Hoeflon C30e dismantles six-tonne bourdon bell

Weight and access at the same time

Bell removal is a job that combines two difficulties that usually cancel each other out. The load is heavy — this bourdon bell weighs six tonnes — but the space it sits in is a bell chamber, reached through openings sized for people rather than plant. A crane large enough for the weight normally cannot get near it.

R. Lekkerkerker Mini Crane Rental, working with Liftcase, used a Hoeflon C30e. As the largest machine in Hoeflon’s range it carries the capacity for a load of this size, while its compact dimensions allowed it to be positioned where the lift had to take place.

Detach, lift, prepare for transport

The sequence was to release the bell from its mounting, take the weight, lower it clear and then prepare it for road transport to the restoration workshop. Each of those steps has to be carried out slowly and with the load fully under control; a bell that swings against masonry damages both.

The C30e is fully electric, which is a practical advantage as much as an environmental one on this kind of work — no exhaust in an enclosed chamber, and low noise in a building that is often still in use.

Precision work at the top of the range

Compact cranes are usually discussed in terms of how small they are. Jobs like this one make the other half of the argument: at six tonnes, the C30e is doing work that would otherwise need a substantially larger machine and a much bigger set-up area, and it is doing it with the fine control that a heritage load demands.