Extractor plans on beesource

[kyfarmer]

Has anyone ever built the extractor on here? Have any suggestions before I start building one? Anyone have food safety concerns with the plywood parts? Thanks

[PCM]

Haven't built one myself however;
The plans on page 9 say's to paint insides with 2 coats of Food Grade poly
I would use CamCoat, the honey isn't going to be stored in it.

If we only really knew how our food was realy prepared in public eating places

PCM

[kyfarmer]

Ok the plans show a routed grove for the side railes of a frame to rest in on the bottom of the cage in the extractor. There appears to be nothing that holds the other side at the top of the cage. Is this OK or does something need to be added there?

[The Honey House]

Nothing needed to support the top of the frame.
Centrifugal force keeps them in place.

[kyfarmer]

Ok So my build your own extractor is coming along with a few slight modifications from the plans on beesource. Mainly I am making the box in a octagon shape verses square. Does anyone know what the min, max, and ideal RPMs would need to be for a 20 frame radial extractor?? Thanks

[The Honey House]

I ran the ones I built with a Zero-Max adjustable drive.

http://www.zero-max.com/products/drives/drivesmain.asp

The top speed was 400 rpm.
Being adjustable you can bring the drum up from zero rpm to 400 rpm over the course of
a few minutes. Slowly increasing the RPM causes the frames to even out (honey-wise)
which reduces vibration, walking and blow-outs.

[PCM]

Speed Control;
In my research { still working on plans } I found that several people have used the motor and variable speed controls, off of a old excersize tread-mill.

I have seen them at Salvation Army for $5.00 & $10.00 of course not now when I want one.

PCM

[Fuzzy]

A word of caution on speed. The "G" force rises linearly with the diameter (radius) of the spinning body. However it rises exponentially with RPMs.

With a larger diameter (36in) the "G" force at 300 rpm is greater than 40. At 400 rpm it is about 75.

So, in short, larger should run much slower for the same effect.
Fuzzy