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Post by oliver101 on Apr 4, 2012 12:09:59 GMT
I stand corrected John, all these years I have always been told that gold cables would be the best as they were of a lower resistance than copper. I wish I had had the chance to meet Barnes Wallace, a real legend. I have met the grandson of Frank Whittle the jet engine designer quite a few times, as he used to come into my work place as he was an alarm engineer, thats about the only link I can get close to. I bet Barnes Wallace and Frank Whittle must have met a few times during the war.
Thanks for putting me straight on the points.
Ian
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Post by Tubbs on Apr 4, 2012 14:13:17 GMT
Zinc plated connectors....they last as long as gold plated and are a good bit cheaper. An engineer friend of mine who works for a cable company (for the past 30 years) reliably informed me. He also claims that the gold plating on a audio connector is not the same thickness as it would be on a nice piece of gold plated jewellery. In other words...dont bother wasting money on them Jacqui..  |
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Post by JohnG on Apr 4, 2012 14:37:38 GMT
Whatever you do don't lose sleep over it, Ian!
It's only that my aircraft apprenticeship required a moderate understanding of metals and materials. Otherwise logic would have told me that gold was the better conductor.
Barnes Wallace was one of the gentlest men I think I've met. Quiet and modest, but got all fired up talking about inventions. I only got to talk to him a very few times, and never for more than a minute or two.
The old BAC factory, before that Vickers Armstrong, was inside the old Brooklands racing track on the outskirts of Weybridge in Surrey. A lot of the track was still in place when I worked there, and littered with the "jigs" for making WWII bombers, the Wellington and others. The history of the place dates back to the old Vickers Vimy (maybe further) and many, many other fine Vickers aircraft over the years.
Looking back, it was an incredible privilege to be educated there from some of the finest minds in British aviation history. Now all sadly dispersed to the four winds. Wallis retired in '68 I think, they cancelled the TSR2, our chief aeronautics designer pushed off for Lockheed, as I recall, within months of that. I still remember them wheeling the part completed bodies of the TSR2s out onto the edge of the runway and cutting them up with oxy-acetylene torches for scrap. What did the Air Force get instead? F bl**dy 111s. The heart went out of the place then.
I moved sideways into the early computer industry then. No future in the UK for aviation.
And blow me down if I haven't spelled his name incorrectly, it was Barnes Wallis not Wallace. Too much Grommit probably!
Gazes into the past with rose tinted spectacles!
JohnG.
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Post by weegeo on Apr 4, 2012 15:03:48 GMT
Well stand back and wait for the reaction lol lol Let us look at some of the aforementioned metals and see which actually rust and therefore corrode, Gold we know doesn`t rust Silver doesn`t rust nor does Copper and brass, another good metal that won`t rust is guilding metal which like Aluminium is an alloy. In my capacity as a silversmith i have worked with all these metals they all of course oxidize which imho is not corrosion. Just a few wee thoughts
weegeo------------------------- in the corner flak jacket on lol
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Post by JohnG on Apr 4, 2012 16:44:46 GMT
Won't argue, George, Just refer you here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrosion. Aluminium is not an alloy but a pure metal, it has its own chemical symbol "Al". My father worked for Alcan for several years while I was doing my apprenticeship. You could look it up too on wiki. But it's all in my old metallurgy text book from the 60s. It is usually alloyed with other things like copper or, in the case of Concorde, with nickel. The most common one I knew was duralumin or Dural. No none of the materials you mention rust. Rust is ferrous oxide. Ferrous means from iron, chemical symbol "Fe". So only iron and steel and other iron alloys rust. But rusting is just one form, the most common we know, of corrosion. Silver is not iron, copper is not iron, brass is an alloy of copper and zinc and does not contain iron, hence no rust. But they all corrode. Silver goes black if left exposed to the air for long periods. brass goes dark, copper too, we often call what's left "verdigris", but that's specific to copper, brass and bronze and is usually mainly copper carbonate