The best extractor? for a hobbiest.

[GRIMBEE]

Who sells the best extractor for around 300$? I plan on purchasing one soon and would like advice from all who own one. This will be for no more than 4 hives.

[jdb1930]

I have the plastic 2 frame one from Dadant and it works great. It will hold all sizes of frames.

[schmism]

I have the plastic 2 frame one from Dadant and it works great. It will hold all sizes of frames.

can you elaborate on that any? ive come this close || to buying that a couple of times now and have wondered about quality, function etc.

[GRIMBEE]

the thing that I don't like about the plastic is plastic gears and how long will they last. As opposed to paying 100$ more for all metal and metal gears.

[schmism]

the thing that I don't like about the plastic is plastic gears and how long will they last. As opposed to paying 100$ more for all metal and metal gears.

is that statement from your experience with plastic gears etc, or just your idea of how long it may or may not last?

[Oldbee]

I have the Mann Lake HH-190 http://www.mannlakeltd.com/ProductDetail.asp?idproduct=953&idCategory=15 It was close to $300.00 about 2 1/2 years ago but it's $370.00 now. I see it's 'currently unavailable' and don't know about that; maybe later in the summer. It is in the 2009 paper catalogue.

The stand is attatched to the barrel and the crank is on the side, which I like. I have the stand bolted to a piece of 3/4 inch plywood with weights. I like it but really have nothing to compare it with except catalogue photos/specs. It is 26 gauge steel and seems sturdy enough to me.

[GRIMBEE]

Now I am looking at the maxant 3100 for 500$. I like the basket style, it can hold 6 medium frames radially 9 total.

[jdb1930]

jdb1930 : I have the plastic 2 frame one from Dadant and it works great. It will hold all sizes of frames.

schmism : can you elaborate on that any? ive come this close || to buying that a couple of times now and have wondered about quality, function etc.

Sure, it is easy to operate and very stable, you wouldn't think so being plastic but it is. 4 screws with brackets hold on the spinning part, so when you are done you unscrew those and the inner part comes out so you can clean it. It is heavy duty plastic. It does have plastic gears but so do most extractors that are $500 and less. It doesn't look like they will go out anytime soon, like I said this thing is pretty heavy duty plastic. It was worth the $120 for it.

[Hobie]

If you are not set on "new," used equipment can be a heck of a deal. I picked up a SS 2-frame with metal gears for less than $100.

[berkshire bee]

Grimbee, I am a third owner of a Maxant 3100. A friend bought it from an old beekeeper who retired. My friend and I used it for three years together,doing 70 to 100 frames, then he sold it to me to buy a bigger Maxant and last season I motorized it for free with a motor from a treadmill. It's a very good extractor. It uses a belt and pulleys rather that gears, so you dont have to worry about broken teeth. I'm surprised the other manufactures haven't followed suit.This extractor will last forever. I think you'd be glad you spent the extra money. The only shortcoming that I see is if you do 6 frames radially, you will have to reverse them, because they are held close together by clips so the honey doesn't flow well out of the 2 sides that are up against each other.

[jbford]

the Dadant Ranger is a nice small radial. It is close to $400 without stand or motor.

[dave56301]

I have the one oldbee described above, from mann lake. I like it. Order early, i have had trouble getting them a little later in the year.

[GRIMBEE]

the Dadant Ranger is a nice small radial. It is close to $400 without stand or motor.

Dadant olny has the package deal for 639$ in the 2009 catalog. And the ranger by itself is 467$ OH you also have to buy different size cages for different size frames.

[prscotty]

Here is one I have been thinking of getting. I only extract shallow frames so it would work for me. Four shallow at a time and it is a radial so you do not have to turn the frames it extracts both sides at the same time. It does have plastic gears. Any feed back on this extractor would be appreciated.

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/prodinfo.asp?number=945

[schmism]

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/prodinfo.asp?number=945

my concern would be "It will only extract shallow frames"

I wasnt planning on adding shallow supers, just sticking with deeps and med.

