[Biermann]

Hello All,

Beeswax and what to do with it.

After collecting beeswax for four years and rendering it several times through my improved solar wax melter gave me the idea to build a wax melter to draw candles and fill forms for candles. (The improvement on my solar melter is a 170 watt heat lamp under the sloped tray with temperature control so I can melt wax inside when the sun is not powerful enough in spring or fall to render my beeswax).

So, here it is, all stainless steel, heated with 700 watt electric heat element, controlled by a MYPIN TA4-RNR. The heat element is in a 2" water jacket. The wax can also be drain in to forms with a 1/4" drain valve. First day to make candles was yesterday and all my wax from four years has been spend. Time to acquire more beeswax!

Lessons learned:

Do this in your workshop or garage if you like to keep the peace with your better half. She gets the candles in my household, so she was forgiving for the mess I made, cause beeswax is a dirt product, sticky as hell's fire and unforgiving.

Trim the candles when they are warm, don't wait until the next morning

Always: have more wick then you think you may need and have more beeswax

Now I ordered silicon forms to make small candles and tealights, the chief of the house just loves them and it will reflect good on me (I hope).

I use 73-75°C (163-167°F), but would like to hear if I can go higher?




Question: why do some pictures align properly in my pc, but rotated left 90° when I post them?

 

[JWPalmer]

Biermann, 160°-165° is optimal. The wax shrinks alot as it cools, so you want it to be as cool as possible so the bottoms don't sink. I do votives, tapers, and jar candles. Many commercial apiaries sell beeswax. You have to go to their websites to order it. I bought 15# of solar melted wax from Harbo Bees in Louisiana at $6/# plus shipping. Needed a final straining and it was ready to pour.



These are some of the candles I made last week.

 

[Bee Arthur]

There are probably a bunch of how-to videos out there about making beeswax candles. Here's mine: https://youtu.be/SE2GMfd6qbA

You definitely made your candles rustic by dipping them--something I need to try myself at some point.

* I'm not sure why your pictures are rotated, unless the forum automatically does that with portrait-oriented pictures.

 

[Beecraze]

That is a nice melting tank. Would you be willing to give us some details on dims., where to purchase heating element & how it is all assembled. Thanks

 

[Biermann]

Hello, drawing candles was a request by my wife, she always says that they burn longer, better and are nicer and she is always right.

Now, not to be stuck on one road, I sketched this out to also have a valve to fill forms, too. To the plan, it was relative simple, my steel guy had instructions to roll a 6" tube from 14 or 16 gauge SS, 10" long and one tube from the same material, but 14" long and 10" diameter, make a disc with 6" diameter and one with 10" to close the bottoms. In addition a donut to fit on the top to keep the inner pot suspended in the outer. A 1/4" pipe to lead the liquid wax from the inner pot to the valve on the outside to drain the wax or fill forms.

Now, when I picked the material up to weld it all together, the good steel master was smart and found pipe with about 6" diameter and one with 10". This all was smart from his point and saved him the rolling time, but it made this monster very heavy. One other issue is any weight has to be heated by the heat source, using more energy then if the unit was from thinner material.

The outer mantle has a 1/2" NPT coupler welded 1 1/2' from the bottom for a 700 watt 110 VAC heat element and one 1/4" coupler 6" up for a thermocouple. All was welded together and the top has a 1 1/2' hole to fill the mantle with water. I use a MYPIN TA4-RNR for the temperature control. The heating goes slow because of the mass, but it works great. It helps to pre-melt the wax in a larger container and refill as needed. This all was a prototype and I still would prefer to go with thinner material and perhaps a 1000 watt element, but then the MYPIN would need to operate a relay to switch the higher load. The heat element was in my odds & ends box, the MYPIN TA4-RNR I use for other products, but eBay, Amazon etc. have the components from time to time.

JoergK.

 

[Beecraze]

Thanks for the info.

 

[blackowl]

Wonderful, let me also try this at home. This so DIY!``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````