Medium Nucs made with sheets of foam insulation

[Joseph Clemens]

Styrofoam insulation board Nucs, light and durable, don't forget to thoroughly paint them inside to keep the bees from chewing them up, and outside to keep the sun from eating them up. The projections of the sides act nicely as handles or they can be trimmed off if you prefer.

Here is a link to zipped copies of two SketchUp versions of the plans: Zipped  SketchUp plans

Here is a link to a photo of the plans:

[dlmarti]

I've thought about this before, but never followed through.

How do you get a decent cut on the foam?  It always seems to just crumble and make a mess.

[steveouk]

best way to get a decent foam cutter. i used to use them when modeling. they are a piece of wire that you heat normally on a band saw type frame, small amount of electricity pass through the wire heating it. The foam just melts to the required shape and no mess.

[Michael Bush]

You'll need to use the high density foam. The blue or pink stuff, not the white crumbly stuff with the rough grain to it, but the fine stuff with the smooth finish.  Otherwise the bees will chew it all to pieces in no time.
 

[Joseph Clemens]

I cut mine with a box cutter or a very sharp kitchen knife and a strait edge. That heated wire sounds like a real nice tool, I'll have to look into getting one, if they aren't too expensive.

You'll need to use the high density foam. The blue or pink stuff, not the white crumbly stuff with the rough grain to it, but the fine stuff with the smooth finish.  Otherwise the bees will chew it all to pieces in no time.
 

I've found that a thorough coating of paint, especially gloss or semi-gloss, on the inner surface of the foam, slows considerably and almost eliminates this problem. But be careful not to leave any thin spots where the bees can get started chewing.

I think I will get a sheet of the dense foam for my next batch to see how it works.