[GRIMBEE]

I also run deeps and mediums olny. no shallows for me. ;)

[Cedar Hill]

What's the rush? You have all summer to find one. There are many used ones that can be had for what you are willing to pay. You'll definitely get more value than buying new. It's a hobby, at this moment, that can cost quite a lot for each pound of honey if you're not careful. Place an adv. on Craigslist. or in the various bee clubs' newsletters for your state or convince your bee club to purchase one. Our club has one. One of its best investments. You will only use it briefly (depending on the number of supers) once a year and then it takes up storage space for the rest of the time. OMTCW

[bermybee]

Now I am looking at the maxant 3100 for 500$. I like the basket style, it can hold 6 medium frames radially 9 total.

Here is something for you to think about.:s Did you ever get a quote on the shipping of the extractors you was looking to buy? You said you was willing to pay $300 for the extractor by the time you add on shipping you might not be that far away from that $500 mark. Where as with the Maxant you could drive there and pick it up yourself, that is if they aren’t having one of those free shipping sprees. Plus while your there if you got any $$$ left over you might be able to pick up a hive tool or something or at least check out the other neat stuff.:cool:
Me personally never saw the point in getting an extractor that couldn’t take at least 5 frames…. Maxant also offers a motor up grade for there extractor so if you should grow and / or get tired of spinning it by hand………..
As for the quality in that price range/ size you can’t beat it Maxant is a better machine by miiiiles. I’ve spent a lot of time at Maxant (great people). The 3100 are probably the strongest little extractors on the market and the only one that Maxant sells with a SS reel. Plus they are good looking machines.
This is one of the few times I would actually recommend a Maxant over a Dadant extractor with out thinking twice. I’m a Dadant man myself.
:thumbsup:

[Michael Bush]

For my first 28 years of beekeeping I used this:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm#crushandstrain

"All this seems obvious enough, and yet time after time I have seen novice beekeepers, as soon as they had built their apiaries up to a half dozen or so hives, begin to look around for an extractor. It is as if one were to establish a small garden by the kitchen door, and then at once begin looking for a tractor to till it with. Unless then, you have, or plan eventually to have, perhaps fifty or more colonies of bees, you should try to resist looking in bee catalogs at the extractors and other enchanting and tempting tools that are offered and instead look with renewed fondness at your little pocket knife, so symbolic of the simplicity that is the mark of every truly good life." --Richard Taylor, The Comb Honey Book

[schmism]

Ive been on the lookout for a used one. but in my area they are 1) rare, 2) are snapped up quick 3) sell for about what a new one cost.

I am registred with my local beek club. They often advertise used equipment that is local to the area but see above, 2) gone quickly 3) rarely is it "a deal"

Ive considered borrowing one. you konw a few Beeks in the area all share one passing it around, or everyone brings all the frames to the best honey-house setup for a day long extraction, which has benfits of gaining experience from more experienced beeks and many hands make light work.

There have been one or 2 offers to share an extractor, but the time involved in going to pick it up (an hr+ away one way) make it a difficult deal to work.
finding a beek in my area willing to let me bring my frames to him has also come up nill. Either there crochity old guys dont want to share, or others are so busy they never return calls and/or willing to work with ya.

So do i need to have one RIGHT now... no... but i like getting my ducks in a row and ive been working on getting this paticular one in line for over a year now and still have no solution other than just buy one. (but which one?) :s

a note on CL. in my area ive posted on CL a couple of times seeking used equipment. for every response i get saying there is some old equipment in some shed (which they want near on new price for) i get some response about the dangers of used equipment.. I could simply sum up most responses with.... "any used equip should just be burnt"


What's the rush? You have all summer to find one. There are many used ones that can be had for what you are willing to pay. You'll definitely get more value than buying new. It's a hobby, at this moment, that can cost quite a lot for each pound of honey if you're not careful. Place an adv. on Craigslist. or in the various bee clubs' newsletters for your state or convince your bee club to purchase one. Our club has one. One of its best investments. You will only use it briefly (depending on the number of supers) once a year and then it takes up storage space for the rest of the time. OMTCW

[nursebee]

I'd suggest befriending others and borrowing to get your hands on them and see what features you like. If you give me a jar of honey you can use mine.

[bermybee]

Either there crochity old guys dont want to share, or others are so busy they never return calls and/or willing to work with ya.


:D So beekeepers are the same all over the world. lol. Trying get information out of them is just as hard. Not to mention the amount of it that is useless, out dated and just plain wrong. Of curse there is exception to the rule.

