diff --git a/collada_urdf/include/collada_urdf/collada_urdf.h b/collada_urdf/include/collada_urdf/collada_urdf.h
index 7030f82..44f5837 100644
--- a/collada_urdf/include/collada_urdf/collada_urdf.h
+++ b/collada_urdf/include/collada_urdf/collada_urdf.h
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@
 
 namespace collada_urdf {
 
+class ColladaUrdfException : public std::runtime_error
+{
+public:
+    ColladaUrdfException(std::string const& what);
+};
+
 /** Construct a COLLADA DOM from an URDF file
  * \param file The filename from where to read the URDF
  * \param dom The resulting COLLADA DOM
diff --git a/collada_urdf/include/collada_urdf/collada_writer.h b/collada_urdf/include/collada_urdf/collada_writer.h
index 3bf0c30..6aada98 100644
--- a/collada_urdf/include/collada_urdf/collada_writer.h
+++ b/collada_urdf/include/collada_urdf/collada_writer.h
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@
 #ifndef COLLADA_URDF_COLLADA_WRITER_H
 #define COLLADA_URDF_COLLADA_WRITER_H
 
+#include "collada_urdf/collada_urdf.h"
+
 #include <map>
 
 #include <dae.h>
@@ -55,14 +57,13 @@
 
 namespace collada_urdf {
 
-class ColladaWriterException : public std::runtime_error
-{
-public:
-    ColladaWriterException(std::string const& what) : std::runtime_error(what) { }
-};
-
 class Mesh;
 
+/**
+ * Implements writing urdf::Model objects to a COLLADA DOM.
+ *
+ * The API for this class is unstable.  The public API for collada_urdf is declared in collada_urdf.h.
+ */
 class ColladaWriter : public daeErrorHandler
 {
 private:
diff --git a/collada_urdf/src/collada_urdf.cpp b/collada_urdf/src/collada_urdf.cpp
index 69fbd3f..63ea86e 100644
--- a/collada_urdf/src/collada_urdf.cpp
+++ b/collada_urdf/src/collada_urdf.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ using boost::shared_ptr;
 
 namespace collada_urdf {
 
+ColladaUrdfException::ColladaUrdfException(std::string const& what)
+    : std::runtime_error(what)
+{
+}
+
 bool colladaFromUrdfFile(string const& file, shared_ptr<DAE>& dom) {
     TiXmlDocument urdf_xml;
     if (!urdf_xml.LoadFile(file)) {
diff --git a/collada_urdf/src/collada_writer.cpp b/collada_urdf/src/collada_writer.cpp
index 7265365..8fe3dea 100644
--- a/collada_urdf/src/collada_writer.cpp
+++ b/collada_urdf/src/collada_writer.cpp
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ shared_ptr<DAE> ColladaWriter::convert() {
 
         return collada_;
     }
-    catch (ColladaWriterException ex) {
+    catch (ColladaUrdfException ex) {
         ROS_ERROR("Error converting: %s", ex.what());
         return shared_ptr<DAE>();
     }
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ shared_ptr<DAE> ColladaWriter::convert() {
 // Implementation
 
 void ColladaWriter::handleError(daeString msg) {
-    throw ColladaWriterException(msg);
+    throw ColladaUrdfException(msg);
 }
 
 void ColladaWriter::handleWarning(daeString msg) {
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ void ColladaWriter::initDocument(string const& documentName) {
     daeDocument* doc = NULL;
     daeInt error = collada_->getDatabase()->insertDocument(documentName.c_str(), &doc); // also creates a collada root
     if (error != DAE_OK || doc == NULL)
-        throw ColladaWriterException("Failed to create document");
+        throw ColladaUrdfException("Failed to create document");
 
     dom_ = daeSafeCast<domCOLLADA>(doc->getDomRoot());
     dom_->setAttribute("xmlns:math", "http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML");
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ void ColladaWriter::loadMesh(string const& filename, domGeometryRef geometry, st
     try {
         loadMeshWithSTLLoader(resource, geometry, geometry_id);
     }
-    catch (ColladaWriterException e) {
+    catch (ColladaUrdfException e) {
         std::cerr << "Unable to load mesh file " << filename << ": " << e.what() << std::endl;
     }
 }
@@ -268,12 +268,12 @@ bool ColladaWriter::loadMeshWithSTLLoader(resource_retriever::MemoryResource con
     char tmp_filename[] = "/tmp/collada_urdf_XXXXXX";
     int fd = mkstemp(tmp_filename);
     if (fd == -1)
-        throw ColladaWriterException("Couldn't create temporary file");
+        throw ColladaUrdfException("Couldn't create temporary file");
 
     if ((uint32_t) write(fd, resource.data.get(), resource.size) != resource.size) {
         close(fd);
         unlink(tmp_filename);
-        throw ColladaWriterException("Couldn't write resource to file");
+        throw ColladaUrdfException("Couldn't write resource to file");
     }
     close(fd);
 
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ bool ColladaWriter::loadMeshWithSTLLoader(resource_retriever::MemoryResource con
     shared_ptr<Mesh> stl_mesh = loader.load(string(tmp_filename));
     if (stl_mesh == shared_ptr<Mesh>()) {
         unlink(tmp_filename);
-        throw ColladaWriterException("Couldn't import mesh with STLLoader");
+        throw ColladaUrdfException("Couldn't import STL mesh");
     }
 
     // Build the COLLADA mesh