Uncapping machine.

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No sorry Hivemaker i have no experience of this one but it looks the part, shame the clip does not show it actually in use, or is there a reason why not i wonder ?, i did see a top of the range one in use from Thomas recently, very good but a few frames got caught up in the machinery when they were not feed in right !! which slows things down a bit and a fiddle to remove the damaged frame, i am still looking for something myself, Chris
 
is that 6700 euros?


Well out my price range will need to stick to a bread knife for a few years until I can afford one of those.
 
I have experience with the 24 frame tangential spinner. Perfectly functional but very cheaply made. Material is very thin and the machine almost shakes itself to pieces.

From looking at the pictures i fear this may be the case here. I think i could make a more sturdy frame out of matchsticks.

If you're thinking about a paradise one well then think again. I wish not to go into what ongoing disputes we are having with them at the moment, but do yourself a favor and look elsewhere...

... so back to the Lyson.

Pretty cheap, could be worth a shot. Looks top heavy to me.
 
One of the common things that came out in conversation on the day Chris was talking about was that the wrong machine ate the frame as well as uncapping the honey, but no manufacturer was mentioned, one guy has a brush uncapper, works well but it neededs a splash guard as the brushes tend to throw the cappings around
 
I could not make out whether it was operator error or the machine that was chomping the occasional frame Kev, i am still thinking brushes of some kind would suite my operation better, being a bit more forgiving with my uneven frames :spy:
 
I could not make out whether it was operator error or the machine that was chomping the occasional frame

I missed the demonstration day but have a Swienty/Fritz flail uncapper that will chomp sidebars with the metal flail blades. The solution was simple (when I asked - didn't work it out myself!) and was to use frame wire to wire back the specific blades that contact the sidebars. Given that changing frame types is a spanner job to reset the frame guides anyway, adding and removing some twists of wire is not really much extra effort or time.
 
I'ver used one that looks very similar. Hated it. Ripped up combs and shaved frames. Had to be adjusted to accept each different size and style frames.

Have a Dakota Gunness chain uncapper now. Works like a charm. Uncaps any size or style frame faster than one person can load the extractor. Never eats frames like my old one. Bought it in the 80s and nothing has gone wrong in all these years. I'll never have another.
 
I have a Thomas flail uncapper, virtually unused as hoffmans just get minced. (I'm phasing out the hoffmans in supers so might actually get round to using this one day).
Now also have a brush uncapper - okay but takes a bit of getting used to and doesn't actually save any time over a simple electric knife.
Converting time to money, I reckon it costs about 8p to uncap a frame manually. So the Lyson machine pays for itself by the time it's done about 10,000 supers - how long is the guarantee Pete?
 
Have a Dakota Gunness chain uncapper now. Works like a charm. Uncaps any size or style frame faster than one person can load the extractor. Never eats frames like my old one. Bought it in the 80s and nothing has gone wrong in all these years. I'll never have another.

Murray McGregor has one and speaks similarly highly of it.

HM - have a chat to John Mellis up in Dumfries (see BFA Yearbook), he has tried various and now has a Dakota Gunness or similar, although he mentioned that it is very noisy. He very kindly lent me a Thomas vibrating blade uncapper to try one year when I was deciding on kit.

I still find that there is a degree of manual finishing required on some uncapped frames when they are not fully drawn, so still have the hot tray and uncapping knife on standby.
 
Murray McGregor has one and speaks similarly highly of it.

HM - have a chat to John Mellis up in Dumfries (see BFA Yearbook), he has tried various and now has a Dakota Gunness or similar, although he mentioned that it is very noisy.

Thank you, Dan... have just been having a good chat with John, i think i may be going down the Dakota Gunness route of decapping machine, sounds like the ideal machine.
 
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