Help to build a TBH on short notice

[minz]

Guy came over with a bunch of wood for a TBH said his package was coming on Friday. Trying to make what the pictures look like from what he purchased. He had 2 1/2” boards I cut down to just under 1 ¼” (he did not understand kirf): Can I put spacers on the TB’s to get the distance up or will it be a propilis mess? He had ¼” square stock for his wedges, I cut a pair of 45 degree angles through the top bar and had him glue in the blocks in the grove. This will leave an open “V” in the ends: does that matter? How long should I cut the V blocks? Figure about ¼” on each end short to keep them from building to the wall. The follower boards I tried to center in the top bars, does it matter for bee space? How many TB’s do I need to have finished so that he can install his package, 5 maybe? I gave him enough Lang gear to put his package in if we do not get it done, is there a decent way to convert from a deep to a Lang if it was a short time and they are not well established. Sorry for the short notice questions, I am a guy that plans everything for a month and he is a bit more free wheeling.

[cpm]

I would want at least 8 bars for a package. They build out comb very quickly.

[Steven Ogborn]

You could let them fill up the Lang hive, then cut it out later when you get the TBH prepared.

[robherc]

I know I'm a bit late here, but what are his dimensions for the TBH? (i.e. length of bars & internal depth)

[minz]

From memory the top of the follower boards were 15” W, 5” at the base on a 1x12.The sides were supposed to be 12” long so I added some cedar to the fir using a biscuit jointer. He has still not come back but has told me he put the two packages into the 10 frame gear I gave him.

[robherc]

well, if he hadn't already installed them (I know, I was the late one there), I'd prob. recommend screwing a couple of the top bars into the frames of the Lang (right to the bottom of the frame top bars), and just putting comb guides on the top bars from the TBH...then when it comes time to transfer there'll be a bit less cutting to do, and the combs will already be attached to the TBH top bars. Might not be too late to do that with any frames that still have no drawn comb if you want to try it.

15" & 5" assuming true 30* sides would come out to 15" wide by 10" deep with at sqrt(125) hypotenuse, or 11.18" side wall (hypotenuse of a right triangle: a^2+b^2=c^2)...that's how I came up with the measurements for my TBH boxes (though I used longer, 19" top bars for compatibility's sake).

[Michael Bush]

This can be built in an afternoon... very few cuts.

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

[minz]

There was a ton of easier ways (and safer as well). It didn’t appear that the dimensions were as critical as he was making them out to be. If I have 11” wide lumber build it with that and move on. “just follow the plans” is easy if the lumber he purchased matched what he wanted built.