How cheap can you build a motorized extractor?

[magnet-man]

This is somewhat of a contest with no prize. Design a homemade extractor that meets the following criteria.

1. Designed for the hobbyist beekeeper with 5 or fewer hives
2. Must be motorized
3. Must be made as inexpensively as possible.
4. Must be able to be made with hand power tools. A welder can not be used.
5. The beekeeper has no extra lumber or junk lying about such as a motor and cannot use the motor from his table saw, drill, etc. All parts used must be dedicated to the extractor.
6. Any product from the beehive can be used.
7. The beekeeper has $50 to make this extractor.

Can it be done? Can you do it? Can you build it and take pictures to prove that you did it?

[Jon McFadden]

Magnet-man
I'm working on the plans for a motorized, radial extractor. I am loath to publish information on it until I have secured the parts.
It won't meet your criteria for $50 or less, but it will be a belt drive (driven from the bottom, no clutch or slippage required; SCR vfd drive), stainless steel drum, bottom and cover. Not sure about the reel yet. It depends on what providence presents to me.

[magnet-man]

I think it can be done. My idea came about because my nephew in Connecticut has one hive and needs an extractor. I have two ideas and both of them are radial extractors. One of them can extract four deep frames and the other is limited to two deep.

This is a think out of the box project. smile.gif

[Donn Buchfinck]

Hey, I wanted to write and tell people to go to this site

http://www.surpluscenter.com/

They are located in Lincoln Nebraska, I do not work for them I am in Oakland California, I am a potter and I have had to rebuild several pieces of equipment and they have a lot of different stuff.

Electric DC motors and variable speed controllers for them, motors that take gear speed reducers.
No belts or pulleys,
But I think they have them too.
Trust me it is worth looking at.
I think you might be able to get a motor with a speed reducer with a clutch assembly.
The catalog makes for wonderful reading.

I hope it helps.

[Donn Buchfinck]

As to the contest,

I was visiting a beekeeper a week ago and watched him extract with a 6 frame radial extractor, and let me tell you it was not that fast, and it was a warm day. He spun the frames then let them rest and then spun them again.

Now that’s ok if you are doing something else, you can come back to the extractor but I could see if he had more that the 3 medium boxes worth of frames it would take him quite a while.

So if someone is up to 5 hives it is time to look to a 20 frame.

This is just my opinion. I am a potter and I have bought equipment in the past and it is a good bet that anytime you try to save a little and get the one you need at this time you regret it down the road because you will have moved beyond that capacity very quickly.

You build a kiln to fire pottery and soon enough you wish it were bigger.

[Sundance]

No

[Bryn]

To me the expensive (hard) part would be finding a drum or barrell to use. Baskets, gears, motor, all that can easily be scrounged, but the main body seems to be the crux. Any ideas?

[Donn Buchfinck]

Plastic barrel
The 6 frame medium radial I saw used two Sundays ago wasn’t much bigger than one of those large grey Rubbermaid trashcans.
Go to a restaurant supply place, they are great and they have lots of stuff.

You could build it out of marine plywood and put resin on the inside.

Galvanized metal?
I have seen some old ones come up on ebay, its not like honey is very acidic and it’s going to eat the galvanization.

I think the first step is to work from the frame out.

What size frame are you going to extract?
How many at one time do you want to do?

So you have the number of frames, medium frames are easier to work around than the larger size.
It’s going to be a radial right?

Get a sheet of paper, look at designs, look at some extractors that have been built, this equipment isn’t rocket science.

Drum + basket + honey gate + motor + gear/pully assembly + stand

[magnet-man]

Let me clarify a point or two. It has to be able to handle full size frames, but does not have to be a radial extractor. It can extract one frame at a time or twenty the number is not important. That said I have two ideas that just happen to be radial in design because that is how I think I can meet the price point. Now one of the ideas is based on an old patent but the other is based on my own design.

The key here is to think out of the box.

[searcher]

[Jim Fischer]

> 1. Designed for the hobbyist beekeeper with
> 5 or fewer hives
> 2. Must be motorized

Why bother with a motor if one only has 5 hives?
The motor itself is expensive enough to be the
single most expensive component.

[Donn Buchfinck]

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2005062111081446&item=5-1502&catname=electric

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2005062111081446&item=5-1464-R&catname=electric

at this point I would have to do some research for the power neede to run an extractor.
hp/torque rpm

But I know I can find what I need out there.

On the 6 frame I saw two sundays ago the motor wasn't that big.

[The Honey House]

I ran my first home-made twenty frame radial
using a 1/12 HP 1725 RPM motor. I hooked it up to a Zero-Max drive that reduced the RPM to 400 and provided 12 inch pounds of torque.

Why bother with a motor if one only has 5 hives?
Because that is one of the rules! smile.gif

Probably can be done but it's going to take some curb shopping.

[magnet-man]

The Honey House is right. Because that is one of the rules! I think I can make it with purchasing everything needed for well under $50. Now these may be thrift store or garage sale purchases.

