NEW BEARING IN Taken from the Newsletter 28th July 2025

The call came from Complete Engineering Services on Tuesday evening that they had completed the new bearing. It was collected early Wednesday and after a few trials and tribulations we eventually succeeded to get it back in place. The clearances to allow us to replace the carrier block back under the new collar on the gudgeon were tight to say the least. Positioning it required the bearing block to be moved around inside its carrier block each time the carrier block was re-positioned to allow the next movement. Not an easy task whilst practically laid on the ground with the minimum of clearance and space to work in.

The new end for the Gudgeon.

The new Bearing Cup

The Final Assembly

The new bearing was made to fit to the original size as best as we could tell. This means that all the gears especially the pit wheel and wallower now align perfectly. After a few trials at slow speed we started milling again on Thursday with just small quantities. After a few minor adjustments and a few bolts needing further tightening after things had settled with a bit of vibration it appears to be running well. It was commented by a quite a few people how quiet the mill now is. This will be due to the bearing being seated better and also the gears being correctly aligned.

We will keep milling as normal and if there are no problems, we will then put the main shaft back in to the top floor and re-connect the sack hoist drum.

Lets hope that this bearing will last and be no more problems for a few years.

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