Building Commercial Migratory Pallets, with Pallet Plans

[DC Honeybees]

All:

I have seen a lot of requests on this forum for pallet plans. I have cobbled together historic info from BeeSource and some practical learning from beekeepers. The blog entry I put together (and the associated vid) are pretty dumbed down for amateur woodworking folks as I get lots of (and repeated) questions on dimensions/sequencing/etc. but here it is in all its glory:
http://dchoneybees.blogspot.com/2013...et-design.html

I await the comments from the gallery!

Jeff.

[sqkcrk]

Jeff, I'll have to go check my pallets, but I think the W clips should both face the same way.

[jim lyon]

Yeah thats pretty much the essence of them. We keep our 1" x 6" pieces back a ways so they "nest" inside of the front clips. By putting them all the way to the front it requires a 3rd one in the middle to alleviate stress on the 2"x4" stringers and can result in rocking on uneven terrain. The days of 408 doubles ended for us about the time fuel hit $3.00. If you are running doubles you are still legal going 4 high (just over 8') and then shorten your load as needed to stay under 80,000. If you are loading a step deck it costs you 500 lbs. or so but allows you to carry a bit more bulk. We kept unit shipping costs for Almonds low by mixing singles 2 to 1 with doubles and were able to average just over 600 hives per load.

[DC Honeybees]

Great scoop Jim on the 1 x6's. And an easy fix!

[sqkcrk]

Jim, 4 high dbls? Don't you mean 3 high?

[jim lyon]

Its close but I have done it a time or two. We just shipped out some loads on flatbeds that were 2 doubles and 3 singles which would be about 5" lower than 4 doubles. They always break out the ole tapemeasure on me and grumble a bit. The best way for doubles is a stepdeck with 3 up for 3 rows (leaving the front empty) then 4 high down until you max them out. But we havent hauled full loads of doubles in some time.

[sqkcrk]

I always run on a flatbed, loading dbls three high. When I ran six hives on wearhouse pallets I would load one layer of dbls, one layer of singles, and the third layer dbls. Seventeen rows of 6 pallets of 4 ways. 102 pallets 408 hives

[SippyBees]

Concerning commercial pallets... I have been thinking about something for a while for a smaller commercial situation. A pallet with 4 doubles pretty much requires a larger forklift to manage... ie: Swinger/ hummer/ bobcat... BUT.. a pallet with only 2 doubles I think could be managed by the boom loaders.. or a homemade forklift made from a larger lawn tractor. Just wondering if it would be worth the tradeoff to double the number of moves you must make but only need carry 1/3 of the weight of a large forklift, or a small forklift that might even ride in the back of a truck pulling a trailer with 50 hives behind it. Being able to place a pallet with 2 hives with a boom loader would even allow you to not carry the forklift.... such as for pollination services.
Any feedback/ comments?

[sqkcrk]

Boom loaders have no trouble w/ 4 way pallets. I've seen boom loaders handle 4 ways stacked pretty tall.

Think about resale value. Two hive pallets won't have much resale value.

[jim lyon]

Here are a couple loads that we did recently.
http://s470.beta.photobucket.com/use...tml?sort=6&o=0

[SippyBees]

Very nice Jim... if you ever need help, would love to be there when you load them... would love to see it done. FREE GRATA of course.
It's pics like those that inspire many like me... and I am glad there is folks like you to inspire me.
Thanks

[jim lyon]

The loading is the easy part, its grading them and switching everything on to freshly cleaned pallets that is a real p-i-t-a. Oh yeah and the red truck, after all my mad calculating, ended up 300 lbs. over......300 lbs.!!!! I finally got him legal but it was a hassle.

[Ian]

Concerning commercial pallets... a pallet with only 2 doubles I think could be managed by the boom loaders.
Any feedback/ comments?

Yes, that is what I use, a double pallet
I use a boom loader, an Ezyloader which max capacity is 650 lbs
a pallet of 4 double hives fed up is too much, a double hive is much easier to maneuver

[Ian]

wow Jim, that is one nice looking load

[sqkcrk]

Where did you get your nets Jim. Mine are stiff and heavy.

[jim lyon]

The truckers own both of those. I know that one came from here. http://cardinalcanvas.com/ Not sure about the other one, I am just remembering Alabama or maybe Georgia. The broker had me on the phone with a salesman and he was pricing them at around $600. They are both nice light ones with flaps on each end.

[DC Honeybees]

I love Beesource...posting something here evokes a feeding frenzy: 211 hits on the blog since last evening!

THANKS!
Jeff.

[Keith Jarrett]

Jimmy, that red truck looks nice. Don't know about the other one.

[jim lyon]

I would have had that guy pose in front of it but he dosent stand still long enough.

[tefer2]

Jim, how far back do you set your 1x6s? I've seen plans that had them set back 6"