[tecumseh]

just a few ideas old and new...

one of the first hobby extractors I saw some 20+ years back was a very simple reel/basket set in an industrial strength rubbermaid trash can (just like they use in restaurants) which had a small teflon block in the top and bottom for bearings. it was powered by a small variable speed drill. i personally use a small extractor (formerly hand cranked) that i power up using an old heavy 1/2 inch drill motor which is chucked up directly to the reel. i utilize an old electronic shop voltage regulation (essentially a very large rheostat) as a speed control mechanism. so gear reduction (which is expensive) and belts (which are always in the wrong place) are not really essential and are quite likely to place the total cost way beyond the target of $50.

[Steve_in_NC]

I have posted this before. Take a look at this drill powered extractor. Scroll down once the page loads.

http://www.beehive.org.nz/newsletters/2003/bnl-2003-09.htm

[power napper]

Almost free--three models,two models would be radial and one would be environmentally squeezed:

model (w) is the automatic clothes washing machine--it even has a honey pump built in.

model (d) is the clothes dryer -it even has a honey heater built in, if you have a fancy model you can extract delicate or no heat and fluff.

model (rw) is the old maytag wringer washer that squeezes the honey out of the wax comb, drop the hose to empty the honey out of the tub--no honey gate needed.

Hope this brings a smile to your face!!!!!

power napper

[JLD]

So how do we make the assembly to hold the drill and still follow the rules (i.e., no welder)?

[The Honey House]

"So how do we make the assembly to hold the drill and still follow the rules"

That would be part of the contest
if you decided to use a drill motor as the means to turn the drum/reel thingy
No rules apply to what type of motor, just to be motorized. smile.gif

[Donn Buchfinck]

I would not think you would need to weld.

I could go to a shop that sells bearing and rod and have the rod cut to the length I wanted.

I think one might have to do some fabracating. But welding, I don't think.

Start with the frames you want to extract,
How many at once?
bearings, center rod, bearings, cage of some sort.
rod goes up to hook to a large 1/2 inch chuck drill.
I bet I could go to the home supply store get some round grills and use them to create baskets.
Oh I will have to bend them but I bet I will be able to build a basket with them.

As to the container, a large grey rubbermaid trashcan.

form follows function, build from the inside out.

[BerkeyDavid]

Mag man, great contest!
Instead of a barrel shape I would go with a rectangle. Make it out of plywood and epoxy (West system is what I use). It will be light, strong, and if coated properly on the inside it will be food safe. Build the container around your frame needs to fit the number of frames your motor can handle.

Only down side is there will be increased wind resistance over the barrel shape design.

for example build your container 20 inches high (1 frame on end), 24 inches wide (to accomodate 4 frames wide) and 36 inches on the axis ( to accomodate 4 frames on either side of the bearing / center rod). THis would let you do up to 8 frames at a time.

This is a woodworkers answer ;)

[magnet-man]

Don't forget guys you have to build the frame holder and how are you going to do that?

[BerkeyDavid]

you have to build the frame holder and how are you going to do that easy if you build the container out of marine grade plywood, say 3 or 4 mm okoume. just epoxy support brackets lengthwise.

issue: if you put too many Frames they will be so far off center from the axis that you will not get the proper centrifuge effect. e.g.:


F F F F
R R R R
A A A A
M M M M
E E E E
---X---
F F F F
R R R R
A A A A
M M M M
E E E E


"x" = center bearing

So I am tempted to try and make a pie shaped thing.

[ClatsOre]

I've got it!!! Take a rear end from a car take the axle out of one end, cut it off to mount to the floor... Now bolt your drum to the other side and rotate drum and all.. No Magman-man you can not turn your car on it's side for the week end extracting.

[The Honey House]

Bumping up for updates!

[ckinser]

For those that are interested i converted a hand extractor to a variable dc direct drive complete with an electric brake. dc is the way to go to turn a 9 frame you will need a minimum of 1/8 hp but i recomend a 1/6 hp. the conversion did not take any special tools

[magnet-man]

Although I am not done, here is an update. My twelve-year-old son has been pushing me like crazy to get this extractor made so he can sell honey. The youth of today have no patience. Why back in my day .....

I have purchased the motor and made the major components and coated them with polyurethane. So far I have about $35 plus tax in the project. If I had used bee’s wax, product of the hive, I would have been at $28 plus tax. I decided to use the polyurethane because it will clean up better than wax. I can just picture the wax moth webbing in twelve months.

I have purchased everything needed to finish it and will be below the fifty-dollar limit. What is really interesting is everything is new with the exception of the motor! Now how did magnet-man do that? smile.gif

This is an extractor designed outside of the box and I am not yet ready to describe or show pictures of it until I have a chance to test it. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to post pictures and comments on how it worked out.

[ks]

Hi ckinser

Can you provide more details of your conversion?
What parts used, where obtained, pics, etc.
I have a hand cranked extractor that i would love to convert to motorized. I can buy the motor from the manufacturer, but the cost is over 220.

Thanks
KS