Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: Moots on February 19, 2013, 09:03:19 pm
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A while back I threw out the idea of trying to make a Honey Extractor on the forum and received a lot of great input and advice. I decided to give it a shot and see where it ended up. I have to give a shout out to Sundog who was both nice enough to share his plans as well as field some of my questions via email.
What I made is basically his design...However, instead of taking 4 medium frames radially, or 4 deeps tangentially, I made mine to hold 8 medium frames radially. I did this by doing 4 sets of 2 frames, side by side. I'm not really sure how successful this will be...I'm a little concerned their close proximity to each other might be an issue. Well see!
I also quickly realized I was outside of my skill-set and was lucky to have a friend willing to lend his time, talent, and equipment to the fabrication of the stainless steel.
I still need to install a honey gate and decide whether or not I'm going to coat the wood or leave it natural.
Extractor in action! (http://s1311.beta.photobucket.com/user/jeffrobert41183/media/Bees/Honey%20Extractor/6264DD05-46DE-46B1-AB70-08C53411E7D3-640-000000498A84D6A7_zps51d3eec0.mp4.html)
(http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s664/jeffrobert41183/Bees/Honey%20Extractor/894E87D2-396C-46A4-A9CD-68ABBE505FA3-640-0000004AB3D89BF8_zps9d1c3bbc.jpg)
The two top boards are independent to help with the ease of loading frames.
(http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s664/jeffrobert41183/Bees/Honey%20Extractor/B02F4BB8-1127-465D-A1E6-A1C1229B5448-640-0000004AC254AC1E_zps1f02b995.jpg)
The Shaft sits in a Teflon Sleeve with a ball bearing in the bottom supported by a stainless steel bracket placed in the bottom of the barrel.
(http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s664/jeffrobert41183/Bees/Honey%20Extractor/C7455F81-4242-4400-9C1F-70B92E3C54F6-640-0000004A9F3E8A12_zpseac73a7d.jpg)
Barrel with lid
(http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s664/jeffrobert41183/Bees/Honey%20Extractor/49D87B0A-6DB1-4B4B-843B-428801E1CD90-640-0000004AD4FB9593_zpsc0ca46b9.jpg)
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From what I can see, it looks like it will work just fine. The frames aren't too close. Good simple design. I will stick with my 32 frame with the auto speed advance however.
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From what I can see, it looks like it will work just fine. The frames aren't too close. Good simple design. I will stick with my 32 frame with the auto speed advance however.
Yeah, I thought about going with that model, but thought it might be a little over kill for a guy with two hives! LOL! :-D
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Moots, it is WAY too big for my operation too, but it (used) was the same price as the right size! One extractor wears out a number of beekeepers.
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Looks good but you can't use that without using wired frames!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Standard starter strip comb would fold in a moment!!!!!!
And it will need to not run too high rpm. Slow build up of speed.
Otherwise great job.
Bailey
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Looks good but you can't use that without using wired frames!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Standard starter strip comb would fold in a moment!!!!!!
And it will need to not run too high rpm. Slow build up of speed.
Otherwise great job.
Bailey
Thanks Bailey,
Currently I'm using wax foundation with wires, so I should be OK. I'm planning on trying some foundationless with starter strips at some point, but thinking I'll use them for cut comb. At least that's the plan now...check back tomorrow, I'm sure it will have changed. LOL! :)
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Awesome job moots... Obviously i am a rookie at this, but what is the design flaw that would make starter strip comb fall apart in this extractor? SPEED OR DESIGN? Not saying it wont, just wondering how to make one that would allow you to use starter strip comb? Would you use one with an actual basket inside......???
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The bees don't attach comb to bottom bars when using starter strips unless they need the room. Radial extraction requires the frames to spin facing bottom towards the center and top towards outside of rack.
The resulting forces would break a comb that wasn't firmly attached.
Wire the starter strip frames before putting them in the hive and let them build comb over the wire or monofilament line ( whichever you use).
