The Night Mail

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The vast majority of my soft soldering is done with 60/40 rosin cored solder

I have some of that still. It seemed not to solder as well as it used to so I have been using some additional flux. I wondered if it aged in some way. Mine is probably from the 1980s. I have used to lead free solder and flux on plumbing work but don’t seem to have much success with the lead free stuff for electronics. 

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, GMKAT7 said:

Good morning folks,

 

For those of you who are familiar with the “water of life” is this drop any good?

 

My son treated himself to a bottle and I was curious to know if it was worth me sampling some.

As a beer and wine drinker I am not well versed in this.

 

I know single malts are held in more esteem than the blends but not much more than that.
 

Cheers, Nigel.

If you are not well versed with whisky, then you might find that you will appreciate it more if you let it down with a little water.  I don't mean using the water in mixer size quantities.  If you try 7/8 whisky to 1/8 water it's not a bad starting point. After the first drink, which should be savoured and sipped, no slugged down American cowboy style, you might want to experiment with the water whisky ratios.

[jjb1970]

I rarely drink alcohol. I'm not teetotal and have philosophical objection to drinking, I decided it was too easy to end up as an alcoholic when I was at sea so didn't drink at sea. Not drinking at sea led me to not drinking on leave.

 

I do enjoy sake, if I  drink it is either wine to be polite in formal dinners or sake on those rare occasions when I drink because I fancy something. Mrs JJB is similar but for some reason she likes soju when she occasionally has alcohol.

 

There's a whisky shop near my office, but it's the whisky equivalent of a haute horology watch dealer, I sometimes look at prices and think 'how ****** much!!'. I do notice that Japanese whisky seems very trendy here at least and some of the most sought after are Japanese.  My local boss is a whisky buff with a weakness for expensive Japanese stuff. I always think if that's what people enjoy then good luck to them, most normals would consider what I have spent on model trains to be outrageous.

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I think the better beer drinkers use their Brains.

My Welsh neighbours of 40 years ago used to refer to their local brew Felin Foel, back home in Wales, as Feeling Foul. As we lived in Kent it was mainly Shepherd Neame we downed on a Friday night. 

 

More than 50 years ago CAMRA served a real purpose in alerting drinkers to what the trade was doing. I liked their slogan "Feeling bitter about your pint?". By the late '70s their crusade had achieved a lot, and like many other organisations that set out with a mission and achieve it, the unity of purpose fell away. But I'm not sure even they, or anyone else, can do much to reverse the closure of pubs, particularly in rural areas. We can all see the breathalyser is a Good Thing - but this is one of its downsides. 

[SM42]

The way to upset a CAMRA member is to ask them why they are not called CAMRB as real ale seems to be the last thing they get excited about. 

 

Most I find don't know the difference between real ale and real beer

 

Andy

[polybear]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

It's not bad, not exceptional, but not bad.

 

I think that the Balvenie DoubleWood is much better:

 

I tend to try lots of different whiskys and I allow myself a modest budget per bottle (you can end up spending some really serious money on whisky). But I always return to the Balvenie DoubleWood.

 

If you don't mind being adventurous you could try the Suntory World Whisky:

Which is  a very nice blend of 5 whiskys: Japanese, American, Canadian, Irish and Scottish.

 

In regards to single malt vs blends: I've had blends that have been superb and single malts that were just about drinkable. The Japanese make some very fine blends and one particular Japanese blend (which, of course, I've forgotten the name of) was just as good as a number of "standard" 10 and 12 year old Scottish single malts in my collection.

 

The Balvenie Doublewood (12 year old) is about £45 and the Sunory World Whisky is about £65.

 

Both worth it

 

Meanwhile, Bear’s Vintage 2024 Ribena comes in at a very reasonable two-fifty a bottle….

 

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:I have used to lead free solder and flux on plumbing work but don’t seem to have much success with the lead free stuff for electronics. 

 

There’s a very good reason why the Defence Industry have an exemption and don’t use L.F. - it’s cos’ it’s sh1t.

[Willie Whizz]

My thought: if you must add ice to a decent whisky - and sometimes I do - no more than one cube. Just takes the harsh edge off, where there is one, without killing the flavour stone dead. “Scotch on the Rock” if you will, never “rocks” (unless you’re drinking it in an American desert perhaps …). 
 

My daughter did buy me some nifty little black cubic rocks that you can keep in the freezer to cool your whisky without diluting it at all, but having almost broken my teeth with them several times I don’t often use them now. 

[AndyID]

38 minutes ago, polybear said:

 a very good reason why the Defence Industry have an exemption and don’t use L.F. - it’s cos’ it’s sh1t.

