Ringing Forums

PS please state of you have a conflict of interest when replying! TIA

I don't know whether or not there are performance limitations, but there must be some downside or the bell hangers would use them for everything. I suspect they cost a bit more because there are more parts. They also have bolts that need checking for tightness, which a conventional clapper doesn't.

We've just had one fitted on our tenor, which nobody could get up right (thanks G&J). It does seem to have fixed the problem - the crown staple was also dimensioned wrongly on the old one, so the whole lot was replaced. I haven't done the first maintenance on it yet, but as I had to crawl under the bell to grease the clapper bearing, having to crawl under it to check some bolts instead is no big deal. The clapper bearing is now a maintenance-free ball bearing rather than a plain bearing, so maintaining the tenor doesn't mean fighting with a grease gun.

I think determining what the root problem is first is best - it's not just the clapper that's important, it's the whole assembly, bell versus clapper swing times etc. I'm sure any competent bellhanger will assess all that anyway.

Thanks both. The the crown staple bolt on the current clapper constantly works loose. And it's odd-struck but we've given up faffing around with tapered washers. The clapper ball is worn so it needs turning at least, and there isn't a huge difference in cost between turning the old one and a new composite one (although a composite is definitely more expensive). White's have already inspected.

Has anyone had issues with the longevity of composite clappers...?

ours was the same, the crown staple flapped around and couldn't be sufficiently tightened. During the 2018 rehang the headstocks were removed to be refurbished, so we took the opportunity to have twiddle pins fitted, so we could deal with any odd-struckness.

The shaft of ours is engineering plastic rather than wood, not exactly sure what. It's less than a year old so no idea about longevity, but we kept the old one under the bell so we have it it needs be. And AFAIK removing a clapper from the tower needs faculty approval.