Six bells swinging

A daytime session today saw the 4th fitted with its wheel, rope and stay, which was enough for the bell to be swung to check alignment and clearances.

 The next session should see the modified slider fitted and the pulley raised by 85mm.

The other milestone today was that we lifted the 'gallows ends' steelwork up the tower and 'parked' them near to where they will be needed using chain blocks to keep them upright. These will be put in place across the ends of the frame for bells 2 and 3.

Now it's 5 out of 8!

We have now finished hanging the 5th as well!

 

This is the bell in the middle of this photo, with the clapper tied using an old bicycle inner tube.

Also visible on the left is the 4th bell which is now sitting in its pit. When the wheel has been fitted, it can be accurately aligned and then screwed to the frame.

Behind this is the 3rd bell, which has been hidden in the far corner of the belfry for over 2 years. This is now sitting on planks so that the headstock can be fitted. It will then be lowered to the floor underneath so that the new steelwork can be put in place. This consists of two inverted 'U' shaped beams called "gallows ends" which tie the two sides of the frame together.

Half of the bells ringable!

Another landmark in the project was achieved tonight! In finishing the 6th, half of the bells are now ringable. These are the treble, 6th, 7th and tenor.

Here is the 6th.

We even rang rounds on the back 3 tonight, but I didn't have a spare hand to video it!

The 5th is nearly finished as well, so this ought to be finished next week.

Bells 5 and 6 raised

Bells 5 and 6 have been raised tonight. Here is a video of the 5th swinging in its pit.

The 6th just needs the slider and rope fitting, and it's finished.

The 5th needs the slider board modifying, the slider fitting, and the pulley raising by 85mm before it too is finished.

Great progress on bells 6 and 5

The 6th bell is now in place and the bearings bolted down. This enabled the bell to be raised by the wheel.

In the next pit, the 5th bell now has its wheel bolted onto the headstock. Once the alignment has been checked, it too will be bolted to the frame and ready for swinging up.

Both bells will then need their sliders and pulleys moving up by 85mm, the stays fitted followed by the rope and clapper.

Then onto the 4th which should be fairly straightforward. The difficult bells will be the 2nd and 3rd which will require some extra steelwork to tie the 1911 framework to the rest of the bellframe. There will be more on this when we get there...!

1, 7 and 8 finished

We now have three bells fully ringable!

This is the 7th bell set at handstroke.

And this is the bell being rung from down in the ringing room.

We have now started on the 6th, and the wheel is now fitted to enable the bell to be aligned in its pit.

7th bell nearly finished

The 7th bell is now virtually complete! Having repositioned the slider 85mm higher, the bell was raised by hand to check that it sets both ways.

Everything lined up nicely.

Here is a short clip of the bell lowering itself.

All that needs doing is the pulley to be raised 85mm.