Thursday, February 25, 2010

With a Stirator who needs a hobby?

I thought I had it all fixed.  You may recall last fall we discovered the pulley in the middle of Mom's Stirator was showing its age.  Dad bought the machine 30 years ago ... used.  So you expect some wear and tear
  We ordered a new one intending to install it this winter when the bin was full.  There had been some other problems we had to work on all fall but it was going and working beautifully.  We had the bin dried and were going to shut it off when it got out closer to the outside of the bin. It got right in the middle and threw the cable. So it sat in one place and ran until it almost buried itself.  I found it, said "I'm busy" and shut it down.

It kind of got put off due to weather and being busy and not feeling like climbing. I strained, stretched, pulled, did something to my leg and took all the fun out of climbing for a while.  My leg got to feeling better so I was more inclined to climb, the weather cooperated, I started to work on it.  That's when I found there was a bearing the pulley sets on that need replaced.  Naturally it was not in stock.  They got me one ... then it snowed.

So this week I climbed up, put the new pulley on, got it figured out (that's a whole different discussion) and installed.  Put on the new pulley,

in the new bearing, (BTW, see that nice shiny new bearing under the pulley? It's BEAUTIFUL.  For $45 plus shipping it should be gold plated stainless steel)  got the cable reinstalled, turned it on ... and nothing happened.  So I got my tools out of the bin, pulled the ladder out, climbed down the bin, walked around to the far side, and turned on the breaker.  The Stirator started running.  GREAT!  So I climbed up to give it one last glance and close the lid. Just got to the top of the ladder when the belt on one of the augers started smoking.  One screw started, but not both of them.  I reached inside, turned off the power box, looked at the time, closed the lid and went home.

So the next move will be shovels and pipe wrenches.

I love Stirators.  How can something so simple be so complicated to keep working?
Who needs a hobby?

Oh, KW update.  We have it in the shed waiting on the bed to come in.  I'll try and get some photos next week

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