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Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of getting my bell made removable - it's an Amati. It will make it much easier to travel with.

The bell edge is 160mm diameter - will any sousa tenons/collars work?

If yes, how might I come by one?

Any thoughts appreciated...

Maybe you have a better idea for removing bells of helicons...

PaulTkachenko wrote:Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of getting my bell made removable - it's an Amati. It will make it much easier to travel with.

The bell edge is 160mm diameter - will any sousa tenons/collars work?

If yes, how might I come by one?

Any thoughts appreciated...

Maybe you have a better idea for removing bells of helicons...

That's within about 1.25mm from fitting King receiver/tenon, you can probably fudge that much.

Allied Supply sells all of the King hardware you would need.

Here's the thing... I'm in the UK - will they sell/send to an individual?

Anyone wanna help?

Most bell receivers I have seen are not tapered at all, so depending on where you cut the bell flare (if there is no existing solder flange already there at a convenient point) you may have to change the sheet metal slightly anyway.
What will you do about the brace that is located past the solder joint on Amati helicons?

I guess the tapering issue is a small price to pay.

Another option is to use nuts and bolts to pull it together, this is what we did on my last helicon and it worked a treat.

The problem with the brace is that it's a tube. Last time we put an L joint with a screw. Finding solid brass to replace it is heavy and expensive - we can do it, but I'm actually thinking hardwood might be much easier. Just glue it in and it will be easy to make a connecting join with a screw. Double basses often use wooden end pins...

Any thoughts appreciated and if anyone wants to help me get those parts...

Joe, you can get allied parts can't you?

It can't cost a million dollars just to buy the parts...

Pretty please...

The more I think about it, the nuts and bolts through drilled holes seems the best approach.

I will only be taking the bell off for flying, which won't be that often.

I'll use flat headed bolts, that should be quite flush on the outside...

What does that look like - what is the bolt hole drilled through, specifically? How many?

Last time we did it we soldered the nuts to the inside of the bell and drilled 3 holes ala sousaphone round the connecting tenon. It worked a treat.

This meant that you have exposed nuts (giggle) on the inside of the bell. But, of course, nobody noticed it....

Then we replaced the bracket from body to bell with a solid piece (it was a tube before) and made an L connection with a screw.

This made the instrument much smaller when the bell was removed. Handy for flying etc.