The Tinker
Every day I wake up is a good day

Brillant effort Rik. Thanks a lot for sharing
Thanks Andy.Brillant effort Rik. Thanks a lot for sharing
Glad you enjoyed the rest of your trip - hope the best man's speech went down well ......Had a great time. I got to see York, Swindon and Shildon train museums, also I walked to five of the viaducts on the Settle to Carlise railway. Did those on one day about 30kms. It was stunning, such awesome engineering and done in 1800s with no technology like we have now.
Now, there's a thought ............
Will we see the flour being milled too?![]()
Wow that is amazingA little while since I updated this thread. Amazing how life intervenes when garden railway projects need to be completed. The mill is now nearing completion. The building is more or less complete, the site has been landscaped and some Jigstones blocks have been placed in the stream to support the wheel and direct the water flow on to the wheel. The building needs to be properly bedded-in and the concreting needs to be tidied up and some detailing is needed - eg sluice gates, railings, gutters and downspouts etc. But I wanted to check the wheel would function in the stream before I tidied everything up.
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Rear view of the mill showing the raised siding and lucam for loading grain sacks.
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A view from the main line across the stream. The Jigstones walling has just been fixed in place. It needs in-filling with concrete (did that this evening)
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I was pleased that even before sluice gates have been fitted the wheel rotates at a respectably slow speed. I assume my wheel is very inefficient at translating the water flow into rotary motion - but that suits me well!
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Here's a short film of the wheel in action.
Rik
AmazingA little while since I updated this thread. Amazing how life intervenes when garden railway projects need to be completed. The mill is now nearing completion. The building is more or less complete, the site has been landscaped and some Jigstones blocks have been placed in the stream to support the wheel and direct the water flow on to the wheel. The building needs to be properly bedded-in and the concreting needs to be tidied up and some detailing is needed - eg sluice gates, railings, gutters and downspouts etc. But I wanted to check the wheel would function in the stream before I tidied everything up.
.
Rear view of the mill showing the raised siding and lucam for loading grain sacks.
![]()
.
A view from the main line across the stream. The Jigstones walling has just been fixed in place. It needs in-filling with concrete (did that this evening)
![]()
.
I was pleased that even before sluice gates have been fitted the wheel rotates at a respectably slow speed. I assume my wheel is very inefficient at translating the water flow into rotary motion - but that suits me well!
![]()
Here's a short film of the wheel in action.
Rik
BrilliantJust putting the finishing touches to the sluice gate. Too dark (and cold) to get some in-situ pics, but you can get the gist of it from these:
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The sluice gate in its raised position
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The raising crank. The ratchet and pawl is decorative, too much of a fiddle to make it operative. There's sufficient friction in the system for the gate to remain raised. The gearing, rack and crank do actually work, though
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The gate in its lowered position.
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The structure is made from off-cuts of foamboard.
Still got to add railings and give it a paint job, but getting closer to finishing.
Rik