Plans for a frame jig??

[mlewis48]

I have been looking for a frame jig that does not require the springs. I found 1 post, by searching, but it did not have any measurements. Looked simple and easy to build. I cant remember who posted it. I have 300 to assemble and at the rate that I am going, winter will be back before I am done. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Marcus

[Ross]

http://www.myoldtools.com/Bees/framejig/framejig.htm
Size it to fit your frames. They all vary a bit.

[Pete0]

We had an equipment workshop this past Saturday with the club and used both types of frames jigs. The jig on "myoldtools" worked great as well as the other that is posted in the plans section of Beesource. Just a note that the springs on the one we used Saturday were replaced by bungee cords. Cheaper to buy. The jig on Beesource is more complicated to make, more moving parts and if you start off with it upside down (yes, it can be done) you will lock the frames inside the jig. There was another model purchased off of Brushy Mountain, I believe, that we did not use so I have no comments to make about it.

Regardsless of which type you use it sure beats putting them together one at a time!

Pete0
Bena, VA

[Matt Guyrd]

I made a couple of frame jigs over the weekend. The design is a variation of Michael Bush's Hive body jig.

I built a finger-jointed box (similar to a hive body) only about 7" tall for a deep frame and about 4-1/2" tall for a medium frame. You could probably get away with one jig for both size frames (unless of course you use all mediums). I made the width of the box equal to the width of ten frames side-by-side. The inside length is equal to the length of a frame's bottom measurement. I used 3/4" pine, but any ole scraps would do.

Prior to glueing and nailing, I cut a 3/4" dado groove on each end of the two long sides of the box about 3/8" from the inside face of the short ends. That's a mouthful. I then milled a piece of pine to fit in the dado joints...I'll call it a backer-board for lack of better words. I think MB calls it a follower board. In his pictures, http://www.bushfarms.com/beesboxjig.htm, his follower board slides between two vertical pieces. My design eliminates the vertical pieces and just uses the dado groove.

I'll try to get a few pictures loaded to better clarify my above description.

Matt

[magnet-man]

I made mine after looking at Ross's page. Just size it to fit the type of frames you use. You will not regret making one. I regained my sanity after using it.

[Dubhe]

BTW Ross, I made one of your jigs & have been using it for the last 2 weeks. Can't thank you enough for sharing it.

[HVH]

If you are going to build a frame jig and see yourself doing many more frames in the future, you don't have to limit yourself to a 10 frame jig. Since I really don't like making frames, I reduced my time considerably by making a 12 foot long jig that holds 100 frames.

[mlewis48]

Thanks for the info on the frame jig. I will go out to the shop and make one of those first thing. Because, like I said before, by the time that I get the frames built, winter will be back. Last year, I started out with Pierco frames, from a kit, and only had to assemble a few frames. This year, I have 15 packages coming, and I wanted to save money, so out comes the wood frames. Again, thanks for the info, it helped a lot.
Marcus

[Ross]

It's pretty hard to flip a 100 frame jig. It's also hard store in the off season. You really can make it any size you want, but practicality says 10 frames works for most people. Remember, you can refill it and start another set immediately if you nail and glue.

[Flyman]

Ross, I made one of the jigs per your website and can't thank you enough!! It sure turned misery into almost fun. Haven't gone for a record yet, but I can load, glue, staple, turn over and staple the other side in about 6 minutes (10 frames). This seems to be optimum amount for me. I can pick the frames up all at once and deposit them in an empty super. Great jig.

[Matt Guyrd]

Some pics of my medium and deep frame jigs...similar to the MB hive body jig. In all fairness, I have not glued/nailed any frames in this jig yet. I'll report on it's performance over the weekend.

EDIT: Note that the frame orientation in the pictures will not work using this type of backer board (thanks to Ross for pointing out my over-sight) and that all frame ends must go the same way.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Image_296.jpg

I really like the ability to slide the backer-board out of the side of the jig in Ross' design and may retro fit my jigs to do the same. I think it will be easier to remove the frames after they are glues and nailed.