They will then stand up to radial extractors
Bailey
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Bailey, so with some care (slow start-up speed with a gradual speedup, etc.) a foundationless *wired frame* will normally extract "ok" even if the comb isn't attached to the bottom bar? I'm a newbee and thinking about this brings a question to my mind...
This wire is some thin stuff that will cut your hands if not careful (now how do I know that? :-\ ). It seems that during extraction that inertia would force the weight of the wax and honey against this wire that the wire would cut into the wax. But, apparently the wax is attached better and is stronger that it appears. My question is...Do the bees reinforce the wax along the wires by coating the wire with propolis or a "tougher" wax prior to attaching the comb wax? I've noticed that around the perimeter of a frame the wax used to attach the comb seems tougher(?) than the actual comb. This is really one of those things like not needing to know how the automatic transmission in my car works to be able to drive it,...I'm just curious about it. :)
Ed
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Thanks for the info Bailey...
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Looks good! What will you use as a motor or will you have a hand crank?
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Looks good! What will you use as a motor or will you have a hand crank?
Thanks!, I use an electric drill....If you go back to the OP, there's a "Extractor in action" link to a video.
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Moots, I really like the extractor you built and am thinking of building one like it... Do you think the wood will get yucky over a little time and if so how does one go about cleaning it? Maybe dip the boards in wax first so the honey doesn't stick as easy?----then just scrape the wax off when its time to do a thorough cleaning...What ya think
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Plan-B,
I have no idea...LOL! Your guess is as good as mine.
One option is to seal everything with a food safe epoxy. Although my fear there is that it'll start pealing at some point. The other option is to just leave it natural and put it out and let the bees do the clean up for the most part.
Still thinking on that one....If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them.
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You can coat it with wax and a torch ( drip on and tilt method )
Just can't scrape it or all the wax comes off.
I did this with the cross bar on my uncapping tank and it works well to seal wood from honey
Bailey
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Sounds like a good idea bailey... Where did you get the stainless rods and the plastic bushings that they are riding on moots?
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Awesome design.
Like Plan_B says... Where'd you get the nylon bushings?
Annnndd, What size barrel is that you are using?
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I haven't worked much on mine. Moots when you are back up this way, there is a guy just west of Hattiesburg that has food grade 55 gal drums with removeable tops and bands. I picked up 2 today. I got a treadmill that was damaged in shipping back a few years ago for the motor with speed controls. I got one of The Bix's, John Bixler, extractors guts. Now all I have to do is put it together, hook up the treadmill motor to it and extract. Your looks great, good luck with it. On the foundationless frames, last year my bees did not fill out all the frame, but they did attach a good bit to the bottom bars and I did extract it on a regular extractor. With the May and July extractions I think I had 2 frames on each that blew out. The ones that I was sure was not filled out enough I did put into comb honey. Comb honey here didn't sell near as good as I had thought. Not planning on doing much if any this year.
Joe
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To answer a few of the questions...
Almost everything on this project was acquired either through friends, or friends of friends. :)
The barrel is a food grade barrel that originally had molasses in it, donated to the cause by a co-worker....It's a large barrel, not sure if it's 50 or 55 gallons.
The stainless steel rod came from a close business associate. The nylon bushings, from a life long friend that works for a local valve company. etc. etc.
About the only real money I spent was $30 on some food grade bearings which I ended up not even using on my design. :-x
Haven't really put the finishing touches on it yet...Still need to get and install a honey gate on the barrel and decide if I'm going to coat my wood parts with a food grade sealer or not.
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I would wax coat them at least.
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Woodcraft sells food grade oils to seal the wood. I bought walnut oil from them for the extractor I plan to build. The oil takes a few days to dry but it hardens the wood. and it won't add any flavor to the honey when dry.
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I did an apple press last year and used white oak for all of the parts that touch the apples. I put all of the parts in a plastic bag and filled it with tung oil and let it set. Wipe it down and let it dry. Now if I could just make this into an extractor?
http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n599/6minz/DSCF4126.jpg (http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n599/6minz/DSCF4126.jpg)