Which type of honey extractor???

[drex]

Extracting from frames? Thats old hat isnt it? Things have moved on and gone full circle. You could throw your frames away and go crush and strain with a press. Ferrari 5.5 litre works a treat.

I note, as per the name, that he runs top bar hives, so has no alternative. I take a little comb from my TBH and use for chunk honey, extracted from my nationals.

 

[YorkshireBees]

I note, as per the name, that he runs top bar hives, so has no alternative. I take a little comb from my TBH and use for chunk honey, extracted from my nationals.

Yes I saw that but the OP has Nationals in their profile. My problem is not with people that want to use crush+strain (or have to) but in the tone that implied it is the new 'norm' when afaik most people use an extractor.

 

[Mickyboy]

I have a manual extractor , does anyone no of a conversion kit I can but to make it motorised

Thx

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I have a manual extractor , does anyone no of a conversion kit I can but to make it motorised

Thx

Take off the handle and use an electric drill. Slowly!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Honestly?

Why is it that a few beekeepers will insist on pushing the 'crush and strain' method.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use it yourself but it doesn't take a mathematics genius to work out the amount of EXTRA work the bees have to do again to build all the lovely wax comb when you have taken it all away.

Some people will still prefer this method or cut comb but imo the majority of beekeepers will want to extra the honey from the comb and re-use it again next season or multiple times in a season!

 

[Mickyboy]

Take off the handle and use an electric drill. Slowly!

I was looking for something a little more advanced but I agree it would do the trick

Thx

 

[psafloyd]

I have some Warrés I didn't get started this year, but I will get them going next and will crush and strain, but I mainly want them for the wax.

 

[itma]

I was looking for something a little more advanced but I agree it would do the trick

Thx

It won't do the job.
Great likelihood of burning out the drill (they aren't designed for maximum torque with low speed), and, whatever happens, letting go of the drill would only make it worse …


You can get a properly-engineered drill-drive conversion for some extractors.
But there is rather more to it than just taking the handle off and attaching a drill …

 

[maddydog]

Extracted 7 full supers today using a cheapy 2 frame Thrones tangential. Getting on for purgatory! Converted my supers to 10 frames this year and I've found that the extra weight wrecks the lovely comb unless I spin really slowly.
Couple of questions:
1) I'm perfectly fit and able but just how hard to crank are the 9 frame manuals for 30+ supers a year?
2) Is a radial gentler on the combs than a tangential?

Thanks

 

[itma]

I'd say radial IS gentler on the combs than tangential ... hence why you should spin each frame 3x in a tangential, turning between spins, having stopped the first run before the comb fails ...
However, the thing that REALLY is hard on the combs is set honey (which doesn't get extracted). Spinning that harder and harder is likely to blow the comb, whatever type the extractor is.

Most largish extractors can be motorised in future, should you get rich (or tired!)

 

[wessexmario]

To anyone who has a tangential extractor, I'd suggest having critical look at the basket and experimenting with some frames to see if you can fit them in radially.

My extractor was designed & sold as a 4 frame tangential, but I've discovered that if I load them in a particular way, I can get 8 Manley frames in the cage radially without any modification. As well as being safer for the comb, spinning 8 radially is a lot quicker than 4 tangentially especially with all the frame turning involved. It's turned out to be as functional as extractors costing three times the price.

If you have the radial space, then maybe all it needs is a small modification to your basket such as a few loops of wire to hold the frames to enable you to spin radially.

 

[maddydog]

I'd say radial IS gentler on the combs than tangential ... hence why you should spin each frame 3x in a tangential, turning between spins, having stopped the first run before the comb fails ...
However, the thing that REALLY is hard on the combs is set honey (which doesn't get extracted). Spinning that harder and harder is likely to blow the comb, whatever type the extractor is.

Most largish extractors can be motorised in future, should you get rich (or tired!)

Thanks itma. As you say they only way to safely extract is by spinning the first run very slowly, flip them over and gently does it then return to the first side for s more vigorous spin. I've found if I remove the supers and extract on the same day even my osr is still liquid, I also hold them in a warming cabinet at 40c which helps enormously