hello everyone tonight

Well I guess everyone is following the thread along pretty closely--that is good--

Now, back to the wear strips--

The next step is to prepare two pieces of hard maple or beech, this has to be good quality and as dry as possible, preferably been in storage for 2 to 3 years (after air drying for one year) in a dry environment--I personally like a hay mow, but you might also have an attic area that serves the purpose well.

Now the process of preparing these pieces, remember I said you should make 2 pairs, well if you have the material at hand you might just as well do 4 pair

The material has to be the height of the head block plus 1" above and 1" below so in total 26" in length

The other dimensions are 4" wide, and a full 1" in thickness. These finished measurements are after bringing the material down from the rough to these dimensions

I would hope that you use hand tools to do this work because I find that the old equipment accepts readily and responds to hand worked parts, for what ever reasons---------------

Now you take the head block and lay it on the work bench suspended on 3\4" cross pieces,--this will hold the head block at the right elevation in relation to the wear strips for the next step--

It is imperative that the worktable has a tried and proven flat
surface

Now taking the wear strips and placing them 1 on each side, remembering to place them 1' above and 1" below the guide block, you clamp them securely with bar clamps

at this point you are ready to fasten them to the guide block in a manner that they are easily removed but secure to the point of not failing

enjoy

NH

hello everyone tonight

well here we go--maybe some of you have already figured out how this is done--after I explain the technique the old millwrights here in Upper Canada used, maybe you could come up with an alternative method for discussion, but please have examples that might have been used in other parts of the world to back up the views you are putting forward

Anyway, we have the 2 wear strips at this point tightly positioned against the guide block's edges, about 1" above, and 1" below.

I will try and explain the next steps------------

We will be placing a series of 1\2 " holes through the wear strips on either side, each passing through the guide strip, to a depth of 2" into the guide block

Now we know that on the face edge of the guide block are mortise holes that contain the ends of the horizontal members making up the main body of the guide block, so #1 we do not want to place any 1\2" dowels in the ends of these tenants--the position of these will have to be carefully monitored and marked on the outside face of the wear strips, so that positioning of the dowels can accurately be plotted.

I recommend 8 dowels be used, dividing them up in their final positions --your job----

let me explain one thing right now after the holes are drilled and the dowels placed, it is imperative that you can remove the wear strip, by slipping it up off the dowels and sliding on a new one as required, due to wear in the future--

To do this each dowel has to be inserted as close to a 90 degree angle as possible

What I did was use a 16" ship auger and make up a jig that would sit against the face of the wear strip that the auger would rest in as the drilling was in progress

Having said this the whole setup is a bit forgiving, but not much

now with all the holes drilled select (16)--3.5"-hardwood " pins and chamfer the points slightly, they will be cut off later

Tap them all in place --no glue--

Take some sand paper and sand the exposed ends to remove a few thousands of an inch off each one, this will allow the wear strip to be tapped into place, but not yet!!

well got to go

enjoy

NH

hello everyone tonight

Now here we go-----

I have to back track here a little, before you tap in the 1\2" dowels, please do the following--

Remove each wear strip carefully after the holes are drilled, and mark each one's back face, and the up end--it will be needed to identify where each one goes later on, and preferably make a notation that identifies the first 2 pair as being the only ones to be used to create new wear strips in the future--the patterns-

At this point the dowels are in place with the ends protruding to receive the wear strips, but before that happens we need to make up from the patterns a matching set that will be used immediately

Ok--take wear strip lets say #1--only you will know which one that is--put a blank wear strip under it with the bottom of the pattern up, and then what I do is place 2 wood screws to hold the whole unit together and in line

If you are in a shop you could use a drilling machine, and carefully pass the unit under it drilling each hole using the holes in the pattern as a guide

This can also be done with a hand auger and end up with an accurate finished product which ever you prefer

As you create each new wear strip be sure and identify its orientation on the guide block

Now you are free to take the two pair that you just created (keep the patterns in a safe place), and gently tap them on the dowels protruding from each side of the guide block

