[Batman]

Bad, bad news, I bought brand new radial extractor, I started on the lowest setting on the speed control, never even made it to the next level, and it blew every frame apart.inch: Now I have frames with wires, but with only small bits of comb left. Didn't nearly have this problem last year with a tangential, I think I only destoryed 2 frames. What did I do wrong?

C2

 

[RayMarler]

Was it new tender wax? Sometimes it's better to leave them on the hives a little longer so the wax will get stronger maybe?

 

[rrussell6870]

Try digging a little deeper with the uncapping knife and starting the drum by hand before turning it on. I agree with the last answer as well, we have always tried to extract from 3 year old or older wax. The fresh stuff is pretty, but just too weak to handle the extractor. Better luck next time!

 

[brac]

we have always tried to extract from 3 year old or older wax. The fresh stuff is pretty, but just too weak to handle the extractor.

So how do you get the honey out of the new stuff? Or what do you do with it?

 

[Ethfol]

Disapointing, eh. My guess is that your frames were VERY full of honey and so the weight just pulled them apart. Happen's often with radial's. I agree with russel, dig that uncapping knife in a bit deeper. Keep enjoying your bee's and your new extractor. Never heard of having problem's with new wax...

 

[Chick]

Use #64 rubber bands around the comb. 4 per frame. Gives extra support to the comb.

 

[jerryn]

I remember years ago, seeing the results of loading a radial with top bars toward center, instead of top bars out-----not pretty. bee cells slant upward. top bar must be toward outside.

 

[fish_stix]

What brand extractor? We have 3 of the Dadant 20 frame ext. and don't have a problem and all of our extracted comb is brand new, mostly deeps. The extractor must be able to regulate down to about 60 rpm at the lowest setting. At this setting we get about 80% of the honey out, then start increasing speed in increments up to max of about 300 rpm. A typical cycle takes about 15 minutes. If you can't regulate to lower speeds call the manufacturer and explain.

 

[Fuzzy]

"Now I have frames with wires, but with only small bits of comb left."

It sounds like you might have been using natural comb that was not attached all the way around. Or perhaps thin foundation that was not sitting in some kind of groove.

I have had such problems with foundationless frames and no wire. But if you use plasticell and the proper frames you will never have this issue.

Fuzzy

 

[Batman]

It's a Mann Lake 18/9 extractor.
The frames wont fit backward from the looks of it, I know I loaded them top bars out. This was first year wax. I was thinking with the next round to try and avoid this disaster, I would put a 2nd rheostat in place so I can try and slow down the extractor even more.

C2

 

[Bee Draggle]

I use plastic foundation in my honey supers like Rite-Cell or Plasticell for the very problem you describe. With plastic foundation you have never have to worry about a blow out or babying the RPM.

 

[Troy]

I have done starter strips with wire and no foundation at all and not had mine blow out. I wonder what went wrong?

Did you use the crimp wire foundation? Was it tightly pinched in the frame when you first installed it. Maybe it did not get a good grip and then the whole comb just slipped out.

I had it happen once where I was trying to extract some wild frames that had no supports and once one of them busted loose inside the extractor it was like a bowling ball in there crashing through all the others. It only takes one broken piece to blast through the whole pack of frames.

 

[Batman]

I use plastic foundation in my honey supers like Rite-Cell or Plasticell for the very problem you describe. With plastic foundation you have never have to worry about a blow out or babying the RPM.

There was 1 plastic foundation frame in there...it blew out entirely and was pinned between the wall and the basket, it was like hitting the brakes cause it sure slowed down quickly.

C2

 

[rrussell6870]

Here is another option that you may want to try... Of course try digging in a little deeper with the knife (dont worry about the mess...the bees will clean it up for you , you may also want to try hand starting the drum and only bumping on the motor for about 3 seconds at a time... this should only have to be done a few times per load until the weight is down some. The idea is to get the rpms down as low as possible until the major weight is out of the frame... Then its business as usual and next year that wax will be harder and much easier to work with. I am not a fan of the plastic frames though. They just dont seem to last as long as the wooden ones do. We tried them out about 7 years back...bought about 20,000 of the deeps... worked fine the first year, but by the 2nd year they seemed to be getting brittle, and by the 3rd year we had to replace over half of them with wood, they have all been replaced long ago now. But of course our operation may be different than yours... we shake packages every year (which can put a hurting on any frame) and back when we bought the plastic frames we were extracting honey by the semi truck load. So I am not saying that they are no good...and they may have emproved them since we tried them...and our operation can be very tough on any equipment... just letting you know what my experience was.

