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Wax Dipping Boxes & Hive Parts

35K views 41 replies 15 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 ·
Greetings All,

I have been rolling around the idea of building a hot wax dipping tank for my woodenware. I have read some on the subject & watched a few youtube videos of it being done. I did not notice anything said concerning demenionions, app amounts of wax to use initially, or anything about volume displacement. I want to be able to dip several items at once with plenty headroom at the top for foaming. I know Michael Bush uses this method. Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
 
#5 ·
I found a 33 page pdf document but do not know how to attach. It is a study done in Australia a couple of years ago. If someone tells me how, or how to submit to an administrator to check to see if there are copyright issues I will be glad to forward. Sorry I cannot remember where I found it. It is very enlightening.
 
#6 ·
Mike, if you can post the original title of the PDF document, someone :D may be able to find it again on the net. That way we could then link to it and avoid any possible copyright issues that could arise by posting the document here in its entirety.

If you aren't sure of the original title, choose a sequence of words from the document, and quote them here exactly as they appear in the PDF. A dozen words, on topic, in sequence is probably good enough for a search.
 
#9 ·
I've thought about it a lot. Obviously it's nice to be able to do more at once. It would also be nice if it took less wax, and also nice if putting a box in didn't too greatly affect the level of wax (these two are counter to one another). You can fit a box inside a box if you turn the inside box on it's end while the other boxes are in normal position. The length of a box is pretty much equal to two deeps or three mediums. You can fit one eight frame medium in the middle of three eight frame mediums. You can fit two ten frame mediums in the middle of three ten frame mediums. you can fit one ten frame deep in the middle of two ten frame deeps. This gets you a few more at one time. Also keep in mind you will probably want to do bottoms which may be bigger than a box in length. You also have to have about an inch or two around the outside to keep it from boiling over.
 
#11 ·
>What would you say would be a good size tank & burner size as well as an app amount of wax needed to be purchased?

Obviously there would be a lot of sizes that would be inefficient. But there are a lot of reasonable possibilities. Also there is the issue of how many you're going to do and how much wax and rosin you will buy. If I were a hobbyist doing enough for four hives or so I'd be satisfied with one that would do one box. If I were setting up a production line to do thousands of boxes, I'd make it wide enough for three boxes and tall enough for three boxes and with the ones down the middle that would make twelve boxes at a time. I would prefer a steam system to heat it so you can't burn the wax, but I've only used a gas burner so far. I have an old gas stove set up outside and a fire extinguisher handy and a fairly tight lid for the box, but I would scorch the wax less, and risk fire less if I had a steam heat setup. It only takes about 15 pounds or so of pressure to get plenty of heat for the process. The amount of wax needed, of course is related to the size of the box. My current setup does one whole box and two halves of boxes (half of the one down the middle on the end, and half of the top box and all of the bottom box). So in two batches I get four boxes done. It was tedious, but I dipped more than 500 boxes, more than 200 lids, and more than 200 bottom boards with it. I have contemplated a steam setup to do 12 at a time.
 
#17 ·
Does anyone know if a 55 gallon oil drum would hold up for this? Will the seams leak? Years ago I boiled a bunch of deeps and shallows in lye with one...opens your sinuses right up! Obviously it was water at 212 degrees not wax at 300 degrees.

I really like the idea of wax dipping equipment but it makes me really nervous too. It seems to have 911 written all over it. I should mention that I'm VERY small time and might be doing 50 or so mediums. Even if I could afford a big stainless tank to do this with I don't have anywhere to store it while the oil drum is disposable. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Hamp
 
#20 ·
I agree with KJ. I use birch and on a warmer winter day get a good fire going in my fire pit and boil away. To reduce the amount of wax, I place concrete blocks in the middle of my wax box when boiling frames, uses way less wax. I like to darken my boxes with a weed burner to help absorb winter radiance.
 
#22 ·
I hope this is not an inappropriate place to ask my questions on wax dipping. I noticed on the older post Curtis mentioned use of a 100quart stock pot. The one he posted a link to is $270 but there are a great many aluminum ones out there for more like $70 - is there some obvious reason to not use aluminum? We are just doing 3-6 hives total so do not need anything large at all! Or if there is a better lower cost alternative I'm sure open to it!
Also, what are your favorite sources for the rosin, microcrystalline, and wax? Any idea on quantities I would be needing for a 100 quart stock pot (as I have no pot at this moment and am ordering supplies :) Is the ratio still 2:1 when using rosin? Nobody commented on the microcrystalline vs. rosin - any thoughts yet?
edited - I did look at Mann Lake for rosin, but no searches came up with anything.
Thank you guys!
 
#23 ·
Wax and rosin is cheaper. Wax is cheapest at candlewic.com, you want the 140 degree melt temp stuff.
http://www.candlewic.com/store/Product.aspx?q=c49,p1075&title=Paraffin-Wax-140

JH Calo will ship bags of rosin, best price I could find.

I built my tank 26lx22wx36h (inches). The bottom is 1/4 steel, sides 1/8 inch, the telescoping cover and splash guard is 1/16 inch steel.

It took me 400lbs of wax and 55lbs of Rosin to fill it sufficiently to start.

I have a 150,000 BTU banjou classic burner that sits in a pit with heavy fire bricks around it. I'd like to insulate it some to save propane, I tend to dip earlier in the spring, hopefully I can wait for warmer weather this year.

I can dip 3deeps or 5 mediums, ot like 7-10 tops/bottom boards at once.

Whatever you do don't paint the inside of the tank with heat resistant paint because I have to scrape blobs of black paint off as it flakes off the sides. Oh well live and learn..

It cost me 1000-1200 dollars to set up.
 
#32 ·
I will second this! I only can have 5-6 hives (in-town residence) so it is cheaper to buy pre-made units rather than building a tank for me. I just finished buying another 2 bases and 20 med. boxes. The postage was far less than the tank build out and wax buy for my needs. This is scale decision driven by how many hives you have. I will vouch for the great quality from Country Rubes and if you have any issues Janet will make it right! Their boxes are made by Shastina and Country Rubes assembles/glues/dips them. Their basses are made in house.
 
#25 ·
Or just use a weed burner and get several 1-2lb bars of wax. Slowly heat the wood, with a low setting on the weed burner, and run your bar of wax over the heated wood. The wood will soak up the wax, if heated properly. If you have the burner set correctly, you can see when the wax starts boiling as bubbles appear. I pre-heat my boxes next to my shop stove to +100F. You can obtain a nice burnt look, which helps absorb thermal mass.
 
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