Api melter

[OXFORDBEE]

I've had to replace electrical components on a Thomas extractor and a cappings spinner over the last few years too. The best one was the extractor. The Thomas engineer couldn't diagnose it over the phone with me following his instructions. My neighbour, a Land Rover engineer, identified the failed component within about 30 seconds.

Chris,

What went wrong with the extractor..?

 

[Chris B]

What's the hourly throughput of that setup Murray and how much associated manpower?

My Thomas set-up will do 12 supers/hour with 1.5 to 2 people. That's a 10 minute spin and loading/unloading takes 10 minutes, with 44 frames per spin. As long as I can do spring extracting in 2 weeks, and likewise summer crop, then I'm happy enough. 1000 hives would be the capacity using 2 shifts a day.

I also have a Thomas chain uncapper sitting virtually unused in a corner. I'm sure it would be great if all the combs sat a few mm proud of the side bars, but reality is we end up doing so many manually that it wasn't worth it so we now do the lot manually. What would be great would be an uncapper that can do 44 frames in the time it takes the extractor to spin (10 mins.), thus saving the 0.5 to 1 person during extracting fortnights. Or 50p a super to put it another way. That would save me at least £500/year even at current level in an average year. Any suggestions anyone?

 

[Chris B]

Chris,

What went wrong with the extractor..?

It was a little blue box that was some sort of ttransformer. Thomas were sure it was the safety latch so sent me a spare.

On the cappings spinner it was the safety latch that basically disabled the machine. Luckily a had an unused spare from the extractor misdiagnosis.

 

[Into the lions den]

What's the hourly throughput of that setup Murray and how much associated manpower?

My Thomas set-up will do 12 supers/hour with 1.5 to 2 people. That's a 10 minute spin and loading/unloading takes 10 minutes, with 44 frames per spin. As long as I can do spring extracting in 2 weeks, and likewise summer crop, then I'm happy enough. 1000 hives would be the capacity using 2 shifts a day.

I also have a Thomas chain uncapper sitting virtually unused in a corner. I'm sure it would be great if all the combs sat a few mm proud of the side bars, but reality is we end up doing so many manually that it wasn't worth it so we now do the lot manually. What would be great would be an uncapper that can do 44 frames in the time it takes the extractor to spin (10 mins.), thus saving the 0.5 to 1 person during extracting fortnights. Or 50p a super to put it another way. That would save me at least £500/year even at current level in an average year. Any suggestions anyone?

*THEORETICAL* capacity is huge for liquid honey....but bear in mind we are mainly talking heather here as that is 60% or more of our annual harvest.

IF full Lang mediums it can do 24 boxes an hour........thus about a barrel. In reality, as frames are many times not full, or are in formats with lesser throughput (Its only 12 boxes an hour for BS deeps), a good days of work is 4 to 5 barrles on a single shift basis, which is 7 hours actual work accounting for breaks. 2 people per shift.

We sometimes work double shifts if needed, but apart from two weeks this year (mainly to avoid laying the staff off and thus get the season finished sooner)that has never been needed in the last four years.

The Dakota, working BS shallows lying lengthwise and enough to fill the conveyor, can go to 27 frames a minute. Maybe 10 is all we ever need. 24 deeps needed for a cysle, and 5 cycles an hour, is only 120 frames, and the maximum needed is 240.....so the uncapper is switched off most of the time. In the US ONE Dakota uncapper works fast enough to keep 4 120 frame extractors fed all the time.

If we have a bottleneck its the loosener, with a capacity of about 6 frames a minute, so its the only part than can be struggling on occasions to have enough frames ready for the next run of the extractor.

 

[Chris B]

Thanks Murray, sounds like your line is about twice as efficient as mine. I'm not surprised.
The difference is the bottleneck. For me it's uncapping with 1 person, or the extractor with 2 people working.

Of course this year excepted. No bottlenecks at all.

What does the Dakota cost? And do they take green shield stamps?

 

[Hivemaker.]

What does the Dakota cost?

Not way over priced if this is the same model.

http://www.dakotagunness.com/pricing.htm

 

[Hivemaker.]

Here is a video,not much detail shown though.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E38C5x8PSeI[/ame]

 

[Chris B]

I want one for Christmas.

Do they come with a young lady too?

 

[DanBee]

I've just spoken to Josephine at Swienty and she mentioned that Chris had been in touch regarding melters. I've explained what is happening and also that the BFA Bulk Purchase role is move to Rob Nickless in Oxfordshire, so she's aware that if another group buy of melters is organised it will be through Chris or Rob, rather than myself.

Chris - I wonder if you might want to work with Rob to advertise and coordinate a potential Apimelter group buy? I need to talk to Rob later today anyway so will mention it to him.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Thanks Dan, i had a reply from her as well today saying we would need a quantity of about ten units to get the same deal as before, but did not give me a price per unit, if Rob would like to take things from here as an official representative of the BFA (i do not want to step on any toes) or work with me then i would be more than happy, David is willing to advertise it in BFA media to open it up to all BFA members, once i have a total price including any delivery and taxes per unit that my be applicable, would it be an idea to PM my email address to you to pass on and perhaps he could contact me to discuss the way forward as we do not want two people duplicating the same things, Chris

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Hi all, just to keep you up to speed, i have been in contact with Rob the bulk purchase organizer for the BFA who will take over the negotiations with Swienty from this point onwards, we will need 10 -15 units to obtain a decent discount, apart from me and Kev is there anyone else who might be interested in purchasing an Api-melter if so can you make yourself known to either me or Rob many thanks Chris

 

[beebreeder]

Chris is David or Rob getting the apimelter in the next newsletter?%

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Yes Kev Rob has written a piece for the forthcoming bulletin which includes the Api-melters ,and i believe he also will ask for ideas for future bulk purchase`s for BFA members Chris

 

[Chrisfnvs]

I have had a lot of use from my Api-melter so far, it is amazing how much honey you can reclaim from the cappings, and how much easier and quicker it is to process the wax, very pleased with it so far i reckon it will pay for itself in a couple of seasons or so, the only problem is cleaning it out afterwards that`s a real pain but a small price to pay i would not be without it now . Chris

 

[beebreeder]

Totally agree Chris, I wonder how much honey from cappings has been lost in the past, the api-melter is an invaluable tool especially in an OSR area as there are always some that set before you can get to them, hopefully ideas for cleaning will be forthcoming, short of moving outside and steam cleaning, (electrics covered obviously)