 

[rrussell6870]

So how do you get the honey out of the new stuff? Or what do you do with it?

We color code each years new wax and leave new wax on for food stores over winter. Each year we cycle new wax onto 25% of our hives and rotate it as it ages. This keeps the cost under control in stead of rewaxing 100,000 frames every 4 years or so.

 

[jbeshearse]

There was 1 plastic foundation frame in there...it blew out entirely and was pinned between the wall and the basket, it was like hitting the brakes cause it sure slowed down quickly.

C2

Okay, I have to ask. Are you sure you had it turned down all the way and not up all the way? I would recommend opening the top with no frames in the extractor and turn it on. Run it back and forth from low to high to insure that low is indeed low and high is indeed high.

I extracted all new comb (this year) and only blew out 2 frames. I use medium equipment with wired foundation (hooks) and no horizontal wiring. Sounds to me like to much speed. So check low speed and high speed.

Other thing is if the temps were in the 90's, the wax may have been to warm for extraction. new wax is prone to failure if the temp is to close to its's softening point. But I still think the speed was to high since it blew out a plastic frame also.

jeb

 

[Batman]

Okay, I have to ask. Are you sure you had it turned down all the way and not up all the way? I would recommend opening the top with no frames in the extractor and turn it on. Run it back and forth from low to high to insure that low is indeed low and high is indeed high.

jeb

I guarantee that it WAS NOT on high. I test ran it before I put anything in. On high it is realy humming. Once the switch is thrown, if you turn the knob to the low side, you can actually turn it til it's stops. On the high end, there is no high, turn it a little more and it stops.

C2

 

[Countryboy]

Did you uncap the honey? What you are describing sounds like you are trying to extract uncapped frames of honey.

If you did uncap, what was your method of uncapping? Pricking the caps with a comb scratcher fork? Using a hot knife or a bread knife and cutting the cells down even with the top and bottom bars?

What temperature are your combs? Did you put them in the freezer to kill any SHB or wax moth larva, and then put them into the extractor right out of the freezer?

 

[Batman]

Yes the frames were uncapped, I used a electric uncapping knife. I uncapped just about every cell with the knife and those that were left were hit with a scratcher. No, they were not put in the freezer first. Since I did not get my temp guage out, I can not say anything more about the temp of the frames other that it was room temp which was about 88 degrees and dropping slowly.
Right now my thoughts are to cut deeper into the comb to relieve some of the weight and let that fall into the uncapping bin then strain that out and thinking that the extractor just doesn't go slow enough for the larger frames when they are full, so I will work on pushing the basket by hand and or letting the frames sit in the bin for a while to bleed out all they can before I start the electric motor.

C2

 

[Countryboy]

It would help greatly if you would go into great detail, rather than being vague. As best I can tell, you should not be having the problems you are having, so I am pretty sure you're leaving something out in your explanation.

It doesn't tell us much when you say it is first year wax. How old is first year wax? If the combs are less than a month old, the wax is so soft that you are asking for torn up comb if you try to extract it. What kind of foundation? Foundationless? If foundationless, how well was it attached to the frame?

How many frames in your box? 8 frames in a 10 frame box? 10 frames in a 10 frame box?

Right now my thoughts are to cut deeper into the comb to relieve some of the weight and let that fall into the uncapping bin then strain that out

I don't understand this. If you uncap it any deeper, you will have cut the comb from the frame. How deep did you uncap it to begin with? Did the uncapping knife slide against the top and bottom bars on the frame as you uncapped it?

Hmm. Once you loaded the basket, were the frames positioned like spokes in a wheel, or did you place the frames so their side was against the basket? A 9/18 is a radial extractor, but if you loaded it like a tangential, you would have problems...)