Extractors

[farbee]

Its time I got my own extractor. Just a few questions:

1. Do these every go on sale?

2. Does anybody know anything about Orient Bee Supplies. Bee hive Supplies has a manual 9 frame radial by them which looks good value at £350 but I am concerned about its quality.

 

[VEG]

check out maizemoores sale prices

 

[farbee]

Brill. Thanks

 

[REDWOOD]

What isn't made in china, quality is never as good these days and probably will only last a couple of years.

 

[drstitson]

"What isn't made in china"

giordan.

 

[dickndoris]

"What isn't made in china"

giordan.

I have an 8 frame radial Giordan. Made in Italy I believe? A 15 quid 300w drill from aldi to drive it. Very nice piece of kit and well built. 8 super frames or 2 brood inc 12x14.
I spent a lot of time looking up/researching extractors and this came out value for money the best by a long shot. There might be better now maybe?
Can highly recommend after two seasons use.

 

[beebopalula]

I have an 8 frame radial Giordan. Made in Italy I believe? A 15 quid 300w drill from aldi to drive it. Very nice piece of kit and well built. 8 super frames or 2 brood inc 12x14.
I spent a lot of time looking up/researching extractors and this came out value for money the best by a long shot. There might be better now maybe?
Can highly recommend after two seasons use.

Ditto.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have an 8 frame radial Giordan. Made in Italy I believe? A 15 quid 300w drill from aldi to drive it. Very nice piece of kit and well built. 8 super frames or 2 brood inc 12x14.
I spent a lot of time looking up/researching extractors and this came out value for money the best by a long shot. There might be better now maybe?
Can highly recommend after two seasons use.

Ditto Ditto

 

[drstitson]

yep - made in Italy.
well made.

just don't leave ordering late in season - as for most Italian businesses they shut for the duration of high summer (4-5 weeks).

 

[itma]

The peak extracting season is now passed.

Not a usual time to go shopping.

Some suppliers offer some extractors in their winter sales. But many (most?) don't.
However, its probably a very good time to ask suppliers about any "ex-demo" or "shop stock" stuff that they might want to turn into cash in the bank at this time of the season.
And you can ask them to take your email address and let you know if anything comes up for disposal or customers are upgrading and want to rehome their old one ...
Once you know what you are looking for, put the word around!

But generally, good extractors hold their value very well - so don't expect any give-away bargains.

 

[Davelin]

Another vote for Giordan.

 

[REDWOOD]

Show me the sticker made in Italy then I will believe it

 

[itma]

Show me the sticker made in Italy then I will believe it

You shouldn't.
A company I worked for a few years ago made pagers ('bleeps'). One model had two items attached in the UK factory -- the pocket clip and the "Made in England" label. Really!

However, given Giordan's responsiveness to customisation requests (making specials to order - at least the cages), and their reputed factory (rather than company) summer shutdown, I don't doubt that the things really are made in Italy. Though where they get their steel from could be a very different matter.
Italy still does have a manufacturing industry, whereas ours ... ?

 

[drstitson]

they make to order AND happily custom build. can't imagine that being possible at a distance and with shipping delays.

remember they are servicing a country where there are a lot of food prep installations going on - so being able to make what customers need for their cheese or wine making is crucial.

and the yellow flames (finance police) would not take kindly to fraud of that type anyway.

as above - northern italy has a proud manufacturing tradition which still persists unlike the UK. think beretta and the other shotgun manufacturers - world leaders in using CNC based technologies and manipulating/modifying properties of steel; in fact their old generation cast off tooling is now used by turkish companies to produce high quality economy alternatives. and in my neck of the woods - lamborghini, maserati, ferrari, ducati.....

actual steel used may not be local of course.

 

[Tom Bick]

Another good extractor made in Italy is SAF.

I helped out with some people extracting this year and the extractor was a SAF and the quality was superb. One bit I liked was the extractor fitted straight onto a 100lb settling tank and strainer.

I liked it so much I am going to get their 9 frame manual radial for next year. There is one supplier in the uk from what I have found.

 

[drstitson]

yep - agree those SAF extractor, strainer, tank combos do look good.

I'm really happy with my 12 frame LS/dadant drill driven model - will take both super and brood frames radially and jumbos tangentially. 2 years back was €480 euro including delivery.

 

[Erichalfbee]

They do look quite neat

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes they do look great and you have to hand it to the Italians they know how to make things look great and the quality was first class to.

The one thing was the handle was not fixed straight to the drive shaft but has a sort of gearing so if you let go of the handle it would not spin out of control. This gearing at first could be a bit awkward to as you need a bit of pressure to keep the gears intact but no great problem and reminded me of my Austin 7 starting handle.

 

[Norvic_chris]

I have an 8 frame radial Giordan. Made in Italy I believe? A 15 quid 300w drill from aldi to drive it. Very nice piece of kit and well built. 8 super frames or 2 brood inc 12x14.
I spent a lot of time looking up/researching extractors and this came out value for money the best by a long shot. There might be better now maybe?
Can highly recommend after two seasons use.

Without wishing to be repetitive: Ditto, ditto, ditto... Giordan 8-frame radial.

I fixed up a broken W1ckes 810W drill, using a £2 voltage controller from China to replace the broken trigger and switch and it works incredibly well. c£400 I think. Not as cheap as the current sale prices from Mais....'s for the lower-end models but it's radial and electric(ish), so I think superior and SO much quicker and simpler than a manual or tangential.

 

[Rob55]

I have a SAF, bought it second hand off gumtree and hadn't much of a clue what I was buying, glad to hear positive reports. I thought the settling tank was very handy