but could be copper chloride if near the seaside and other things. Verdigris can be poisonous, so you should always wash your hands thoroughly after cleaning any of the above. They are all reacting to the atmosphere, mostly the oxygen in it, and the surface layer is corroding, but not rusting. To be more exact one may use the term oxidisation for those types of corrosion which are created by reaction with oxygen, just as rusting is specific to ferrous alloys or iron. So corrosion is the overall, generic term for all of them; rusting, oxidisation, galvanic, microbial, etc. which are all more specific types of corrosion. Silver corrodes, the specific form of corrosion is called oxidisation. End of lecture! JohnG. |
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Post by Tubbs on Apr 4, 2012 17:22:42 GMT
Were you a by any chance a heavy "metal" fan before you got in to classical music John?? ;D
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Post by JohnG on Apr 5, 2012 6:56:07 GMT
Only Led Zeppelin and some Golden Oldies.  To be honest I can't remember a time when I didn't like classical music. My parents often played classical gramophone records (remember 78s?), Bach, Beethoven as well as popular music, some jazz, and a lot of the musicals from the fifties and early sixties. By then we had Long Playing Records. Remember Decca ffrr, not the modern one. I still have my parents collection of musicals, all in glorious mono. |
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Post by frankie on Apr 5, 2012 10:43:29 GMT
Jacqui whats the verdict  |
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Post by weegeo on Apr 5, 2012 11:17:48 GMT
lol lol i think the jury is still out Frankie but i sure would love to meet up with John he sure is an endless font of information and a very interesting guy indeed
My opinion on the `gold plated leads`is simple nice idea------over priced and not really worth the extra money a decent set of nickle/zinc leads will last a lifetime
weegeo---------------------------------- in the corner reading over his metal tables once again lol lol
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Post by frankie on Apr 5, 2012 14:58:14 GMT
lol lol i think the jury is still out Frankie but i sure would love to meet up with John he sure is an endless font of information and a very interesting guy indeed My opinion on the `gold plated leads`is simple nice idea------over priced and not really worth the extra money a decent set of nickle/zinc leads will last a lifetime weegeo---------------------------------- in the corner reading over his metal tables once again lol lol Yep should go on Mastermind or Eggheads, I have to consult a dictionary on most of his post's !! |
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Post by JohnG on Apr 5, 2012 16:51:07 GMT
It sure is amazing what an education can do! |
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Post by frankie on Apr 5, 2012 18:55:50 GMT
It sure is amazing what an education can do! I went to the same school as Bill Wyman and Peter Frampton in Beckenham SE London so we are edgerkated oright. |
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Post by Jacqui on Apr 6, 2012 1:00:04 GMT
Wow! what a debate I had not expected such an in depth answer to the question  I've certainly learned a lot about metal here, not forgetting Planes ;D and maybe a bit of medical info too, as I think I now have an explanation as to why my partner felt very ill and had a sore throat after some cleaning copper pipes in a bathroom a few weeks ago. As for getting some leads, well I think I may as well go for the ones I found in the picture, as it seems pretty conclusive to me that no one in the audience is going to notice any difference at all, plus I connect and disconnect them everytime, so being hard wearing is a key issue too. It's been very interesting reading your great stories & experiences though.... Thank You everyone for your input, most enjoyable I must say Just out of interest, when I cook my Chicken the weekend, do you think Aluminium Baco foil is good or bad ! ;D Wishing you all a Golden Easter Jacqui x |
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Post by frankie on Apr 6, 2012 1:50:29 GMT
Wow! what a debate Just out of interest, when I cook my Chicken the weekend, do you think Aluminium Baco foil is good or bad ! ;D Wishing you all a Golden Easter Jacqui x |
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Post by freeway on Apr 6, 2012 8:29:09 GMT
Think you'll be cooking your chicken "au naturell" after reading this Jacqui.. ;D...... Happy Easter anyway !!! Barry  |
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