Metals

Ferrous Metals are needed to be treated if they are with any contact with any moisture, so they will not rust. Non - ferrous metals are more expensive and they are not magnetic unlike the ferrous metal so they do not rust.

Types of metals
the range of metals are available and can be categorise in either ferrous or non ferrous, but they can be further separated into alloys or non - alloys.

Ferrous metals

-Cast iron -
- Steels
- mild steel
-medium carbon steel
- high carbon steel

Non Ferrous metals
Aluminium
copper
lead
tin
zinc

Alloys
-Ferrous alloys
Stainless Steel
High speed steel
Die (tool) steel

-Non ferrous alloys
Brass
Bronze
Duralumin(s)

alloys and alloying
Alloying changes other characteristics of the material (e.g copper + zinc = brass Changing the colours of the metal to a yellow/gold making the material attractive to purchasers)
To obtain a better range of properties and characteristics two or more metals can be mixed together to produce an alloy.

Work hardening and heat treating metals
Work hardneing occurs when the material is 'cold worked' by , for e.g. bending or rolling or hammering or drawing.
Heat treatments are those processes of heating and cooling metals in a controlled way , in order to achieve a beneficial change in the properties of the material . The more common heat treatments are:

• Annealing
• Hardening
• Tempering
• normalising

Annealing - annealing is a heat treatment that reverses the internal stresses associated with work hardening.

Hardening - this heat treatment changes the way the carbon atoms within the steel affects the strength and hardness of the material.

Tempering - The heat treatment that follows the hardening of medium and high carbon steels.

What I know about Wood and Manufacture Boards...

Ok...wood....umm they come from trees.... :]

Wood
Wood has been used as both structural material and as a decorative material for thousands of years, however there is a major challenge to preserve rescourses, in particular the slower growing hardwood trees.

Types of wood
There are two basic types of trees called hardwood and softwoods.
Softwood - Fast growing, open grained(weaker) straight, long lengths and cheaper.
Hardwood - deciduous, evergreen , takes 60 - 100 years to mature and expensive.

Softwood: Scots pine, Spruce,Douglas fir.
Hardwood: Oak, Ash, Yew,Walnut ,Beech, Teak.

Sterling Board - (Temporary boarding up)
-large chips and resin squashed together
-weaker
-Cheap
-temporary

MDF = Medium Density Fibreboard - (Worktops, cheap furniture)
-Resin and fibres pressed into sheets
-Urea Formaldehyde is the resin used to bond fibres
-dangerous when cut or sanded - dust cells hook onto lungs or into eyes
-mask and goggles should be worn if being worked with often

Hexaboard - (temporary flooring)
-embossed with hexagon shaped tred
-grippy
-strong
-temporary

Creative Zen Vs iPod Nano

The iPod nano is the world's most popular music/video player but what happened to the Creative Zen?

The Creative Zen is not the most fashionable music player as the iPod is, however it's functions can match up to the iPod Nano.

iPod Nano;

• play up to 5 hours of video


• Or up to 24 hours of audio


• The Nano measures a petite 2.75 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 0.25 inch thickness


• The new units will include 2-inch, QVGA, 320 x 240 screens and have the highest pixel density the company has ever shipped (204 pixels per inch).


• Games


• Arrange in different colours
  

Creative Zen;

• 3.3 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.4 inch


• plays up to 25 hours audio


• The SD/SDHC card slot enables you to plug-in extra storage whenever you want.


• Plays video in WMV or DivX/XviD at 320x240 resolution


• View photos on the brilliant 2.5-inch screen in up to 16.7 million colours


• Built-in FM radio and microphone
  

I used to have an iPod nano for only 2 years because it kept on freezing or not responding, and it is not, because there wasnt much memory left in that damn thing. I have now got a Creative Zen instead, maybe because it was cheaper than the iPod nano.

(Year 2008 price of iPod nano and Creative Zen;)

Creative Zen (available in 2GB,4GB,8GB,16GB OR 32GB)
4GB - £69.99
8GB - £89.99
32GB - £199.99

iPod nano (available in 4GB and 8GB)
4GB - £89.99
8GB - £115.00 (cheapest price I could find)

I wasnt too pleased when i brought a 4GB iPod nano, when i could have got an 8GB Creative zen.
For screen, the Zen has a bigger screen - 2.5 vs the iPod’s 2, but iPod nano is smaller and thinner than Zen. iPod nano is much impressive design then Creative Zen, with iPod nano has an exceptionally thin all-metal body, advanced user interface. But even Creative Zen pocket-friendly design, it control pad feels cheap.

In total, I prefer the Creative Zen than the iPod nano (no offence to whoever has the iPod nano) The creatives offers more extras such as an SD card expansion slot, an FM radio, a voice recorder, and a user-definable EQ and it supports subscription music. Though iPod nano do not have many function, it built-in games.

so I am glad, I Brought the Creative Zen :]