"Self-powered" radio question
 

Have any of you folks ever disassembled a FreePlay 360 radio? It's one of
those small wind-up radios that became popular with the Y2K survivalist
crowd. It uses a big clockwork spring mechanism to spin the dynamo, and I'm
worried that the springs are going to pop out all over the place if I open
the back. Has anyone tried it?

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 18:27:01 GMT, "Sneezy"
wrote:

Have any of you folks ever disassembled a FreePlay 360 radio? It's one of
those small wind-up radios that became popular with the Y2K survivalist
crowd. It uses a big clockwork spring mechanism to spin the dynamo, and I'm
worried that the springs are going to pop out all over the place if I open
the back. Has anyone tried it?

From taking apart other wind-up devices, you _should_ be worried about
springs popping out. The tricky part, once you find all the pieces teh
flew around the room, is getting the tension correct when you
re-assemble.

There are tricks to working with spring-driven equipment which are
best learned on something less expensive to replace.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom