Restoration Day 14

On Wednesday 5th March it was time for a progress meeting. Cleaning the bright parts of the clock is progressing well and the blasted parts are beginning to reveal the detail lost under layers of gold paint applied over the last 40 years. The lattices that are fitted to the control box will look much better with a new metallic finish.

The first blasted control box lattice.

Pete Dexter's protective rim to the Cobweb Water Wheel now has metal straps to ensure that it all stays in place and the last of the butterflies have been removed for blasting. The cleaned butterflies have now regained their shine and the hunt is on for replacement jewels. The missing butterflies have been identified in the photographs taken when the wheel was originally built and .dxf files have been created to allow the brass bodies of the replacements to be cut by Steve Milner. The decision whether to use water jet or high definition laser to cut the profiles can now be made.

Computer model of replacement butterfly.

Pete Dexter has been busy stripping down the motors and gearboxes and giving them a thorough clean. The oil in the gearbox, noticeable by its absence will be replaced. Most of the hinge pins for the petals have been removed and the grub screws cleaned. The electrical wiring has been inspected and missing parts replaced. The next thing will be to decide the gear ratio of the replacement drive shaft for the Water Wheel and order a replacement motor and gearbox.

All but four of the petals have been separated from their cast iron brackets and beaten back to their correct shape using the former shaped by Roger Price. In separating the petals it has been revealed that the cast iron brackets have also had numbers stamped into each to allow them to be correctly paired with their petals. Emett left nothing to chance.

The Bouquet has been stripped down by Team Billington and the animals have been cleaned and polished. The 'tree' is in the queue at the soda blasters along with the copper leaf. Team Humpherson are well on with giving the Woodland Orchestra back their shine anf Team Grogan are about to experiment with the best method to replace the missing jewels in their holders.

A minor episode of frightfulness at the Blacksmiths (thankfully before the Emetts were taken there) means that we are having to find another but hopefully tomorrow we will know if our main contender will take on the challenge of restoring the main structural frame.