The new bolter cylinder is coming along. An elm spindle has been shaped to a hexagonal cross-section, and the original ironwork has been fitted at each end. This was a tricky job, if only we had a 16 inch square drill bit! With the iron bands driven up and everything eventually snug, the spokes could be added. Three holes at the appropriate spacing (dredged up the old school geometry from the memory banks!), then the spokes were driven through to give, effectively, six spokes. The longitudinal rails will then be added (the first can be seen at the bottom of the photo).
The 'crank' in the tail end ironwork seems to correspond with wear marks on the original cabinet at this point. We assume some sort of reciprocating mechanism was used to help feed the bran through the chute at the end of the bolter, to prevent it clogging up.
