My Poor Man's version of the Charlie Ant Proof Beehive Stand
Hi guys!
Ok, I had some old pipe laying around, some old wood obtained from the auction for dirt cheap, some bean can lids, some screws, nails, old primer and old paint. I did have to purchase the PVC plugs.
I modded a couple of things.
1. I was worried that a strong wind would blow the hives off of the PVC plugs. So I drilled 1.5" deep holes in the 3"x4" top rail pieces of wood and 3" holes in the 4"x6" foundation posts. Next, I inserted the pipe ends so the top rail piece of 3"x4" cannot move any direction, no matter how strong the wind becomes...oh, I also dropped in a 1/4 teaspoon of two part epoxy in each hole along with a 1" washer/electrical outlet slug hopefully to prevent the pipe from gouging a deeper hole in the wood.
2. Mounted the PVC plugs so no weight on em'. How? I drilled a 1/8" hole through the 1" steel pipe, inserted a nail, then, on top of the nail, I placed the lid of a bean can to support the 3" PVC plug.
3. I eliminated one extra piece of wood up top. I am not an engineer, but I was hoping those 3"x4" pieces are strong enough to hold the weight.
Can any engineer minded people here weigh in on this idea please?
4. I cut the 4"x6" posts a little higher because I wanted the pipes to have a minimum of 3 inches penetration into the wood for greater strength.
5. I painted the PVC plugs after reading about UV degradation of PVC material here:
http://www.jmeagle.com/pdfs/Technical Bulletins/TB10SunlightEffectsonPVC.pdf
6. I unintentionally made the top runners 15" width from side to side [mis-measurement on my part as I planned on 18" from side to side].
Will this be enough distance for safe placement of the hives?
7. I installed the PVC caps and top rails in a manner that they are removable. Now, if I ever need to repack the PVC caps with the high temp lube, I simply remove the top rails and the PVC caps and repack em'.
8. Finally, I used a fine sawdust/wood-glue combo from all the cuttings to make a type of wood glue filler for the holes that were drilled a tiny bit tooooo large. This resulted in rigid pipe fittings that will not budge at all.
With the exception of the PVC plugs, most of the material was only pennies [I picked up pallets of wood from the local auction for a fraction of Home Depot's cost].
So, there you have it. My Poor Man's version of the Charlie Ant Proof Beehive Stand! It is amazing what we can do with some old wood, old pipe, old paint and tin can lids. I think I will patent this, sell millions of them to professional beekeepers, and then retire peacefully in the Bahama's and live happily ever after.
Ok, just joking...
I would like to give a very big thank you to Charlie, and all the people here that posted their cool ideas and pictures. Without you, I would never had been able to make a decent beehive stand that shuts the door on the ants! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE HERE!!!
Comments, advice, constructive criticisms, and encouragements welcomed!