Poor Man's Extractor

[gun4hire]

Dadant is out of the cheap plastic one..I would bet it's biggest problem is..it is cheap and it is plastic

I am in the same boat...I will have 2 hive body size supers that need extracting..I want to keep the comb for brood use since I will be expanding to more hives next year. I can ONLY get what I want by using an extractor

I may buy a local used one if it is in good shape..or I am looking at the mann lake 18/9 radial.. it is 450$ for a cranker that can be updated to power for about 450$ more (seems a liitle high)

I hope I can get my bees to survive the winter or I may have an extractor for sale next year

gun--who loves to get involved in expensive hobbies--

[TeJay]

We just purchased a plastic extractor from Glory Bee for $113.00, the only problem we see with it, besides the fact that they tend to travel alot, is that the gears are plastic, we plan on replacing those with something that will last longer....Oh, another issue is the postion of the screws holding the top assembly...they were put in backwards. Taking apart and putting back together after cleaning will be a bear.

As firsttime beekeepers many lessons have been learned.

[Troutsqueezer]

I go with the notion that once the bees decide they need more comb they can build it in very little time with little or no impact on their resources. Unless one has a major bee operation and wishes to maximize harvest in the shortest possible time, you'll do just fine using a pocket knife, as has been brought up here before.

[fjblair]

I go with the notion that once the bees decide they need more comb they can build it in very little time with little or no impact on their resources. Unless one has a major bee operation and wishes to maximize harvest in the shortest possible time, you'll do just fine using a pocket knife, as has been brought up here before.

Interesting. I thought having using drawn comb in the honey supers was preferred. I also thought it was handy to have some frames with drawn comb available for general purposes(splits, swarms etc), but these need to be mediums/deeps and my honey supers are shallows.

[wraithwynd]

I know why you want to save the comb, when bees make wax, their honey production goes down. The bees must eat 10 kg of honey to produce 1 kg of beeswax.

You can use a spoon - its time consuming the more combs you have the more work it is. It is far more efficient then crushing and straining honey comb.

How Much of a DYIer are you?

A hand crank extractor is basically a drum with a rod inserted through it with a crank at one end. Two comb frames are used on either side as a counter balance and you crank the crank spinning the combs.

It is, in theory, a relatively simple process.

Dairies sell used 55 gallon plastic milk barrels, a few years ago I bought 5 at $10.00 each. They are easy to cut. Frame work and crank could be out of galvanized or copper piping. Galvanized is better because you can make it out of joints and threads - allowing you to easily take it apart so you can boil the bits for sterilization.

I would assume that if you seek to make something simple and relatively slow (not wanting to spin it fast) that it would be cheaper than buying one of the pretty extractors

[J-Bees]

I just built my own extractor (not finished, lacking a motor and control) My total cost was about $30. The paint cost me the most. I used the beesource plans, and some scrap wood from a cabinet shop. I have a friend that is getting me a treadmill motor.

This morning I was looking thru Dadant's Cat and saw an imported plastic extractor $115.95 42lbs., pg. 65. I don't know how well it would hold up.

It works quite nicely unless you have small frames like I do, they fell thru the bottom while cranking.

DID U C the look on my face at the time:0}

[Troutsqueezer]

I suppose I should have posted this link to Michael's web site in my first response. This concerns the production of wax versus honey and using an extractor.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesharvest.htm

[BeeRay]

Figure 3. of this page must be one of the Mulligan extractors Tecumseh mentioned: http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/...sts/g07600.htm

I love the simplicity. But one frame at a time would be very slow.

[dcross]

I can practically feel it slamming into my kneecap...

[The Honey House]

and the blisters on my hands......

[fjblair]

><I know why you want to save the comb, when bees make wax, their honey production goes down. The bees must eat 10 kg of honey to produce 1 kg of beeswax.>>

That's what I thought but the Bushfarms link makes me wonder

<<You can use a spoon - its time consuming the more combs you have the more work it is. It is far more efficient then crushing and straining honey comb.>>

A spoon?


Thanks for the input

['Light']

I can sympathise, and was struck with this belter of a idea when I first was gathering the much needed Bee Equipement. The Thrift store where I work have a treasure load of bits and just the magic of imagination transform the ordinary into the extraudinary!

Honey comb, I was told needs to be frozen first, in order to make it easier to be removed from the frame. Kills of all the mites and bugs etc as well. Once frozen, it comes away from the comb in a easy chunk - so I am told. You can then break the chunks into managable sizes, and here is where the going gets good.
Found one of these in the store - and grabbed it.
http://www.buzzillions.com/dz_189836...lander_reviews

All that is needed is a large bowl underneath with a lip, that the Spinner can sit comforatbly on. Break the comb in pieces that will fit inside, and spin the Salad spinner fast. It has the same effect as a expensive honey spinner...but a LOT cheaper - and the honey drains into the bowl below.

I am also told that if you wet down the strainers first with water, the wet surface allows the honey to smooth glide over easier.

Have to admit, I still have to get too this stage first, but so far the idea is sound and on que to the physics of spinning etc.

'Light'

[Troutsqueezer]

>I am also told that if you wet down the strainers first with water, the wet surface allows the honey to smooth glide over easier.

The bees do a lot of fanning to reduce the water content of honey. You don't want to add it back in unless you want to see it ferment.

['Light']

Thanks, I appreciate that, however it is not to make the area sopping wet, just to have some light spray of water on the seive part/strainer is what was advised.

I appreciate the dynamics of watered Honey - make Meade three times a year...but always had to buy the stuff by the Galleons to get going. Now I can have some of mine own hopefully next year.

'Light'

[MichelinMan]

sorry mistake

[tedstruk]

I am building mine with "expensive" pieces of scrap food grade plastic countertop left over from a job I did. I cut 3, 4" lengths with 120 degree angles on the ends to hold wire racks I bought at the kitchen connection store down town in an triangle cone.
The racks are just the right size to hold 1 brood frame each. They are made to hold large cake pans off the counter when they are hot and have these ears that stick out on the sides for the legs the rack sits on.
I plan on mounting 3 of these on the outside of the triangle with the top tipped out about an inch from the bottom.
I salvaged an old refrigerator door pin for the bottom centering mechanism, and I am looking for a suitable round or triangular bottom for the cage. The frames will hang on the outside of the cage, via a string that slips through the rack legs and ties down the frames to the racks.
I found a greek storage container that has been converted to water barrel but it kind of smells of peppers, I think it was a greek pepper barrel. I am planning on using it for the barrel, but I will have to cut it off, and build some kind of a cover and power it with an electric typewriter motor...or a treadmill motor(the treadmill motor is large and heavy...I wanted something not so heavy) HMM wonder if its gonna work!!!!!