Watermill Blog -  New Beginning
21st August 2008

Today marked a new beginning for the mill and this watermill blog. We started work on the first item that needed formal Listed Building Consent.

It was business as usual for most of the team today. We made another attempt to shift the stuck pulley on the donated line shaft, with Headley applying a great deal of heat to the pulley boss but to no avail. The next idea is to fabricate a puller to apply a constant force to the pulley as well as the heat and the sledgehammer blows. If that doesn't work we will probably leave the pullet where it is and just work round it.

Martyn and Colin, with occasional assistance from Headley and Bob, managed to fit more bolts to the reinforcement of the great spur gear. They eventually came to a halt when they ran out of bolts.

John, Richard, Dick and Bob all got involved with a new job, one of the ones that had to apply for Listed Building Consent for, namely the retaining wall outside the bottom door of the mill.

John and Dick dug out the footings while Richard held the wheelbarrow for the spoil. Just for once the ground was not full of broken bricks.

While Dick spread the spoil into some of the hollows in the track way between the mill and the barn John and Bob fetched sand, aggregate and cement for Richard to mix into concrete. It took five loads in the mixer to fill the footings up to the top of the levelling pegs and we finished just in time to dodge a heavy shower of rain.

Once the concrete has set we can build the curved wall with blocks and bricks, putting gravel behind it to form a drain for water coming off the bank.

Dick spread quite a lot of gravel beside the mill and we now have reasonable paths clear of the mud to walk on. A great improvement.

With several of us waiting for concrete to set or having run out of material our attention turned to the run of flat belt that used to drive the line shaft along the stable loft.

The pulley on the end of the PTO shaft is below the steps to the stable loft, and there is a certain amount of wooden furniture fixed to the wall to suggest the size of the top pulley and the run of the belt.

There was some lively discussion and even experiments with lengths of rope but no final conclusion was reached. One thing was agreed upon though. However the belt runs it will need to be behind some serious guards.

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