HOME MADE EXTRACTER

[lakeman]

Has anyone built, and used the hme made 4 frame honey extracter ( http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/4-frame-honey-extractor-2/ ) from the USDA plans? Also, has anyone considered, or done a remodification of it to work radially?

[TwT]

I haven't heard any one making one but here is a site that might help if you want a home made extractor out of a antique washer, might give you so idea's, it has some video also..

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building_a_Honey_Extractor_using_an_antique_was/

[alfred]

I built one using a 50 gal drum  2 bicycle wheels, some threaded rods, some bearings, and other various hardware and cam cote. I used a power drill to spin it. It was a mess, back to the drawing board. I video taped much of the process but lost some of the video. I think that it will work with some modification. I will write more and include pics when I have more time.

[Hethen57]

Alfred, was this yours?  Seemed like a pretty good idea....what was the mess?

[alfred]

That is very similar to mine. The mess came from two problems.

The first is that the threaded rod that I used for the main axle was not stiff enough, so when the thing was loaded unevenly (and it is imposable to load it perfectly evenly) it shook like a bad washing machine and eventually bent then it would shake even worse.

I think that the fix here is to cut down the axle so that there is no excess. I had about a foot of axle from the bottom bearing to the cage holding the frames. and then another 8 to 10 inches to the top bearing. I think that if I cut it down to just and inch or two above and below the cage it would work better. I had not wanted to cut down the barrel which was one reason I did it the way I did, so I would also need to cut down the barrel.

The next problem I had is that the cage itself was too deep. The frames did not have good support because they were just barely supported by the bicycle wheels at the top and bottom. So they could, and did, slip out between the wheels and get trapped between the cage and the barrel. This was the mess.. I had the thing going with my 1/2inch drill. It was bouncing all over the place even though I had strapped it down to an old coffee table. So I was trying to hold it still by hugging it with my free arm and one leg when all of a sudden two pf120's blew out of the cage and into the in between space. This caused the whole thing to seize up, quite suddenly I thought I was going to lose an arm or an eye or something so I jumped and well you get the picture. It was a pain to get the frames out they were wedged in there real good and kind of mangled.


The fix here is to either disassemble the cage and reassemble it with the wheels maybe 3 inches closer together. Or to put a metal strap midway between the wheels or something like that to support the frames better.


 I think that I would want to mount some type of motor so that I didn't have to stand there with the drill which by the way is very hard to control the speed on and if you aren't carefull will take your wrist off. you need some type of dial to slowly bring the thing to speed and then keep it there, the trigger on a drill is somewhat inadequate.

I think that I would also want a better way of holding the thing down, like bolts anchored in concrete... I thought the thing was going to take off... right up until it seized up! Hopefully fixing the axle might fix some of the wobbling. Some other issues are that I think that even if it did work well you would never get all of the honey out of the bottom of the barrel so there is a little waste.

I do plan to work on it again this year and I will update. in the meantime I will try to find pic of mine. or some of the video I took.

[alfred]

I just looked closer at the pic you posted and it looks like whoever made that one covered the problems I had. I can see that they cut down the barrel some and they had the top bearing down in there some so that would effectivly shorten the axle. I'm guessing that they also built the cage properly as well.

[irekkin]

hey there,
made a hand cranked four framer out of a 30 gal plastic barrel,some bearings,gears,3/4" shaft and some welding and fab work. i've been working with it for a couple years and improving on it as i go. its far from perfect but it does the job. the biggest problem i have is the frames falling out of the holding brackets. to me, if i didn't have access to tools, welder and material it wouldn't be worth fooling with.

[bfriendly]

check out voiceofthehive.com for a good set of plans for the type pictured above using bike wheels and a 55 gal drum.

[alfred]

 These are the plans that I used. I didn't follow them exact. In the bottom I used a piece of plastic cutting board to put the bottom bearing in to rather than a wood block.

 The cage needs to be smaller than 19 & 7/8'' so that the top of the frames will rest against the wheels and not be able to slip between.

I also rearranged the spokes so that I could accommodate more frames.

I will reiterate that the axle needs to be short as possible. The distance from the bottom of the cage to the bottom bearing needs to be very short and also from the top of the cage to the top bearing. The axle can then extend up beyond the top bearing quite a ways but the bearing itself should be practically on top of the cage to reduce wobble.

[Bee-Bop]

Alferd if I may;
Where did you obtain Cam Cote ?

Supposedly made in England ?

Been too 3 paint stores, nobodys heard of it, asked about food grade paint, two of them called their distributors, nothing avialable accually labeled as food contact grade.

I ended up useing fiberglass epoxy.

Thanks

Bee-Bop

[alfred]

I got it from one of the beek supply places betterbee or western or dadent can't remember. it is sold to be used to coat old galvanised beek equiptment so that it is up to todays food standards. I got a quart still have almost a quart after putting on 3 coats.