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Progress on the Watermill

Posted on 5 December 20206 December 2020

My Watermill project has become a bit of self-indulgence – and why not? The original idea was to disguise the point where the water from the pond pump discharges at the top of the stream (the water feature I’ve been building this year). Creating a water-wheel that would be driven by part of the stream flow would mean that I didn’t have to by concerned about batteries or electrics to make the wheel turn; when the stream is running the water-wheel turns. But the location for this is in a sunken area and partially hidden by the Tramway embankment and bridge, so is not really obvious to the casual glance. I’ve made the roof line of the building higher than the original kit (Pendle Valley) so that at least there is something to be seen more easily! The wheel chamber is made from sections of concrete stone replica castings and had to be set within the stream bed to enable the water flow to be fairly constant. The pond liner needed to go behind it to avoid any escape of water from the system. The removable mill building has been designed to sit outside the pond liner, butting up to the rear of the solid section. It has now been fitted with a projecting roof which extends across the join. There’s more aligning, filling, trimming and painting to be done, but the project is progressing and is providing me with a continuing opportunity for distraction during these strange times.
My wife has christened it “Y Felin Fach”.

Mike Barton

3 thoughts on “Progress on the Watermill”

  1. Simon Wood says:
    6 December 2020 at 10:31 am

    This is absolutely superb Mike. It’s starting to look very much of the landscape.

    What have you made the mill race from? And how have you sealed the join to the feeder pond – or is this unnecessary because it doesn’t extend beyond the lined area at any point?

    Reply
  2. Robert Symberlist says:
    6 December 2020 at 1:04 pm

    Excellent! Looks great! Food for thought for my long planned watermill… 🙂

    Reply
  3. Mike Barton says:
    6 December 2020 at 2:41 pm

    The mill race is a couple of lengths of plastic trunking suck together at an angle to suit the chosen direction of the mill wheel and the location of the reservoir. Then I’ve stuck some lengths of timber on the outside which wlll be stained or painted at some stage. The top end of the race is fed from a reservoir pool that the pipe from the pump discharges into. The race will sit on the lip of the reservoir pool and I’ve discovered that it will need to be fixed at the appropriate height, and which needs to be set when the pump is on as the water level rises then. Too much water flow and it just shoots over the wheel without touching it; not enough and it doesn’t turn the wheel at all. I’m making a little sluice gate from an old gun/rifle sight adjuster that I found in my scrap box to provide a fine adjustment on the flow. I think it may have come from my father’s workshop at some stage and I’ve no idea where he got it from, but I think it will do the job very nicely. The wheel chamber is set within the stream liner so it doesn’t really matter if water splashes around it because it all ends up back in the stream anyway. It’s all a bit different from railway modelling and it’s certainly a learning experience. Keeps the brain cells ticking over anyhow!

    Reply

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