Almost ready ...

Here's the promised photograph of the middle eccentric to the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay. Although it's a week late (I forgot my camera last Saturday), the timing couldn't be better.

When asked how far along his machine work was on the eccentric, lead machinist Sam Thompson said that he was making the last cut this morning. As I write, Sam is cutting a few hundredths off the rear facing.

The eccentric will be ready to mound in the crankshaft, "providing it mounts okay." It may need a little file work to make it fit, said Sam.

His next project is to fit and mount the eccentric on the crankshaft. After that's done, Sam said that he'd probably work on the line shafts before moving onto valves.