Friday, December 7, 2007

Some of the Wooden mechanical project builders...

Jim Balestreri

(Wooden Toys for Tots}

*Five-time blue ribbon winner makes very special wooden toys

Jim Balestreri is a member of an Orange County, California woodworking club that makes toys to be donated to needy kids. In the past year they have donated several thousand toy cars, trucks, trains and other wooden toys to kids in homeless and battered women's shelters who might not otherwise have much to smile about. However, in addition to his generosity, Jim's work exhibits an excellence in craftsmanship that goes beyond what is normally seen in wooden toys. Though the toys they give away are all nicely made, Jim now and then takes on a special toy project that puts all his tools and talent to work. These are the models that have one him five blue ribbons at local fairs and contests.

Some of his work....

A finished Reading 4-8-4 steam locomotive and tender are displayed in a plexiglass case. Color and contrast is created in the models by using different varieties of wood.

A closeup of the Iron Horse passenger car

Articulated 3-axel road grader, front view. Though built from commercially available plans, this project shows Jim's touch in choice of materials, detail and fine finishes

**More information about Jim Balestreri can be found at http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Balestreri.htm

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7:55 PM

Mechanical Toys!

What are Mechanical Toys?

They use a series of Mechanisms, such as Cams, Bell Cranks, Levers and Pulleys to make a small object, such as a model man, animal or vehicle, move and perform.Mechanical toys are powered by mechanical energy, for example using rubber bands, springs, flywheels, candles or gravity.

In the examples above, the off centre wooden wheel creates an eccentric movement which causes the lever resting on it (the follower) to rise up and down.The off centre card wheels are used as cams. As the followers which are resting on them are mounted on one side rotation is achieved as well as up and down movement. The card figures are mounted on the dowel axles by paper straws and can be replaced easily with other figures.

Mechanisms are devices that have been designed to make jobs easier. They all have certain things in common:
They involve some kind of motion. They involve some kind of force. They must have some kind of input to make them work. They produce some kind of output.

What are CAMS?

Cams is part of a machine used to provide a repetitive straight-line or back-and-forth motion to a second part, known as the follower. They are used to open and close the inlet and exhaust valves of an automotive engine, to index parts of automatic machinery for mass production, to operate a sequence of control switches in electrical equipment, and in many other machines. Complex cam shapes may be required to produce a desired motion.

The Three type of cams and their common uses...

The most common is the disk cam.The cam profile here is cut from a disk mounted on a rotating shaft. The follower can be a flat plate moving vertically in a straight line, or it can be a roller or knife-edge that moves in a straight line or is pivoted. The follower is usually spring loaded to retain contact with the cam.

The second type of cam commonly used is the cylinder cam. The follower in which is a pivoted roller moving along a groove cut into a cylindrical cam rotor.

The third type is the translation cam in which the required profile that defines the motion is cut into a flat plate that moves back and forth. The follower is a spring-loaded knife edge that moves up and down. It can be observed from the figures that the motion of the follower can be changed easily, in order to obtain a desired sequence, by altering the shape of the cam profile.

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7:31 PM

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Upcoming Sony Ericsson phone...

Sony W890i

Introduction: SensMe lets you create playlists based on mood. When you want new songs for your phone, just click the PlayNow icon, pre-listen and buy.It is music intelligence,Tune in the W890i FM radio to your favorite station. It is also stylish and fast,Soft, curved edges, metal finish - the slim W898c oozes elegance. Use this stylish phone to get online. With EDGE, your Web connection is fast.

Features:It has Walkman phone,Music recognition,Podcasts in your phone,Web whenever,Intergrated camera,Video blog,In the kit,Playlists for your mood,Video call,3G,Media manager and PicBridge.Podcasts in your phone, allows you to Subscribe to music and video podcasts and transfer them to your phone via Sony Ericsson Media Manager software .

Web whenever, it is Truly mobile internet lets you enjoy browsing the Web and effectively manage your email from the convenience of your phone, wherever you are. Video blog,getting your own personal blog site with your phone,it's fast and easy.In the kit,in the kit
All you need for a full music experience is included in phone kit. You get a 2GB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) - room for up to 1800 songs*. There are also a USB cable, a stereo portable handsfree and PC software.* 1800 songs assumes eAAC+ encoded files. PictBridge,Skip the computer and photo editing software. Just connect your phone to a printer, choose an image and print.

Sony Ericsson W960i

Introduction:The Walkman touch player let you manage your music the easy way. Enjoy album art on the large phone display and use your fingers to select the song you want.View videos in TV quality on the W960i display. Or connect to your PC, synchronize and enjoy podcasts on your phone.

Features:It has Walkman phone,Music recognition,intergrated camera,3-click music downloads,Web whenever,Media manager,Handwriting Recognition and video call.3-click music downloads,audition it and buy the Top ten ringtones in just 3 simple click!FAST and EASY!Handwriting Recongnition,Text input using stylus on touchscreen: write a character as you would with a pen and it transforms it into the corresponding letter on a keyboard.

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4:42 AM

Some Upcoming Sony Ericsson phones:

Sony Ericsson W380a

Introduction:Easy-touch music controls and current track information on the outside. Then flip this sleek clamshell Walkman phone open and let the inside inspire you.

What's inside?

W380a is a phone with Walkman phone,music recognition,media manager,speakerphone,mega bass,m-buzz.com(the stars of tomorrow),key lock on the outside,MMS,RSS feeds and integrated camera.Walkman phone,brings your favourite sounds along with you.It is a portable music device. Music recognition, allows you to records a few seconds of music and the TrackID returns the song name,artist and album to your phone within seconds. Media manager,With your phone kit you get a CD containing music, photo and video clip management software. Transfer music, videos, photos to and from your phone. M-buzz,a new feature, it is a promotional site for upcoming and unsigned artists features music tracks,videos and much more.Key Lock, With this,this can give the W380i a smooth operation.Just flick to open.RSS feeds,Use your phone to view up-to-the-minute news and other content from selected Web sites and blogs. Just subscribe to the feed and let it come to you.

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4:28 AM

Introducing one of the lastest Nokia Models,Nokia 5310 XpressMusic...

Features:-
There is dedicated music keys for instant access to favorite tunes.It has up to 4GB storage space,therefore,there is no worry about not having enough spaces to store your songs.You can easily switch between songs and calls without disruption.Nokia 5310 has FM radio and a Music player for MP3,Midi,AAC,WMA.It also have a playblack of up to 18 hours.Not only it have many features,it is stylishly sleek and small in design.

Size:-
Nokia 5310 XpressMusic has a volume of 44.8cc and a weight of 70.2grams. Its length is about 103.8mm,a width of 44.7mm and a thickness of 9.9mm.

Others:-
It has a combo memory with 64MB flash and 32 MB RAM.This includes a Hotswap microSD memory card slot.Nokia 5310 supports concatenated SMS, picture messaging, SMS distribution list. For Audio messaging,you can Record your own voice message and send to compatible devices.As for Data transfer,GPRS,EGPRS and HSCSD are available.But take note that these services requires network support.Animated wallpapers,screensavers,colour schemes,ringing tones, 3GPP streaming,downloading and uploading of images and videos sequences and many more are avaliable in this phone.

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4:07 AM