Craig Sawyers

I actually missed that - so the trace still kisses the hole (as it were...). So I have gone for nylon standoffs with a plain hole. Although I have those fixed at the moment with an insulating washer under the head of steel self-tapping screws, I will probably move to nylon screws and tap the holes.

That good sir will be great timing! Limiting internal dimensions are 12-3/4 x 16-3/8

Hokay - I said I'd report back about the new Hammond cases. Pretty impressive - particularly for a production case. Fits my roll-your-own BH boards a treat (and that was a relief!). I've shoved some images here: http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/P7260502.JPG http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/P7260503.JPG http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/P7260504.JPG http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/P7260505.JPG

If you know that the series creator Mark Gatiss is also a screenwriter for Dr Who it explains a lot about the Sherlock character and the overall look and feel of the show.

Repeat after me - I must watch Top Gear... Not only were the stars in the reasonably priced car Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise, but they did a test of the new Bugatti Veiron (

Went to a wedding yesterday. Everyone else staying locally and was drinking like you do at weddings. Including the wife. So I was the only sober one there (on driving home duty) which was intensely irritating and boring. People, including me I assume, talk all sorts of shit when ratted and believe themselves to be interesting. My better half also has the even more irritating ability to drink copiously and wake up the next morning without a trace of a hangover. Unlike me, who needs a fair chunk of a day to get back into the land of the living. So at the moment, I'm just tired and pissed off.

Mmm - gazpacho. Needs enough time in the fridge. Given the 105, maybe you should join it in there

The IT crowd. They end up next to a bomb disposal robot. To the bomb disposal robot operator, whose control software had crashed - "What operating system does it use" - "VISTA" - "We're going to die!".

I use iso-propyl alcohol (or propan-2-ol in modern parlance), which I buy in litre bottles from Farnell. For the big board I used a large baking tray with half and inch of IPA in the bottom, dipping one edge of the board into the tray. Then repeated use of a small stiff brush dipped into the tray every couple of seconds, finishing off with an aerosol alcohol spray. Dry board with paper towels to blot off the excess (it will come off brown to start with). Repeat a couple of times until the board is clean and free from flux streaks. Never used compressed air. Bit of a fiddle, but you get excellent results with a bit of patience.

Heh - I could wish!

Power outages are good - makes you get back to the basics of life. Food, sleeping and sex - not necessarily in that order. And possibly a bit of booze thrown in for good measure.

You'll have great fun! Takes a while to stuff those monsters. Mine are finished now and all components are in. Just waiting for transformers and casework. Defluxed both boards a couple of days ago - quite a job given the size, but worthwhile since flux is not consistent with high voltage gradients long term. Even sprung for a set of four xf3 Mullard tubes and Pearl tube coolers. Means you can't see the glow, but reduced envelope temperature extends tube life by a factor of about 2 times, allegedly. Getting a woodie thinking about it Using the waiting time to get on with finishing off a stalled Blue Hawaii. Like most stalled projects this was down to casework. But Hammond have fairly recently introduced some really sexy 19" cases. Extruded side panels, black powder coated, everything 1/8inch thick, and with perforations on top and bottom towards the rear of the case - so right over the heatsinks. Rack mounting ears are separate and so can be removed. I've ordered one and will report back on how good it looks. I'll need a second one for the PSU of course. Their part number RM2U1913VBK.

It's reassuring that this phenomenon seems not to be a speciality of Leicester University. I'm sure it does not help with it being during vacation season - if the papers are in someone's in-tray and then they go for two weeks holiday - that is where the papers stay.

HR functions are a law unto themselves. I'm moving from a contract to a part time employed situation at a UK university. Contract ran out at the end of May. So we are now 7 weeks and counting. Progress has gone beyond glacial to geological. Don't expect to be in post until start of September - which means that a Euro14m multinational project has been without a Project Manager for three months. Go figure.

I remembered that my 1987 Lambdas came with a step-up transformer based driver. It connected to the output of a regular loudspeaker amplifier. The bias came from voltage multiplying and smoothing one of the output drive signals. Called an SRD6SB. I pulled it out the attic and took the lid off to see how it limited the bias, and what the voltage was. One of the headphone drive signals connects to a 100k resistor with a 100nF in series, with a 100V Zener to ground. So that limits the bias at that point. It then goes to a voltage tripler with 100nF caps, and a final 1uF across the output. Then a 4M7 to the diaphragms. So I reckon this unit provides a bias of 300V. The tolerance of the Zener is 10%, so the voltage could be between 270V and 330V. Seems a bit high as compared with the above, and circuit losses and leakage might limit the voltage to a bit lower. Might shove it on the sig gen and a random power amp and see what I get at the bias output.

Driving along on Monday with the cruise set to 85mph, I was passed by a monster black BMW or Audi land cruiser as if I was stationary. Reckon he was doing 140mph. His license plate was F1 ASH, arranged so that it spelt "FLASH". Oh dear oh deary me. What a clown. Anyway, justice was done - five miles later he had been pulled over by the police. Heaven knows how they caught up with him. He'll lose his license for sure at that speed.

That Michell and Webb Look. If you enjoy Brit comedy sketch shows, this is a must watch. Also, for total madness, Shooting Stars. Very oddly David Gest was on, totally bewildered about what on earth he had got himself into.

OK Inu - I'll bite. Where did you get those screws? What an amazing material.

That is serious good news!

Problem is I didn't notice who it was. This must have been fifteen years ago or more - long after The Frost Report, Python, Python movies, FT and his half way decent other movies (like Clockwise, Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures).

It is amazing the major effect this series had - considering the fact that only 12 were ever made. Years ago, while trying to barge my way to my seat at a Jose Carreras open air recital at Hampton Court I pushed past a big guy while muttering "'scuse me...". When we got to our seat, my wife said "Did you notice that you just barged past John Cleese?". Oops.

Way to go! We've just celebrated 32 years - but you're precisely where we started out

Um - the sketch I had was misdimensioned. The official bush diameter of the 7721-3PPSG is 3.56mm and so should fit in a 3.6mm hole. Mine actually measure a tad over 3.6mm - so it takes a very firm push to get them home in the device tab. But they *do* go in.

Hokay - remaining outstanding items have arrived. 2SC3381 - check 4171G - check 7721-3PPSG -check Now - a question for Inu. How did you get the 7721-3PPSG to fit in the holes of the TO220 devices? Faced with the fact that they don't (for me anyway) I looked up the spec. Holes in devices = 2.6mm, bush diameter 2.85mm. Did you ream out the holes in your devices, or am I missing something?