Sir Francis Level in 3D

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
Last year the 3D Cave Project visited Sir Francis Level mine near Gunnerside with our laser scanner.  The National Park had asked if it was possible to scan the winding engine for the historical record before it collapsed.  Over several trips a group of us (credited on the video) recced, scanned and photographed the engine room.  Once we had collected all the raw data Roo Walters and his colleagues at Commendium turned it into the very cool video linked below.  If anyone would like to link this to Adit Now I'm sure it is the sort of thing that would interest them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Yk8debSp0

 

Dave Tyson

Member
Superb Video, thanks for sharing it.  Having braved the deep water in August last year to visit the cages and engine I hope it will be preserved for future generations.

Dave
 

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
Unfortunately the wooden beams in the roof holding the weighty flywheels (if that is the right term) have shown signs of movement.  They are sure to be rotting away.  The fear is that the whole structure will collapse at some point taking out the pipework and remaining cage below.  The late Paul Deaken, among others, took some fab photos of the winding engine and hopefully this and the raw 3D data will enable the artifacts to be preserved for ever once this happens - even if only in digital form.
 
Enjoyed the video.
It's a great trip, and if you keep moving (ie don't have a photographer in tow) not as cold as you'd think...
Will be sad when the sheaves finally fall.
 

PeteHall

Moderator
Excellent video, thanks for sharing!

Brings back some happy memories as we were in the engine chamber at midnight as I turned 21 (virtually 8 years ago to the day).

It is an fascinating bit of kit and in remarkable condition. It will be a sad day when it finally does collapse, but at least there are some excellent records.

Good work to all involved  (y)
 

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
It's been taken off line to correct a couple of errors in the commentary.  It was only intended as a trial to show the National Park what could be done with the data and never intended for wider viewing. I thought it was such a good video that I wanted more folk to be able to see it.  However, some knowledgeable folk have pointed out some of the comments on the compressed air system have been taken from an incorrect source.  Hopefully it will come back up later.
 

AR

Well-known member
I found the transitions between the music and the commentary were a bit abrupt, are they going to be faded in the revised version? That aside, it's an excellent bit of work and I hope it's released to a wider audience too!
 

JAA

Active member
It may well me worth making an approach to Robert Miller (my ex boss) who owns Gunnerside estate and is very keen on supporting local projects and may possibly provide a bit of funding for works to maintain the engine room...
Badlad, feel free to PM me for more details should you wish.
 

JAA

Active member
Sorry to resurrect an old topic but I would suggest that it?s an VERY bad idea to climb onto or into the cages!!!  :chair:
 
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