 

Not only is it difficult to use it creates other nasty problems.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy)

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

If you are not well versed with whisky, then you might find that you will appreciate it more if you let it down with a little water.  I don't mean using the water in mixer size quantities.  If you try 7/8 whisky to 1/8 water it's not a bad starting point. After the first drink, which should be savoured and sipped, no slugged down American cowboy style, you might want to experiment with the water whisky ratios.

 

Of course there's always the old dodgy pub trick. After someone has downed their first glass of the good stuff neat they switch to the cheap stuff for refills but charge for the good stuff. It works because your taste buds are hammered by the first glass.

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

If you are not well versed with whisky, then you might find that you will appreciate it more if you let it down with a little water.  I don't mean using the water in mixer size quantities.  If you try 7/8 whisky to 1/8 water it's not a bad starting point. After the first drink, which should be savoured and sipped, no slugged down American cowboy style, you might want to experiment with the water whisky ratios.

 

Despite my national heritage I don't care much for malt whisky. I'd rather have a blend like Johnnie Walker Black Label. I take it with a glass of water with ice at the same time.

[DenysW]

7 hours ago, GMKAT7 said:

For those of you who are familiar with the “water of life” is this drop any good?

I always find Glenfiddich disappointing, because they ought to be the best but aren't. They are the only one I know of that dilutes cask-strength down to bottle strength with their own water. Most are diluted on bottling remotely from the distillery. An 18-year Glenfiddich is the equivalent of most brands' 10-year - and you pay for age. I agree about the Balvennie, which is literally next-door to Glenfiddich!

 

Look out for Islay whiskeys - some are so heavily peated their use should be restricted to creosoting fences (other opinions are available). Same for Talisker.

[TheQ]

I like highland park whisky of at least 12 years old, younger and it starts to taste like soot. 

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Willie Whizz said:

My thought: if you must add ice to a decent whisky - and sometimes I do - no more than one cube. Just takes the harsh edge off, where there is one, without killing the flavour stone dead. “Scotch on the Rock” if you will, never “rocks” (unless you’re drinking it in an American desert perhaps …). 
 

My daughter did buy me some nifty little black cubic rocks that you can keep in the freezer to cool your whisky without diluting it at all, but having almost broken my teeth with them several times I don’t often use them now. 

I also have some whisky rocks in the freezer but hav't tried to eat them yet.  I find Glenfiddich a tad harsh. I like the smoothnones like The Mcallan and The Glenlivet.  The one benefit of the Word is that they all got £5 cheaper on the ferries.  Perhaps I should have emailed Jacob RM the former minister for the 19th century. 

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

2 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I also have some whisky rocks in the freezer but hav't tried to eat them yet.  I find Glenfiddich a tad harsh. I like the smoothnones like The Mcallan and The Glenlivet.  The one benefit of the Word is that they all got £5 cheaper on the ferries.  Perhaps I should have emailed Jacob RM the former minister for the 19th century. 

 

Jamie

I have some whisky rocks, but since they are made of granite, I don't throw them into crystal glasses with gay, or any other sort, of abandon.

 

They do have the advantage of cooling the whisky/whiskey down without diluting it which is what happens when you use ice.

 

I think they are best used when you know how you like your whisky and they can just drop the temperature down a bit.

[AndyID]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I have some of that still. It seemed not to solder as well as it used to so I have been using some additional flux. I wondered if it aged in some way. Mine is probably from the 1980s. I have used to lead free solder and flux on plumbing work but don’t seem to have much success with the lead free stuff for electronics. 

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.circuitinsight.com/pdf/flux_cored_wire_solder_shelf_life_smta.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwi-scW5p7GIAxUzEUQIHaKxCtIQFnoECAAQAw&usg=AOvVaw0tJrT84Ws-2KatySYP0i-j

[AndyID]

10 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I have some whisky rocks, but since they are made of granite, I don't throw them into crystal glasses with gay, or any other sort, of abandon.

 

They do have the advantage of cooling the whisky/whiskey down without diluting it which is what happens when you use ice.

 

I think they are best used when you know how you like your whisky and they can just drop the temperature down a bit.

 

Another benefit is they make the whisky radioactive (very slightly).

[zarniwhoop]

On the rare occasions when I drink whisky, I prefer Isle of Jura (the ordinary 10 year old).

[bbishop]

Back from Stafford on the evening Parly.  Didn't spot the Squadron Leader.

 

Whisky = Sainsbury's cheapest, with their own brand ginger wine.  Cold cure.  I don't drink any other spirit.

 

Wine is drunk with caution, in case I down it by the pint - not a good idea.  A good glass of port, however, is sipped slowly.

 

I'm really a beer drinker, good ale preferably.

[Northmoor]

11 hours ago, GMKAT7 said:

Good morning folks,

 

For those of you who are familiar with the “water of life” is this drop any good?

 

My son treated himself to a bottle and I was curious to know if it was worth me sampling some.