[Cedar Hill]

Schmism wrote: "So do i need to have one RIGHT now... no... but i like getting my ducks in a row and ive been working on getting this paticular one in line for over a year now and still have no solution other than just buy one. (but which one?) " :lpf: It's hopeless. Best extractor available, is the Maxant 3100 H - $499. made right here in good old Massachusetts. Nine Frame Extractor. Works radially and tangentially. You might be able to get it with free shipping at this time of the year. Worth a try. OMTCW

[stoweski]

I picked up the Jr. Bench model on here last year. I have to say it's a nice extractor.
The only problem I have found (and spent a few days coming up with a solution) is that the aluminum shaft that the gear & handle are attached to was wearing down inside the bracket that holds it. This caused severe wobbling of the shaft and made quite a bit of excess noise. I do not have the instructions for it but I'm wondering if there is something in them that says to lubricate the shaft periodically so that it will not wear as much. I had found metal filings below the spot where it wore. Thankfully the cover stopped it from going into the extractor.

As for the 'plastic' gears, this unit uses nylon gears - which of course is plastic but definitely a much harder plastic that is susceptable to wearing but not necessarily breaking. I'm guessing that the other extractors use nylon gears too. I was a bit hesitant on buying this because of the gears but after using it just one season I can see why they went with nylon. I would imagine the gears will last the life of the extractor!
So in other words, I wouldn't turn down a good deal on an extractor simply because it has nylon gears.

Keith

[GRIMBEE]

What's the rush? OMTCW

The rush is we have a spring harvest and fall harvest. I am not going thru crush and strain like last year, it was torture. I crushed 90 lbs 45 spring 45 fall It was not fun, it was a pain in the rear.:no: That came from 1 hive I am working 3 hives this year, I definitely am not gonna crush 270 pounds. Its worth 500$ to not have to go thru the backbreaking work to me. And I easily get 5$ a pound for local honey. Ed Weiss gets 7 to 10$ a pound. Its like gold around here.
100 pounds of honey will pay for the extractor.

[GRIMBEE]

I guess I will just take a limo up to Mass to the Maxant factory and pick up the 3100 extractor.:D

[Cedar Hill]

Grimbee wrote:" 100 pounds of honey will pay for the extractor. "
Nice thing about bees, once started, they always seem to be able to take care of themselves if you treat them right.:lookout:

[GRIMBEE]

Well I ordered the Maxant 3100H yesterday morning and got it today with free shipping.
Thankyou Jake from Maxant. I am looking forward to using it.:D:thumbsup:

[shughes]

my first full year of beekeeping I bought the 9 frame radial hand crank from brushy mountain and harvested honey from 6 hives. it was ok. i knew i was going to need to upgrade due to two reasons:

1) i have a bad rotator cuff on the right shoulder. i planned on increasing my hive count and there was no way i would be able to handcrank more then 4-6 hives.
2) time. i don't have much time and needed something that could process through honey quick.

i bought the Maxant 1200 and run 25 hives. The Maxant extractor is built very well. Belt drive and all metal. I could get by with a 9 frame but I want to be able to extract all my honey in a weekend...preferably a day. Sure I could get by with a knife and straining bag/bucket but all of us have our variables and requirements that influence what we need for our honey harvesting.

In summary, get what works for you but I think the 18-20 frame extractors are the sweet spot in terms of bang for the buck for advanced hobbyist and small time sideliners.

[Cedar Hill]

Well I ordered the Maxant 3100H yesterday morning and got it today with free shipping.
Thankyou Jake from Maxant. I am looking forward to using it.:D:thumbsup: :applause: Best move I ever made after my extractor was to buy an electric vibrating knife. Makes extracting much less tiring and they last for years. Your cost? About 80 lbs. of honey. :D

[Ncdude]

I can send you plans to build your own with a large fan motor like you see on the floor of factories.

[John Jones]

Get the Maxant 3100H. Later as you grow you can buy the motor. Go to Youtube and search on MAXANT and you can see the 3100P (motor) in action and perhaps get some questions answered. I have a friend that has a farm with a building and no electricity. I purchased the hand crank attachment. Take the motor off, put on the hand crank and off we go. Who else offers that? Call Maxant they love to answer questions. Excellent quality compared to a hand crank $300 unit I first purchased and out grew.

John Jones
Stone Mountain, Georgia