Sorry it's been so long...

I haven't posted anything for a while, partly because there haven't been any finished projects, and partly because I've been too busy.

Most of our engineering work has been concerned with restoring the shaft and bearings for the 4th set of stones, from which the drive to the jigger box was taken.  We have also continued to try to rebuild the jigger box sieves, but are held up because we are waiting for materials.Here we see the shaft and stone nut dismantled on the bench.

The pulley for the original drive was mounted on wooden blocks wedged into the stone nut.  We decided to fix them more firmly by injecting builders' expanding foam around them.

The beam that supports the drive shaft was twisted and had a nasty shake at one end, so it was taken out and repaired.

While it was out, we cleaned the cast iron box that supports it in the back wall and fixed it properly into the wall. When we replaced the beam, we found the bearing was not directly under the centre of the stone, so we moved the stone to get it just right.

The shaft is now ready to be refitted.  The item next to it on the Workmate is an adapter to fit to the square where the damsel originally mounted.  The idea is that we will be able to turn the stone by hand and so demonstrate the drive to the jigger box.

In other news, the cobbling of the yard continues, the old chicken shed having been removed.

Contractors are busy rebuilding the kiln room, and we the volunteers are contributing, 

both by helping to interpret the plans into reality and, it is planned, by doing some of the joinery involved in installing the flooring and handrails.

And, of course, we are milling most weekend afternoons, and have so far sold more than 350 bags of flour at the mill, plus whatever the shop has sold.