Brass Grommets

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Hachi

Queen Bee
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
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Location
Wiltshire
Hive Type
Commercial
Number of Hives
Damn! A lot more than I ever thought I'd have
I've just been quoted 12p a sheet extra for wired Vs plain wax sheets and at that price I'll do it myself thanks.

Has anyone got a manf or bulk supplier I can source the brass grommets needed to wire your own foundation in the side bars please? Dr Coulson on the Bee Craft Magazine on YouTube mentions he found a supplier.
 
I've just been quoted 12p a sheet extra for wired Vs plain wax sheets and at that price I'll do it myself thanks.

Has anyone got a manf or bulk supplier I can source the brass grommets needed to wire your own foundation in the side bars please? Dr Coulson on the Bee Craft Magazine on YouTube mentions he found a supplier.
I get the Chinese ones from eBay, cheap and they do the job
 
I get the Chinese ones from eBay, cheap and they do the job

Which ones please MBC have you a link or size please?
 
Thanks thats great
 
Questions, questions. Without a hole-punch, what size holes do I need to drill for fitting the eyelets? I'm wondering what's the easiest way to get accurate spacing for the holes?....two to each side? I was thinking of using a spare side-bar as a template once I've decided on the spacing. Do most people bother with making a pre-tensioning jig to bend in the side-bars a little when threading the wire or will they be tight enough with a pair of pliers as I'm only on National deep frames?

If anyone can help with any answers I will be extremely grateful.
 
Questions, questions. Without a hole-punch, what size holes do I need to drill for fitting the eyelets? I'm wondering what's the easiest way to get accurate spacing for the holes?....two to each side? I was thinking of using a spare side-bar as a template once I've decided on the spacing. Do most people bother with making a pre-tensioning jig to bend in the side-bars a little when threading the wire or will they be tight enough with a pair of pliers as I'm only on National deep frames?

In a punching system the eyelets are pushed in by the punch; the hole is only for the wire. This leaves the eyelets in the frame should you ever need to rewire the frame, rather than loose and dropping out if not held in by the wire. I use a punch, and the hole rod in it is (by my rough reckoning) about 1.5mm diameter. You could push eyelets in by hand if you wanted to.

A simple jig for spacing is fine; make sure it's very quick per side bar - you don't want to be adjusting it for different ends/wires too often when making up lots of frames. If you need to do all of one hole before resetting the jig for the next it gets in the way of having a little "production line" for the frames. My punch has a very simple bar with locking collars which acts as a jig. In any case the spacing really doesn't need to be particularly accurate.

I use 14x12 frames, I wire 4 passes because I can have two spacings on the collar bar on the jig permanently set, and I make two holes from each end of the sidebar. The bees don't seem to care, I'm foundationless these days, and no wiring is also strong enough, but with the 4 passes I've spun 14x12s tangentially and had no issues - the only frames I've had burst were pre-wired foundation I bought in.

I've not seen anyone pre-tensioning the frame. I use a wire tensioner once the wire is in, which can easily be used to add enough to have a nice "twang" to the wire, or just as easily (been there got the t-shirt) even over-tension enough to warp the frame. But tensioning the wire also seems mainly for the beekeeper's benefit - if you embed foundation the wire doesn't need to be under tension to hold it in place, and if you don't use foundation the bees will build straight down and incorporate whatever is there, so as long as you've pulled the wire straight when feeding it through it will do the job.

Both the punch and the tensioner are really simple and pretty cheap tools and make the job relatively quick and easy. You could reinvent other ways of doing it, but I'm not sure why you would want to.
 

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