There should be some of the dowel's length protruding past the surfaces of both wear strips, that is good, now taking a good sharp chisel and mallet and with a swift tap shear each one off smoothly

There you have it the guide block with removable wear strips, no glue, no nails in the whole unit and I guarantee that under normal conditions it will wear and wear and not fail, the only thing that might happen is that it could over heat, something that I will discuss later on

enjoy

NH--Richard

hello everyone tonight

Now you might say we are done with the guide block but not yet----------

We have constructed the guide block with its removable wear strips, and we have established that it is in its proper position directly above the barrel wheel\early turbine, some call it a rose wheel--whatever--, the centre of it directly over the centre point of the off set crank, it also will do all its work between two vertical posts, that have had their opposing corners removed creating a sufficient space for the wear strips that are 4" wide and that guide the guide block in its upwards and downwards movement without the main part of the guide block touching at any point anything that would mean certain failure, so here we have it the guide block can move freely, relying entirely on the guiding strips

These two channels where the wear strips are moving in need to be backed up with metal plates both on the strips edges and outer faces, just another part of the whole scheme of things, and let me clarify one thing--these metal plates are attached to the channels not to the wear strips

Well have to go now

enjoy

NH

hello everyone tonight


Sorry I had to go so quickly last night but anyway I will try and carry on some of the technical issues associated with this unit

Now we have the guide block sitting in its proper position but there is one issue left to review and that is how the guide block is contained there

well it is simple but maybe not so simple, nothing about these old mills are really simple, but appear that way to an untrained eye

So here goes---securing the guide block in its position firmly but not too firmly to create friction problems--this is how it is done

In front of the unit wooden guides are created, (1) on each side

These guides are about 6" wide fairly thick 3" and are made of white oak and are 3" longer than the stroke of the offset crank which is 18", making them 24" in total length

Now these bear against the front edge of the wear strips, and are also sheathed with a metal plate, right where the wear strips work

Here is where the fun begins, they have to be suspended there securely, and be able to be adjusted up against the wear strips in increments that approaches only enough room for a light coating of lubricant--

well here is how that was accomplished

Lets create a few short forms to identify parts

"Wear Strip Guides" will now be identified by "WSG" which will separate them from other guides and strips associated with this whole unit--I hope that you are following me--

"Wear Strip Guide Supports" will now be "WSGS" --these are very unusual shaped individual units--for tomorrows discussion

hope you are enjoying this conversation and maybe be alittle in awe of the old millwright's book of technical tricks

NH

hello everyone tonight

These 4 Supports (WSGS) Are very unusually shaped units---2 on each side of the unit

These are manufactured out of a solid block of oak that would measure about 8" wide --4"thick, and for now about 20" long--this is going to get difficult to describe but I am going to try--

Laying it on the work bench on its flat side, you will lay out an "L" shape--The long leg of the "L" will be 2.5" thick and the short leg 6" thick--

You can rough the shape out , I advise you if you are using a band saw and are coming up the long segment to make a nice rounded corner as you turn along the short segment, this will give the whole unit strength against shear failure along grain lines in the wood

Now as we move forward a little finish work is in order--using hand tools chamfer (all) the corners of the long part, and follow around only on the top of the short leg

I personally like to see additional rounding on the top of the short segment to give it a pleasant appearance, and the rounding should be sanded and finished nicely--the rounding about a 3" radius is recommended--

Now on the end of the long segment there should be a small amount of tapering, because this long part will be passing through the vertical timber support, and out through the opposite side, and this slight tapering will facilitate its movement when the time comes

Now comes another tricky part and will require diligence on the part of the person doing the work--this is not for the faint of heart for sure--you will see--------------

enjoy

Richard--NH---

hello everyone tonight

Just have to back track a bit here for clarification purposes

above in the laying out of the "L" shape I meant to say "the long leg is 2.5" wide (instead of thick), and the "short leg 6" wide (instead of thick")--you probably understand that the piece of material we are working with is already 4" thick

Sorry about that--trying my best

Now the tricky part--let us take a look at what we have now --we are looking at roughly an "L" shaped part with a long end 2.5" wide and 4" thick rounding into a short end 8" wide and 4" thick, we will be working with the short part and the underside surface

Now we should know where we are--it is on this surface we will be laying out and shaping a Dovetail the full length of its surface--this dovetail will be heavy in construction--roughly 1.5" on its flat surface and no less than 3\4" wide where it intercepts with the new surface--this means that a fair amount of ingenuity, work and skill will be taking place to create this important part, and there are 4 of them to create!!!

