Aliexpress stainless honey gates?

[JamezF]

I'm after a few stainless honey gates and can't really justify the cost. Not until it was suggested that I have a look on Aliexpress anyhow, where there appear to be quite a few at around £6 each compared with the £30+ that they seem to go for in the UK. Has anyone tried them? I've bought some stainless pipe fittings for the brewery from Aliexpress before and they seem to be perfectly fine, but there's always some degree of trepidation when ordering direct from China.

James

 

[The Poot]

I'm after a few stainless honey gates and can't really justify the cost. Not until it was suggested that I have a look on Aliexpress anyhow, where there appear to be quite a few at around £6 each compared with the £30+ that they seem to go for in the UK. Has anyone tried them? I've bought some stainless pipe fittings for the brewery from Aliexpress before and they seem to be perfectly fine, but there's always some degree of trepidation when ordering direct from China.

James

If they’re from China, they may not work well with real honey.

 

[JamezF]

If they’re from China, they may not work well with real honey.

There is that

James

 

[pargyle]

I'm after a few stainless honey gates and can't really justify the cost. Not until it was suggested that I have a look on Aliexpress anyhow, where there appear to be quite a few at around £6 each compared with the £30+ that they seem to go for in the UK. Has anyone tried them? I've bought some stainless pipe fittings for the brewery from Aliexpress before and they seem to be perfectly fine, but there's always some degree of trepidation when ordering direct from China.

James

I bought one a couple of years ago ... absolute rubbish. The sealing ring kept falling out and the gate was so poorly machined that we had to put it through the milling machine as it leaked like a seive ...

The decent ones are expensive though .. I've tended to buy the better quality plastic ones since then which do the job but are a fraction of the stainless price.

 

[JamezF]

I thought I'd give one a try, since it was only £6 (cheaper than a decent plastic one, even). It arrived today. The body of the valve is quite nicely produced. The actual "gate" however is utter rubbish. Just stamped out of a piece of 2mm stainless sheet. They've not even bothered to clean up the raw edges. In fact I'd say it's not even consistent with the images on the website which show what appears to be a much thicker gate.

I'll clean it up and give it a go with a bucket full of water. It might still be useful and it can't be worse than some of the plastic ones I have.

James

 

[pargyle]

I thought I'd give one a try, since it was only £6 (cheaper than a decent plastic one, even). It arrived today. The body of the valve is quite nicely produced. The actual "gate" however is utter rubbish. Just stamped out of a piece of 2mm stainless sheet. They've not even bothered to clean up the raw edges. In fact I'd say it's not even consistent with the images on the website which show what appears to be a much thicker gate.

I'll clean it up and give it a go with a bucket full of water. It might still be useful and it can't be worse than some of the plastic ones I have.

James

I did warn you ...I had to put the one I got through the milling machine to flatten it and even then the seal was useless ...

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I bought one a couple of years ago ... absolute rubbish. The sealing ring kept falling out and the gate was so poorly machined that we had to put it through the milling machine as it leaked like a seive ...

The decent ones are expensive though .. I've tended to buy the better quality plastic ones since then which do the job but are a fraction of the stainless price.

Milling Machine? Oh how I wish - it would be a flat file followed by a sheet of glass and grinding paste for me nowadays.

 

[Garry R]

I thought I'd give one a try, since it was only £6 (cheaper than a decent plastic one, even). It arrived today. The body of the valve is quite nicely produced. The actual "gate" however is utter rubbish. Just stamped out of a piece of 2mm stainless sheet. They've not even bothered to clean up the raw edges. In fact I'd say it's not even consistent with the images on the website which show what appears to be a much thicker gate.

I'll clean it up and give it a go with a bucket full of water. It might still be useful and it can't be worse than some of the plastic ones I have.

James

Have a mop and bucket ready for the test run..................

 

[pargyle]

Milling Machine? Oh how I wish - it would be a flat file followed by a sheet of glass and grinding paste for me nowadays.

Son is into his engineering...mill, lathe, metal bandsaw, pillar drill, 3d printer and now a 3d router table under construction... I'm not alloweed near any of them...but he will occasionally help out.

 

[JamezF]

Son is into his engineering...mill, lathe, metal bandsaw, pillar drill, 3d printer and now a 3d router table under construction... I'm not alloweed near any of them...but he will occasionally help out.

Is it a 3-axis or 4-axis router table? The one we have at work is only 3-axis, but I've seen DIY 4-axis versions that really look quite cool and have been tempted to build one myself, in my copious free time. I'm sure that somewhere online I saw plans for cutting a suitable last and wooden soles for clogs using one which sounds quite fun.

(The more impressive thing about the work one is that it can do stuff like change bits all by itself and has a huge vacuum system in the bed, to suck sheet materials completely flat during cutting.)

James

 

[pargyle]

Is it a 3-axis or 4-axis router table? The one we have at work is only 3-axis, but I've seen DIY 4-axis versions that really look quite cool and have been tempted to build one myself, in my copious free time. I'm sure that somewhere online I saw plans for cutting a suitable last and wooden soles for clogs using one which sounds quite fun.

(The more impressive thing about the work one is that it can do stuff like change bits all by itself and has a huge vacuum system in the bed, to suck sheet materials completely flat during cutting.)

James

It's a 4 axis ... it's been in the making for about 18 months now .. he's been collecting, making and printing all the bits (it's not a kit) and at last it's starting to take shape ...