Wiring questions

[shelley]

I need help to be sure I'm wiring correctly.

I'm just wiring horizontal wires to support waxed foundation.

Does anyone have a picture perhaps of what it should look like. I'm using a spur embedder and am not sure how to tie off the wire on each end. It feels like I'm making a mess.

I am winding it around the end bar and trying to tie it off? not sure of myself.

The embedding looks ok, just the tieing off is awkward to me.

Thanks for any input.

shelley

[Joseph Clemens]

Perhaps these images will help:
http://www.beesource.com/eob/wire_embedder/index.htm

As the images show, usually a small nail is driven into an appropriate location on each end bar and the wire is fastened to them under tension. When I do use beeswax foundation I insert brass eyelets, start one small nail on the end bar near the beginning point for the wire, wrap the wire around the upper part of the nail and hammer it in securing the end of the wire.
Then thread the wire in the pattern of your choice, and once the wire is through all the eyelets and adjacent to the other ending point, I pull it very tight, hold the tension and wrap it around the second nail, then hammer it in securing the wire.
After the wire is in place, I insert the foundation, then melt the wire into the wax foundation, embedding them there.

[Budvar]

Heat the wire? Noone said anything about heating the wire! Makes sense, I guess. Think I read on another thread that you don't want to melt the foundation?

BTW Joseph....that was an excellent picture series you posted! thanks. Is that typical wiring hardware, or obtained seperately (nails, eyelets).

[Grant]

I tap a couple of 5/8" nails into the side of the end bar. Using a small plier I wrap one end of the wire around a nail, then pull the wire through the holes with the pliers. Eyelets help, especially if you're trying to re-wire old frames. With moderate strength, I can pull the wire taut enough without any kind of vise to push the end bars closer to the middle. Then I insert the foundation.

In a sheer act of laziness, I quit heating the wires. Formerly, I used a square, 6-volt lantern/flashlight battery with two flexible "bell" wires coming off the battery and each wrapped around a small nail. By placing the nail heads on sections of the frame wire, the battery provides enough juice to heat the wire just enough to melt the wax. It also cools rapidly as well.

However, as I added hives, the volume of frames I was wiring and embedding just got to be too much. I've switched to plastic, but still wire wax foundation for all my packages, nucs and swarms. It just seems to be asking a young colony too much to draw out plastic foundation. Now I string my wires, insert the foundation without embedding the wires and let the bees do the rest. Yes, there is often a row or two where the bees don't like to build comb, but it's not enough to lose sleep over.

Grant
Jackson, MO

http://www.25hives.homestead.com

[RAlex]

Would a " Universal AC/DC adapter do the same thing ? It has an off, 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5, 9, 12 volts settings. By attaching two clamps on the ends of the wires and then clamping on each end of the wires.... Thanks Rick

[iddee]

I only use 2 wires, with either mediums or deeps. I drive one small nail between the 2 holes, in the center of the flat side of the end bar. I wire the frame as I pull the wire off the roll. I twist the end of it around the nail and draw tension with the end attached to the roll. Then I wrap the wire around the nail and finish driving the nail in. I use a pair or dykes to clip the wire close to the nail, install the wax, and embed with a Kelley transformer and embedder. I have no wire waste, since I do not cut the wire in advance.


RAlex, the voltage doesn't matter. It can be 2 or 2000. The amperage is what controls the heat. Approx. 2 amps works best.

[Budvar]

Iddee,

Good directions! I'm not a great visualizer, but the way you described it, think I could do it. I sure hope my starter hive kits (2) have a couple "practice" foundations and frames.