Easy 5-frame nuc plans

[Pink Cow]

Hey Hambone - Ugly Works! You've got your proof right there in the picture. Nice going on that catch.

[oldenglish]

Last year I got a 10" table saw for $40 off craigslist, yesterday it got a new blade and I was able to get the 15/32 plywood for $12.47 at Home Depot.
I had them cut the sheets (2) in half as my shed is small, even then 4 x 4 was almost too big.
I am able to get 2 boxes out of each half, with a little left over. I made my first one last night, it took me a couple of hours just becuase I had to figure out which cuts to make and I also made up a little jig to hold the box while I glue and staple.
In future I will cut all the wood and then assemble last.
The box came out very nice and was maybe the easiest thing I have built yet.

[kathygibson]

Here's an endorsement. I have never built anything from scratch before. I needed a few nucs...saw the plan and how simple it appeared to be and decided to give it a shot. Went to Home Depot and got the plywood. It took me quite a while to sketch the plan onto the sheets, but finally got there. Cut the pieces and then assembled. I did adjust for medium frames (as I have all med. equipment). The only snag I ran into was my lack of planning for the cut width, which caused some of the pieces to not fit together as snugly as they should have..which was corrected with a little homemade wood bondo. Mine look a little like Hambones...but with a coat of paint....they'll be fine. Not bad for an absolute rookie. Thanks again for the plans!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kathy.e....16776541120418

[My-smokepole]

Ken No I don't have a photo. Basely it is one piece lay-ed on top of another. The strip lay-ed on top that is glue to the bottom piece off center. The shoe of the saw rides on the plywood with the upper 2" strip edge working as A straight edge. Make every thing bigger than the shoe of your saw mine run about 1.5 for the one way and 7.5 the other way. When you make your fist cut down your straight edge you will be cutting it to size for that saw. I use two spring clamp to hold the guild in place when cutting something. I hate posting photo and I know I would lose someone the first time. I hunted all over the net for a drawing or a copy of the show for you. I saw it first on Ask this old house with tom I think it was in 5 season show # 25 but I lost it and drove myself nuts looking

[Joseph Clemens]

Okay, I assembled four more 15/32" nucs and used 15/32" scrap plywood for the cleats. I have been converted, I will use plywood for future nuc cleats.

[johnhewitt09]

Here is a link for a circular saw guide. They work very well. I have one that is 4 foot long for cross cutting and one that is 8 foot long for ripping. Hope this helps.
http://wayneofthewoods.com/circular-...ing-guide.html

[Axtmann]

When I build 5 frame nuc boxes I always have a small compartment on the back for inside feeding. I make the box 10cm (3inch) longer and put a sheet inside, a little bit lower so the frames sit on. Advantage: no bees from other hives can rub food, easy to fill and check, no jars.

On this website is a picture from a 3 frame nuc box (mini plus). My have space for five frames and it works great.
http://www.tischlerei-herler.com/Son...nfertigung.htm

[My-smokepole]

John thanks that is the one but I just use 1/4" plywood.
David/toledo

[Hambone]

Posting this for beesource member Chick. (He is having a problem posting pics.)

I got 3 of these bait hives out on one sheet of 1/2" plywood. They are basically 8 frame hives. I settled on the size, as it gave about a 39.25 liter size box. USDA and Cornell University say that 40 liter is the optimum size. The box is 12" wide and 10 1/2" tall, inside, and standard length. They are strictly for swarm capture.

[BEES4U]

Okay, I assembled four more 15/32" nucs and used 15/32" scrap plywood for the cleats. I have been converted, I will use plywood for future nuc cleats.

You could rip some old supers or pallets for cleat stock
Ernie

[Joseph Clemens]

Ernie,
Thanks for that thought - I have several stacks of old supers that occasionally catch a stray swarm, but most of them are slowly weathering away. It shouldn't be too difficult to salvage the solid parts of them and cut them into 1x2 cleats. Sure beats watching them gradually rot away to nothing.

[Elwood]

Thanks for the post D

[11x]

just a update. i was woried about the lids comming off so my solution was i went to my local hardware and got some 1 1/2" hinges. i put 2 on a nuc. it works great. the lid hinges over real nice.

[Chick]

On the bait hives I made, the lids attach with wood screws. The hives will be out for awhile, and they are not for actual raising bees, so, the lid is attached securely.

[fuzzybeekeeper]

Ok, DCoates,

Somewhere in some little cubicle office some nerd ordering guy is sitting there wondering why all of a sudden there has been this big rush on 15/32 sheets of plywood!!!

I bought two sheets yesterday and built 4 boxes out of the first one last night while my wife was watching two episodes of Private Practice.

SO EASY!!!

And I have wanted some of these for so long but thought it would take a lot of money and time!

I'd like to know how many of these Nucs have been built this spring since you posted this thread!

Three thoughts.....

1) I bought #4 galvanized nails and had some splitting. I am going to try to find some #3 galvanized nails today.

2) I can see where (if you were going to build a BUNCH of these) it would make things so much easier to nail the sides to the bottom to build a box just a LITTLE smaller than the finished box so you could just lay everything on top of and to the side of the guide box to keep things square.

3) I set my table saw for the correct width and cut the entire sheet as a rip for the widths designated by Ben Brewcat in post #36 of this thread. Maybe my saw blade is a little wide giving me extra wide kerfs (see, I learned something! I didn't know what a kerf was), but I didn't have the 1 7/8 inch strip left over. I only had 1 3/4 and not even the little scrap he shows. It worked ok, though because the 1 7/8 strip has lots of room to give.

Fuzzybeekeeper

[mothergoosemagic]

FuzzyBeeKeeper, whenever I'm working with thin wood or ends, I ALWAYS pre-drill the hole, using a bit a little smaller than the nail. Takes a few more minutes, but it saves a lot of aggravation that way.

[Batman]

D,

All I can say is with as busy as I have been around here chasing swarms, I'm glad you posted these plans. Hell, I barely got them built, I didn't even get to paint them yet and now I have to build more, guess that's why the weather is crappy right now. Slow down the swarms til I get more equipment built, I have 2 hives, 2 nucs ready, but need frames, bought 85 week ago and just have not had the time to build them.
So thanks again, I'll raise my next pint in your honor.

Craig

[EastSideBuzz]

So where is the best place to put these traps.

At the Edge of a field or in the woods?

[D Coates]

I'm sincerely glad that those who have used these plans have enjoyed those nucs as much as I have. I felt the simplicity allowed for novice woodworkers like myself to inexpensively make them and modify them for their personal preferences.

I just transfered one of my overwintered nucs out of one of those into a drawn deep that has a full but queenless split underneath them for a newspaper combine over lunch. I've now got 8 of these nucs ready for swarm season as catch boxes, swarm traps, and queen mating nucs. I think I've got 14 of them now with 4 currently occupied. Here's hoping for a good swarm season (not out of my hives though)

Personally, I like to put them just inside brush lines. I like for them to be in the about 6 to 7 foot off the ground and in the shade the majority of the time

[Dubhe]

I think this thread has officially gone viral. Thanks for the plans D.