** I removed many of the pics in this post to eliminate any confusion. I made modifications to the jig to reflect more of Ross' design. See photos further down.

Matt

[Ross]

The only potential issue I see is the need to drive out the follower board that is covered by the top and bottom frame pieces. I would make this a loose fit and wax it well. I prefer to have all the frames facing the same way I think. It gives me room to nail the bottoms at an angle, and I only have to handle one type of frame member at a time. Your way I think I would be grabbing the wrong type every other time. A small issue I guess.

LARGE CORRECTION: You can't get the follower boards out at all with the frames alternating. Look at the picture. The follower board is trapped top and bottom by the top frame member ears. You must face the frames all the same way and drive the frames out in one direction, i.e bottoms have to slide through.

[Matt Guyrd]

DOH!

Thank you, Ross...that is a GOOD catch! I'll be placing frames in the same direction to mitigate that little glitch.

I'll bet you a pay check I wouldn't have figured that out until I glued and nailed the first ten up.

The backer board slide quite well (and is waxed). My only issue might be getting the backer board to slide out square.

All the more reason to retro-fit, I guess.

[Ross]

I've done the same thing to myself trying to develop a box jig. That glue is messier when you are knocking it apart.

[HVH]

It's pretty hard to flip a 100 frame jig. It's also hard store in the off season. You really can make it any size you want, but practicality says 10 frames works for most people. Remember, you can refill it and start another set immediately if you nail and glue.

Of course these are legitimate points. I use polyurethane glue (and staples) which take a lot of time to set up, so for me, I prefer to leave the frames in the jig until they are dry enough to hold their shape. I have made frames that were not planar in the past, and boy did that set me off.

[Matt Guyrd]

Ross...in your picture here, your frame ends look to fit (side-by-side) with quite a bit of play. Do you find that this causes a problem with the frames being glued/nailed out of plane?

This was my though when rotating every other frame end in my jig. If I retrofit my jig to have a sliding backer board (sliding out the side) like your design, I could still alternate the frames, but this might not be necessary if the frame pieces essentially come together in plane.

Thanks.
Matt

[Ross]

I don't find it a problem as long as they can't fall over. The top and bottom bars are fully indexed into the endbars by the ears. More critical is the snuggness of the fit between the slider and the side. That is what makes it standup at 90 degrees and create a square frame. You could even do a single frame with the same jig and it would be square. When you flip it over, all of the frames are sitting flat on the top bars, so they are very stable.

[joekurm]

If you can have soneone help you, it will go alot faster. A friend and I used 2 frame jigs and put together 200 frames in a couple hours. He would glue and assemble the top bars, then I would staple and flip. Then he would glue and assemble the bottom bars. I would staple them, remove from the jig and staple the side of the top bars. Then start over. He could fill the second jig while I was working on the first. It really worked well.

[Matt Guyrd]

Here is my jig after modifying the backer board to reflect Ross' design. I made 230 frames over the weekend and the jig worked great.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Image_298.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Image_301.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Image_315.jpg

Thanks again Ross, both for your design and for catching my initial design's flaw of rotating every other frame.

Matt

[wayacoyote]

After building the beesource one and then buying one from Kelley's, I looked at their weaknesses:
springs that need tention
wrestling with the spring tention

So I came up with a design very similar to ross'. In fact, the only thing different is that I used 2 parallel dowels (3/4inch) in place of each 1x2 Ross used to hold the endbars up. My father built the jig and glued the 2 dowels at each end together with an endcap of wood so they are removed and inserted simultaniously at each end.

A 1x2 would be cheaper than 4 dowels. And since they are otherwise identical, I can say that I really like this design over the ones with springs. I haven't built one for myself and I much more enjoy using Dad's than the Kelley's model that I have. Those springs are scary!