Main shaft bearing and bagging area

Just three of us again today - Richard, Mike and Bob.

Richard wanted to overhaul the wet-side bearing of the main shaft, so he rigged up a 3-tonne chain lift and pulled. And pulled. And pulled. Surely it can't be that heavy? At last realisation dawned - the hook block had twisted 360 degrees between the chains - sort of up and over between the two chains connecting it to the main block. This put a twist in the chain which prevented it running into the block. This may account for the problems we had on March 27th (see blog for that date).

Once that had been sorted the shaft was easily lifted and the massive stone bearing block removed for cleaning.This photo shows it degreased - the recess that the bearing pintle runs in looks rough, but feels quite smooth.

I had to include this nice Tolkien-ish picture of Richard working on the pintle...

...but you can see what he's doing better in this one.
Finally the bearing was re-greased and reassembled.

Apart from helping Richard as required, Bob and Mike finished the bagging area, fitting more plywood panels, sealing corners with beading, varnishing parts, and applying miles of antibacterial silicon sealant to the gaps and edges - and even the big crack in the roof truss..