[...] has anyone found a very successful glue recipe for attaching free comb onto top bars as I know bees wax alone just melts the comb and eventually they fall ...
I use two methods:
the first is better with small combs, and in warmer weather. Clear-off the bees (obviously), and cut the upper edge of the comb cleanly with a hot knife (knife just immersed in boiling water is ok). Then lie flat and place against the top bar. Pad the comb underneath if necessary to bring it in line with the top bar's centre. Then drip 'barely molten' wax from a turkey baster onto several places (say half-a-dozen) where the comb touches the top bar. One drip on each spot, no more. Leave for a couple of minutes, then repeat. It builds up wax like a candle in a bottle on a draughty night-club table.
Then - and this is the tricky part - carefully turn the top-bar/comb combo over, and repeat on the other side.
Having done those 'spot welds', it's then up to the bees to repair the comb fixings to their specification.
The second method - which is more suitable for large/ heavy combs, especially at this time of year - is to staple some lightweight square (say, 1") metal mesh to one side of a top bar. In several places, where the wires cross - snip the 'cross', so that you then have 4 wires which don't quite touch.
Lay the mesh down with the top bar uppermost. Bend each of these wires upwards, to form vertical 'spikes'. Repeat, so that you have half-a-dozen of these 'spike clusters' spread right across the mesh. Then, simply lay the comb down on top of these spikes, with the top edge close to, or touching the top bar, and press it down onto the spikes.
It should hold 'as is', but I prefer to staple another 'unspiked' mesh to the other side of the top bar, and loosely tie the two meshes together at their perimeters, with the comb sandwiched between them.
Regards
LJ
