Craig Sawyers

New series of top gear. Usual mixture of madness, capped off by May driving up an Icelandic volcano (the same one that blew its head and disrupted air travel). Tyres eventually burst into flames at which point he retreated.

Because I have little or no interest in the sport, I valeted our older car as a graduation present for our daughter. But I could tell the inevitible was happening by a stereo groan of despair coming though open windows along our road as each goal went in against England. Now we'll have to get through days of navel gazing by the pundits. There will be no repite....

The series got better as it went along, with the brilliant one liner to finish off "NOW what do we do?". Can't wait until the next series.

Jeez - if that birthday party has been going on for 3 years, it is no wonder the beer has expired

This has just got to be the wrong list for discussing running shoes - but the theory behind these is that since 50% of the bones in the human body are in the feet, they are there for a purpose. The whole foot is a very advanced shock absorbing system, intended to be in touch with what it is running on. The arch is part of that - ideally with the foot striking on the outer edge of the foot, rolling inwards towards the arch (which flexes downwards as it takes the load), the heel touches the ground very lightly, and the the calf pushes you off again. And yes - track racing flats (apart from the spikes) are not dissimilar in the correct lack of support of five-fingers.

Another UK source of UNC fixings, including black, in various headstyles and 1/8" length increments http://www.modelfixings.com/

Scratch the 10mm comment - the board height is fixed by the heatsink bracket position.

I wondered what the second coupling was - that is a really neat design, and keeps visible shaft grub screws completely out of the equation! With the fancy Alps, you have to go *up* from 1/4" to 8mm, whereas with the DACT you need to go "down* to 6mm.

Maximum EPCOS height above the board is 47mm. How about slightly shorter spacers? Specced ones are half inch, so would 10mm work better?

You into Salad Fingers too?

Mushroom mushroom

Big problem here is badgers. They are either a protected species (like if you want to do a building extension) or subject to government organised culls (because they carry bovine tuberculosis). Factoid - the M25 London orbital has tunnels for badgers and othe wildlife to use to get from one side to the other. Not to protect the wildlife, but to prevent accidents as motorists swerve to avoid them.

Did they mask casework areas that are in electrical contact?

When I was a student living in a typical student flat, I was infested by mice. Being an electronics student, I took some strip board and wired each alternate strip to live and neutral, put a piece of cheese in the middle and switched on, the aim being to electrically fry the sods. The only thing that happened was my nerve broke first, worried about getting up in the morning and standing on it. Mice took absolutely no interest, until I turned the power off - then the little buggers ate the cheese.

Based on the assumption that KG's knob is 1/4" (waits for the inevitible comments...), since the panel bearing specced is for 1/4" rod, I need to transition from 1/4" rod to 6mm shaft for the DACT. I've therefore bought a 6mm shaft coupler (Rapid Electronics), and will ream half the length out to 1/4". I could of course turn the 1/4" rod down to 6mm at one end, if I had a lathe (but I don't), so adapting the hole size in a coupler is much easier.

Oh - sure they are not a new product, but they are new to me. I'm a forefoot striker anyway, and in 40,000 miles of running have never had any wear marks on the heel of any running shoe. So apart from aching calves due to the different foot angle I think I'll adapt quite well. The wierd thing is that I've been used to a sort of slap, slap sound in conventional running shoes, but with the five-fingers with zero support anywhere I am almost totally silent - just a very quiet padding sound. The statistics are interesting. Since Nike introduced the modern running shoe as an advance in the sort of flat and flexible shoes that preceeded them, there has actually been an increase in running injuries. Stretching before and after a run? Also no impact on injury rate. Speed? Famous bear foot runners are pretty rare, but Abebe Bikela won the 1960 olympics marathon in bare feet. Bruce Tolloh was a world class middle distance track runner in the 60's/early 70's (he used to surgical tape each toe though), and Zola Budd also ran barefoot in the 80's. But track spikes are light and flexible anyway, with no heel and hardly any support - so are not dissimilar to barefoot running with additional traction.

You're absolutely right - I'm an R4 addict. The only things I won't listen to are The Archers (loathe it) and anything that is a phone-in (Money Box Live, Any Questions and Any Answers). I discovered bare-foot running two weeks ago by listening to Woman's Hour, which had a guy on who has written a book called Born to Run and extols the virtues of bare-foot running. Bought the book, devoured in in three days, bought Vibram five-fingers, and am now adapting to running in what is basically a tight fitting foot glove with a 2mm sole - no padding, no heel, no support. Mock the Week is excellent - with the odd factoid that Dara O'Briain is a Maths and Theoretical Physics graduate.

The wild west frontiersmen has the right idea and made hats out of them. Good luck with the .22 - sounds like you need badly to get rid of the damned things in a permanent way.

It's just got worse - Wimbledon has started. So now if it isn't World Cup, it's Wimbledon. And what is left in the odd slots left is either a repeat or of zero interest. At least I'm mildly interested in tennis. Lots of pay-per-view movies over the next few weeks I think.....

It *definitely* needed big-screen 3D. We decided that it would be pretty long and unimpressive in either 2D or small screen (even large home theatre size).

That looks really sexy! I like the re-siting of the 3W power resistors to the non-component side of the board too.

Kevin - the pics of your build show a volume control extension shaft that looks insulating. Is there a particular reason that it should be? Reason is that I have stock of 1/4" aluminium(aluminum) rod.

Ok guys - what is the secret? I've just experimentally tried out a 2SJ109 and I failed fairly miserably to get it in the holes.

Thanks struts and voltron. I didn't keep a tally, but I guess it must have been ten hours for both boards, or maybe a little more, spread over three days. I don't have a flip over frame to help soldering, so I stuck a piece of carpet onto piece of plywood just larger than the big board with carpet spray glue. Used a lead bender to assist component preparation while the boards were propped on two transformers - then put the carpet gizmo on top and flipped it. Worked a treat.

Hokay, finished the boards. Remaining is: 1. Japanese semiconductors - expected early next week 2. Transformers. Being built by Paul Houlden, ex MD of Avel Lindberg and supplier to Krell and other high end manufacturers. Cores are on order, so finished transformers should be around 3 weeks delivery. Primary specced at 240V 50Hz and his design regulation is 7%, centre potted fixings. Any other T2 builders in 240V territories who are interested, let me know and I'll put you directly in touch. 3. Ceramic insulators. 4. Casework. Here's a pic of the stuffed boards http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/T2stuffedboards.JPG