Now lets fast forward ahead a little--say we have them all done and now what--well on the outer surfaces of the WSG's eventually there will be dovetail mortises to accept the dovetails we are creating, I believe (hopefully) that you are starting to get the broader view of what we are creating, having said that, and if your work is of good quality the "L" shaped support's dovetails should slide snuggly into place and be ready for the next step

would anyone out there with sketch up or a similar sketching tool be prepared to venture a picture of what I am creating for everyone to see

enjoy

NH

hello everyone tonight

I thought that if I could entice someone to venture a sketched model it would be really great for those looking in--I am sure someone out there could put forward a model we could compare eventually against the original one--would anyone like to comment?

Anyway back to the job at hand--------------------

I would like to comment right here that I am sure many out there are saying "wow" that is a lot of work, my rebuttal would be that once created this unit will probably be around for 100 years or more, try and match that up with anything modern to do the same job

I would like to compare some of these hand made parts to the wood lignum vitae bearing supporting the runner in an 1860 water turbine, spinning at 125 rpm's, just nothing modern is better------they just run and run--no maintenance--

to proceed I would take the unit from one side with everything in place --the 2--"L" shaped bracket's dovetails, slid into place, in the dovetail mortises on the vertical WSG's--now with that done lay the whole unit out on a good work table

well have to go now

enjoy

NH--Richard----

hello everyone tonight

Well Merry Christmas to everyone and may you have a prosperous and great new year-------------------

Just to finish this project before the new year starts-----------

with the whole unit laid out before you carefully measure the distance between the centre of the long tails of the "L's" and plot how far the mortises for both of them need to be from the wear strips--when that is done proceed to create two mortises right through the vertical post large enough for the size of the long tails of the "L's" to pass through easily, and out the opposite side,

Once that is done for both sides of the guide unit, there should be 4 mortises --2 on each side--mark where the tails exit , remove and create on each long tail a mortise to accept a long narrow wedge, I am saying roughly 12", tapering from 1\2" to 3" and about 3\4" thick material--

reinsert the units (both sides),together with their corresponding vertical strips, tap the long narrow wedges in, pulling up the unit snuggly against the wear strips on the guide blocks--that is good enough for now

Only one thing left to do before moving on-----

Now let us look objectively at the whole unit from the front of the guide block, you should see the guide block with its wear strips, held in place with the "L" shaped blocks and their matching verticals

now in order for the verticals to not move towards each other during operation, 2 pieces of 7\8" by 3" hardwood acting as spreaders are attached horizontally to these verticals, one about 6" down and the other 6" up on the face surface of the verticals, bore 2-- 1\2" holes right through these horizontal pieces and into the verticals--place a dowel in each hole and leave protrude slightly for removal when necessary in the future

Well this has been quite a process, a challenging one I might say and in my opinion not for everybody to attempt, what it does do though is to remind one about the hurdles that were overcome in creating without modern technology a long lasting unit that with only minimal upkeep and surveillance outwear their modern counterparts

enjoy

NH--RICHARD

--see you in 2016--

hello everyone tonight

just felt like moving ahead with the description of the Mulay mill,s power source and linkages, but for starters you should crack open the water gate just enough to start the horizontal turbine rotating at approx. 50 rpms.

this procedure is a description of the breaking in process of the new guides

with everything rotating pour liberal amounts of heavy transmission oil preferably #90 and tighten up the guides until the heat is noticed

see you tomorrow night

Richard NH