing off! When the dust settled down the rock was still there but now there were two of them. So they just left them there and built the road around them.

Ok, back to Documentation and why YOU need it, more to the point MUST have documentation for everything you build.

Especially in NexGen, I document almost everything while or before I build or start my project. So here is what my directory structure looks like.

projects     Top-level directory

projects directories including NexGen, Smarthab, etc.

                    Directory  Docs

                                    29-00001 Master Parts Catalog.odt

               Directory    29-00002          Fire Warning System

               Directory    29-00004-00     LoadMeter

               Directory    29-00005-00     ADF 614L-8

               Directory    29-00006-00     ProcesorSelect

               Directory    29-00007-00     Fuel Load Display

                                        29-00007-00.odt manual

                                        Directory images

                                        Directory CAD

                                        Directory SRC

                                                 Directory Arduino

                                                      Directory 29-00007

                                                      29-00007.ino

                                                 Directory ANSII C

                                                 Directory JAVA

                                                 Directory test

                                 

I hope this diatribe helps and if you want to see what I call a manual let me.

~~Cris

  • in reply to DAB

    btw in case you were wondering what was the 29-0000x-00

    is the Nexgen number system where 29 is the category for documentation or manuals.

    the 0000x is just a sequence number of each sub-project.

    and lastly, the last two zeros are for major revisions and always starts at 00

    ~~ Cris

    and btw just for giggles here is my category list.

    Table of Contents

    List of Manuals 3
    Catalog, Master Parts 4

    Fire Warning Warning System, Operator Manual, with Maintenance Support. 4
    List of Schematics 4
    C-3236A Interface Harness 4
    List of Part numbers 4
         Category 1: Avionics 5
         Category 3: Avionics, Radios Heads 5
         Category 5: Avionics, Interfaces 5
         Category 6: Avionics, Other 6
         Category 7: Controls, Pilot 6
         Category 17: Wire and Cable 6
         Category 18: Hardware, Basic 7
         Category 19: Knobs 7
         Category 20: Resistors 7
         Category 21: Capacitors 7
         Category 24: PCB, Bare 7
         Category 26: Connectors 7
         Category 27: Harness, Cable 8
         Category 30: Coils, Chokes, Transformers, 9
         Category 33: Switches 9
         Category 34: Power Supplies 9
         Category 35: PCB, Assembled 9
         Category 36: Optical-Mechanical 10
         Category 37: Optical-Lens 10
         Category 40: Electro-Optical 11
         Category 59: Device Protection 11
         Category 60: Solenoids and Relays 11
         Category 63: Meters 12
         Category 64: Sensors 12
         Category 65: Sub-Assembly 12
         Category 109: Panels, Ultimately Painted or Numbered 13
         Category 118: Integrated Circuits, Interface
         Category 119: Integrated Circuits, Digital 13
         Category 120: Integrated Circuits, Memory (PAL, PROM, ROM, RAM, DRAM) 14
         Category 121: Integrated Circuits, CPU 14
         Category 122: Integrated Circuits, Analog 14
         Category 123: Integrated Circuits, Digital Interface 14
         Category 124: Semiconductors, Diodes, 2 leads 14
         Category 125: Semiconductors, Diodes, 3 or 4 (leads (SCR, TRIAC, Pin, Rectifiers) 14
         Category 126: Semiconductors, Transistors 14
         Category 127: Semiconductors, Regulators 15
         Category 128: Semiconductor, Opt-Isolators 15
         Category 129: Relays, Solid State 15

    Vendor ID 15
    Project ID 19
    Notes: 20
    Typography 20

  • Every project needs documentation from the time you get the idea to collecting the lessons learned when you are done.

     

    I have done many projects where I was very glad I documented everything in my notebook as I went through each step.

     

    You can learn a lot of useful information through reviewing your old documentation to recall what you have forgotten with time.

     

    I keep my trusty notebook available all of the time. You just never know when a good idea will pop into your head and you need to quickly capture the inspiration before you brain resets and it is gone.

     

    DAB