As a beer and wine drinker I am not well versed in this.

 

I know single malts are held in more esteem than the blends but not much more than that.
 

Cheers, Nigel.

12y.o. Glenfiddich is good stuff; IMO there is better and worse for the same money but remember that's my personal taste, you may not agree. 

Ignore the whisky snobs who look down on blended Scotch; what do they think it's blended from?  @iL Dottore is right, being a single malt is no indicator of excellence; a good blended malt is made from good single malts and and poor single malts won't make a good blend.  

 

To me whisky is analagous to ice cream, blends are vanilla and single malts are all the other (sometimes very obscure) flavours.  All single malts taste subtlely different, while they will all have much the same flavour, you can have very good (and some really awful) vanilla ice cream.  

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

16 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

It works as a one shot operation with my micro torch! 

 

The base of the rails are tinned using the 100W iron, then a goodly amount of flux is laid on the paxolin

 

A very low flame played over the rail which is held in place by some small clamps which also act as heat sinks so the plastic sleepers and chairs don't melt.

 

As soon as there is a indication that the solder has begun to flash around the base of the rail,  a little more is added for reinforcement.

 

The other nice tool to use for such a job is the resistance soldering iron.

 

It's also very good for seam soldering of folded photo etch components.

 

The vast majority of my soft soldering is done with 60/40 rosin cored solder which followed my father from the BBC when he retired back in the 1980's.

 

I've still got a couple of reels left over from the box full he gave me.  A lot was given away to cronies.

 

The next batch of cassettes I build will use a solid brass cross member, which will allow the connectors to be silver soldered into place.

 

A combo of epoxy and pins will hold the end plate in place, then I'll split the brass plate to insulate it.  I suspect the easiest way to do this would be to partially cut through the plate before assembly starts with a slot drill, and then cut through the remainder once its installed on the cassette.

 

If you are relying on the cross-member to align the entire cassette  it has to be pretty sturdy. I think that should work. Have you considered using thicker copper-clad laminate? It's pretty strong stuff and comes a lot different thicknesses.

 

BTW, you are not using Paxolin. It's crepe! You are using copper-clad fiberglass laminate. It's quite good stuff and you can even mill it with one of those cheapo router machines to make stuff like this.

 

 

You can also make your own basic printed circuits with those routers.

 

 

 

Edited September 8 by AndyID
Moinfo

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, bbishop said:

 

Whisky = Sainsbury's cheapest, with their own brand ginger wine.  Cold cure.  I don't drink any other spirit.

 

 

If you are going to load it up with ginger you might as well use Wodka 🤣

[Winslow Boy]

I'm with the Bear on this. Twelve year old, fully matured Vimto with a dash of tonic and some cubes of ice, only though when it's very, very, very warm. If I'm feeling exotic then I'll throw in a cocktail umbrella and a slice of frozen lemon.

[polybear]

10 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I'm with the Bear on this. Twelve year old, fully matured Vimto with a dash of tonic and some cubes of ice, only though when it's very, very, very warm. If I'm feeling exotic then I'll throw in a cocktail umbrella and a slice of frozen lemon.

Bear’s go-to pub drink:

 

“Blackcurrant & Lemonade - strong enough to scare the hell out of my Dentist*.  No ice**, no slice, no umbrella….”
 

*They have a habit of serving pink lemonade otherwise - this gives them a hint….

 

**None of those cheap pub tricks to save costs on this Bear, thanks very much.  All they do is make the mix weaker as they melt.

[Happy Hippo]

 

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

If you are relying on the cross-member to align the entire cassette  it has to be pretty sturdy. I think that should work. Have you considered using thicker copper-clad laminate? It's pretty strong stuff and comes a lot different thicknesses.

Yes, you're quite right.  I'm afraid my using the term copper paxolin is akin to using the word Hoover to describe a vacuum  cleaner, regardless of manufacturer.

 

The copper clad laminate I'm using is is double sided. and is cut into strips 68mm long by 25 mm wide and is 2mm thick, so is fairly substantial.

On the cassette units it is glued onto an MDF plate of the same dimensions, albeit it 3 mm thick, and this is then glued to the base of the cassette.

 

It is drilled on each side of the copper clad and screwed down into the cassette base, so I'm pretty sure that they are quite secure.

 

For the female connectors that are at each end of the scenic section, I double up on the screws.

 

For ease of manufacture, the copper clad is cut using my Proxxon table saw.

 

Once we have a large enough pile, the blade is dropped so it is just protruding from the saw bed. and is then used to cut the isolating grooves: These are staggered.  The top one being on the approximate centre line, and then the copper clad is flipped over and the fence is reset to 20 mm and two further grooves are cut, one each end.  this ensures that the fixing screws cannot pass current.  I feel using this three groove method is better/stronger than a pair of grooves  directly above/below each other.