A swinging bell

We've got one bell swinging at last!

The concreting of the beam was finished a couple of weeks ago, and the shuttering came off tonight. After a bed plate was fixed to the frame, the headstock was bolted to the ex Kettering treble and the bell put in its pit.

It's a bit tight, but we always knew it would fit.

Here it is swinging!

The bell was cast by Taylors in 1979 and now weighs 3-1-11 after tuning.

Shuttering

The current focus is on preparing for the concreting in of the steelwork for the new treble.

The shuttering has been cut and fixed in place complete with a slot where the concrete can be inserted.

The shuttering now needs sealing with expanding foam and the hard work of mixing and hauling up buckets of concrete can begin.

Treble Pulley

With the treble headstock and wheel still in position, we took the chance to put the pulley in position.

Because the rope is going to be drawn sideways in the next room down, it is important that the rope doesn't move from side to side when the rope passes the double pulleys, otherwise it might cause the it to jerk. The way we chose to do this is to mount the pulleys at an angle - a trick that Warners did at nearby Bredon.

We used a plumb line to check it was in the correct position, and that the sally will be roughly at the same height when the bell is up and down.

Trial fitting

Tonight's job was to see if the steel beam which was lifted up the tower last week was in the right place. The best way to do this was to put the treble headstock and wheel in place.

It all fitted very well indeed.

The next thing to do is to concrete the beam in place, and then bolt it all together properly.

Steelwork

We've not been doing any work in the tower for a few weeks. It's been far too hot for anything too strenuous!

Some of the steelwork was delivered last week, including the beam on which the new treble will hang. Tonight's job was to haul it up the tower and put it in place in the NE corner of the tower.

The beam was pretty heavy and getting it up there did make us sweat a bit! This beam will be concreted in place in due course, but this might need to wait until the weather is cooler.

The beginning of the end

The last phase has started! Tonight we put the 1911 frameside back in place.

It took quite a bit of wiggling, but it eventually went in. This frame will now have 2 bells sitting in it instead of 1, so it will have a "gallows end" at the ends to hold it in place.

An 8 bell tower - again

Our Rudhall bells are back!

 A hard evening's work on the chain blocks saw the 4th, 5th and 6th back in the tower, and sitting on the bell frame.

Here they are, ready for their headstocks.

If phase 1 was to take things apart, and phase 2 was to clean everything up, then we are now at phase 3 which is to start putting it all back together!