I just purchased frames from Mann Lake for the first time, and noticed the beveling at the top and bottom of the end bars, which creates 8 triangular pockets on the assembled frame. Does anyone know the purpose of these? I have not seen them on other frames that I have purchased. These pockets seem a good place for pests to hang out.
It's not a problem. It helps when you assemble the frame, and keeps you from splitting it if they're tight. In most cases the bees will propolize that.
The purpose is to help guide the top bar / bottom bar into the slot of the end bar. All the Mann Lake frames I have ever bought have been designed like this. I think the pocket is large enough to allow the bees to get to any pest that may try to hide in there so I don't think it is a problem. At least I have never seen anything hiding there.
It is hard to get a good crisp corner in the top bar rebates without putting a bit of tooth on the cutter to sever the end grain. If the corner is radiused it binds on the sidebar notch and encourages splitting. The corners of the cutter are the hardest to keep sharp: Good engineering! Go Mann Lake!
For the most part its for easy assembly. I use glue after assembly to make the frames stronger, and these pockets are great for putting glue into for strength.
I just assembled about 70 of these frames. I use glue during assembly, and I found that for the most part these pockets collect the excess glue and fill up. My one minor complaint of these medium frames is that medium wired and hooked foundation (both frames and foundation from Mann Lake) does not fit well into these wedge-top, grooved bottom frames. With all other brands of frames I have tried (Dadant, Kelley, Rossman) the foundation does fit. I needed to deepen the bottom bar groove to make the foundation fit.
The difficulty with hook wired foundation and wedge top - grooved bottom bars came up not too long ago on a thread. That combination is advised against in the catalogue I believe. Best used with slotted bottom bars is the gist of the suggestion. I just trim the wax a bit and nip the wires a tad with sidecutters so the foundation hangs from the top not stands on the bottom edge and puckering.
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