Sorry, no experience, but seems really expensive! 300 Eur = $405 US plus shipping from Europe. Gotta believe that shipping would (conservatively) add $100. Invest more and you can get a nice 18/9 motorized, or save money and get a nice 9 frame hand crank. If you're planning to run more than just a few hives, you'll quickly out grow the 3-frame extractor. Don't know how to extract TBH frames, but might just want to make comb honey from those frames. Comb honey brings a premium price.
There is no need to import from EU...
They do sell them in our neck-of-the-woods. Only they were unavailable due to a glitch in manufacture. (China I bet?!)
I pasted one link to Betterbee - but there are one or two others in US and Canada. . . . .
I picked mine up a couple weeks ago. I like it. Three minutes or so and it was done. I extracted 4 shallows at a time. I guess it is the Swienty 2-3-4. For a small operation I think this beats any little tangential machine at what looks like a very competitive price. It didn't dance around, stayed right on my kitchen table. Nice level to work at. Once I get over a certain amount of hives I'm sure the cranking will get old, but for the next year or so I should be set. This beats the machines I was contemplating that ran a $1000 and up.
Two plexiglass covers fold down so there is no splash. Very little gets on the cover; I think they are there to prevent my 3 year old from sticking his fingers in.
...I am a new bee keeper and have never used any other extractor or even seen one in real life. I borrowed a friends unit that looks exactly like the one you linked to. It's a POS. The cage, hardware and clips are all chrome plated steel, which are rusting, The resistance welds are begining to rust on the stainless. The unit is definitely Chinese/Indian made, it has all the hallmarks of their crappy, spun stainless construction. The honey gat valve is kind of high and you have to tip the unit quite a bit to get the last few pounds out. I was pretty disappointed in it. It was also a pain to clean, even in our big sink in the dairy.
I don't know if one exists, but I'd make it completely out of plastic, with a conical bottom to it. Teflon and delrin are very string, durable and food grade. Even if just the cage was made out of reinforced HDPE, it would be easier to clean....
If and when I buy an extractor that's what I will be looking for.
It's hard for me to make a comparison due to my limited experience. I was quite happy with the amount extracted though. I used BetterBees rental unit: a Fritz tangential extractor. It seemed just as dry to me.
I used the extractor again today. I had used it with 4 shallow supers on my previous use. I did so today and then switched to mediums. Only 3 mediums fit in the machine. It was not nearly as balanced. I tore a chunk of frame off. It can not be stopped quickly in case of an emergency, like tearing a chunk of frame off. There isn't a lot of clearance, so if it becomes unbalanced the rack starts to move up an down. When most of the honey was out I tried to speed up and this didn't work; the load became unbalanced and the table started to creak. There is a maximum speed, but time will get them pretty dry. The unit rests on three substantial rubber feet. When the table began to walk the feet didn't budge. That was something I had feared. I tried to just pull the handle rather than exert contant pressure all the way around while cranking, this caused some slippage. The construction feels pretty substantial overall. So far so good, I think this may be a value pick.
I have a feeling their not shipping because they had problems with it. I have one and wish I hadn't bought it. The welds that hold the legs on broke, if you spin too fast the frames will fly out of position because of being unbalanced, and there isn't any clearence between the crank and the housing that holds the belt, so you really have to watch you don't get your fingers in it. The design is sound as far as it's ability to extract honey, just needs some more work on the manufacturing end of it. I remember it wasn't avilable for a year or so because they were working out some of the kinks, they should of worked out a few more. I like better bee, but this was a lemon.
I did trash one frame when I went too fast and she got a bit unbalanced. But the 2-frame tangetal(?) one rocked even harder when one frame emptied a little quicker than the other. Not a bad machine and there are bugs still but I have no problem using it again. Sorry I missed my week deadline.
I think BetterBee and/or Swienty would be more likely to get my money for centrifugally extracting top-bars if they just manufactured a convenient "cage." The cost-to-capacity ratio is too high and it sounds like the product quality is inconsistent.
Of course, they won't make a cage, because of a lack of standardization in TBHs; so I'll wind up going to my local metal fabricator...
I am researching this flat style extractor and I see many folks had troubles with it.
Also, I know a local beek who bought one and she doesn't want to lend it to me because it got broken the firs time she used it and she thinks it is just to fragile to travel.
SO, I now see the wisdom is the discussion about cages for holding the top bar frames.
Anybody make some?
Any sketches or drawings about how to do it?
How about some words to the wise if I should try it?
I'm not sure that Swienty is still interested in them. They have a photo on one web page but they don't seem to advertise/sell it...
To me, it always seemed like it might work for those that use TBH's.
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