Large extractor

[nursebee]

I extracted about 50 supers last fall and expect at least double that much this coming fall after maybe 50 in the spring. Currently using a 3 frame tangential. Takes all day when I have help. Expect to grow my number of hives each year and think larger extractor will come soon.

I have read with interest the reviews on extractors but nobody really comments on anything larger than 20 frames. Does anyone use larger extractors and what do you think of them?

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Joe Miller
nursebee@juno.com

[Michael Bush]

Since I only use it once a year I need to be able to move it out to the garage and into the house and since I may have to do that myself it's important that it be small enough to get through the door and small enough I can lift it. If you have a permanant honey house and a permanantly mounted extractor I'm sure the larger ones are fine. But I've only seen pictures of them. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

[jfischer]

I don’t know why vendors persist in offering tangental extractors.

For your operation, a 40-frame or larger extractor would be used only
few hours a year. Overkill. Once one has an extractor capable of
handling at least a single super in one load, the extractor is no
longer the bottleneck, uncapping is.

Any uncapper can uncap any number of frames faster than they can be
loaded into an extractor, spun, and then removed.

The next biggest bottleneck after uncapping is “handling” the frames.
Take a stopwatch to your efforts, and see for yourself.

For a total of 50-100 supers, if you use nothing but mediums for honey
supers, you might want to look at a 9-frame hand-crank radial extractor
to which you add your own belt-drive motor. (Beekeeping supply houses
don’t make motors, and sell motors at very high prices. You can do
better yourself, even if you must hire someone to adapt it.)

No one except the very largest beekeepers need a fancy electronic
speed controls to “spin up” and then “slow down” the extractor - a
simple rheostat (heavy duty fan speed control) with a manual knob
works fine.

I use and like the (Italian Made) Brushy Mountain “9 Frame Radial Hand
Extractor” (Item 802) as it is well-made, costs only $379.00, and has
an easy-to deal with horizontal “axle” to attach a pulley for your
belt-drive.

If I were foolish enough to expand, I would buy a second extractor of
the exact same type, as I really don’t want to own any capital equipment
that I can’t lift.

My motor is a salvaged motor from a large greenhouse fan, and while it
is capable of enough RPMs to turn frames into a shower of splinters and
wax, I have a screw that stops the rotation of he speed control knob at
about 25% of full range. Belt drive is your friend, as a loose belt
allows the motor to continue turning even if the extractor jams on a
frame that self-destructs. One hears the belt slipping, and can kill
the power before the belt starts smoking from the friction.

My extractor is also bolted into the concrete floor, and on legs that
have been reenforced with cross-bracing. I also have a 100-lb sandbag
suspended by braided wire from the 3 legs to damp vibrations from
uneven loads. When you motorize, you cannot simply have the extractor
sitting on the floor - it can and will “walk across the room” until it
pulls its own power plug out the the socket.

But even motorized extractors are something that simply allow one person
to handle the entire processing operation. An uncapper is a much better
investment than an extractor motor. The problem is that uncappers are
not cheap - here’s two of the less expensive models:

http://www.blossomland.com/huc1700spc.html?mv_tmp_session=1:toggle=2082
http://go.netgrab.com/secure/kelleystore/asp/product.asp?product=141

From there, the prices go up and up... http://www.cooknbeals.com/products/uncapper.htm