Internal Gearing

One large problem in being able to run the second waterwheel to do anything usefull is that we don't have any of the internal gearing. We assume that this was removed when the second wheel was converted to be used for the gypsum mine. If we are going to install a pit wheel that is a complete wheel, i.e. has not been cast in two parts to be bolted together, we need to do this before the waterwheel is built.

The search for a suitable part had been going on for years on and off but without success until in 2023 a complete set of gears was located in Wales. Originially from Felin Cwm Mill, the gear set was in the ownership of the Welsh Mills Society and was temporarily stored on a farm near Aberystwyth. Two of our members went down and after much cutting of undergrowth, brambles etc. they uncoverd a whole set of useful looking pieces including the crucial pit wheel.

The gears had been saved when the Felin Cwm Mill became derelict, with the aim of being able to use them in a future mill restoration. They were happy to sell us the set and helped with arranging transport from a local haulier.

The gears arrived early one morning at the end of January on the back of a large truck and were carried into the mill yard by a local farmer using his telehandler.

By late February all the old wooden cogs had been removed from the wheel and it was maneuvered into the mill. This involved making the doorway larger as the wheel did not fit through the normal door. It was laid on the floor of the mill underneath the jigger box until we were ready to install it on the axle.

Work to prepare for the installation of the pit wheel continued through the summer. The pit wheel had come with an adapter to attach it to the axle, sometimes called a threepenny bit because the shape of the adapter is like the old three pence coin. The problem that we had was that this adapter was for a square axle and our axle is round. Fortunately we had an adapter for our axle and they are the same diameter!

The original adapter was first securely keyed into the axle. Then a wooden insert was made for the Welsh adapter and it was put onto the axle. The two threepenny bits were then bolted securely together to make the final adapter.

With the mill closed for the winter the final installation of the new pit wheel took place in late November 2024.