Clearer boards made cheap.

[Poly Hive]

That rim worries me, it's a designed in weak point. No Langstroth hive bar their poly has it so why oh why did they think it a good idea.

PH

 

[Nic Rhodes]

505x418mm

Thanks, I will trial one at that and have some spare capacity. My calcs were 508 x 413mm.

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Um, what the hell?
How do you make one of these?

Talk of stripwood and horizontal mouldings and this mm and that mm.......

I'm pretty damn scared by DIY but will give it a go if someone can give me the *****'s measurements. In English.

How many mm across by how many mm across is the board please??

Obviously the outer batons are the same....so how 'deep' a wood do those baton rims need to be?

Is there a specific thickness the board material needs to be?

How wide a diameter of hole, does one need to make?

And where do people get this wood from?
Please don't say it's a silly question.
I don't want to get ripped off if there's a more expensive supplier that is known.

I have a homebase 20 min drive away, but didn't think they did wood.
There's a couple of DIY shops also.

Not that many well known 'stores' round me I'm afraid!! B & Q etc.

 

[thepliedes]

I've just purchased two rhombus clearing boards. Why do you think they work better in the corners rather than the rhombus fixed in the middle?

 

[adrian wilford]

dont bother with porter bee escapes more hassle than they are worth, just look at the home made versions

 

[Poly Hive]

Because they seem to work better in the corners.

Old tip I was given by some one years ago and it is s good one.


Talk of stripwood and horizontal mouldings and this mm and that mm.......

I'm pretty damn scared by DIY but will give it a go if someone can give me the *****'s measurements. In English. Timber wise we are pretty much metric.

How many mm across by how many mm across is the board please?? Defined by your hive. Measure it?

Obviously the outer batons are the same....so how 'deep' a wood do those baton rims need to be? I prefer an inch or 25mm..

Is there a specific thickness the board material needs to be? Thick enough to take the staples I used to fix the plastic but it could be glued. Araldite is good for that one

How wide a diameter of hole, does one need to make? 1" or 25mm is fine

And where do people get this wood from? I use my local wood yard.


PH

 

[fatshark]

The dogs bits

I made a couple of these clearer boards (see post 1 from Poly Hive) and have used them on a dozen hives over the last two weeks - and used them in parallel with boards with central clearer holes with one of those large hexagonal escapes. Without exception the PH design was both faster and more efficient at leaving stacks of 2-4 supers almost empty (there were always one or two stragglers) of bees.

I'll be building some more this winter. Thanks PH!

And in response to The Naked Beekeeper ... try the offcuts bin in your local timber merchant. Mine often has useful sized bits of plywood which I accumulate over the year for winter building projects.

 

[victor meldrew]

I brand my initials on the edges , serves as a reminder also identifies my having fitted same the correct way up .
Nowt worse than having doubts and having to remove full supers in order to check
VM

These still work for me ; certainly clear fast enough I use 3 porter bee escapes per.
VM

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I brand my initials on the edges , serves as a reminder also identifies my having fitted same the correct way up .
Nowt worse than having doubts and having to remove full supers in order to check
VM

lucky your initials aren't M W then, could cause confusion

My boards are either 4 or 6mm plywood (whatever the van lining man has in his skip) the rims are 18mm deep and the holes are 45mm (I don't think the hole diameter is that crucial.
Just had my first trial of the PH clearer boards: with one porter escape board as a control.
put porter escapes on Garn cottage hive at 1100 Monday put two PH clearer boards on home hives at 1230hrs (one with two supers one with three)
Took off home hive supers at 0930 yesterday,and put them on two other hives with the intention of removing supers before Apiguard. maybe a dozen bees left - more than acceptable
Took super off Garn cottage hive around 1400 in a rush so zipped back home, dropped super in kitchen for extracting, made cup of tea and realised there was a loud buzzing noise - a hundred plus bees still in super
Took the other supers off today about 1500 not a bee, nada zilch.
Look out on fleabay for special offers on used and unused porter bee escapes

 

[victor meldrew]

Never had a problem with porter bee escape . Well until now .
I knocked two new clearing boards up, three escapes per board . One colony didn't clear (supers full and capped) Left a further three days (I was away for a long weekend ! Still not cleared ,at least 50% still in supers . examined porter escapes and realised these new ones had plastic strips instead of phosphor bronze springs and were altogether tougher for bees to negotiate !. I had to adjust them to leave a fair sized gap ,thus risking a return of bees back to super .
In future I shall check the construction, before purchase !
"lucky your initials aren't M W then, could cause confusion "
Or H H
VM

 

[Poly Hive]

A certain person said that Porters need to be reset every usage.

Mine just need an eyeball, and if something stuck in there a poke with a twig sorts it out. KISS

As for right way up the escape gives me a bit of a hint aye?

PH

 

[victor meldrew]

Horses for courses Pete .
Should you have to leave your clearing boards on, (Business trips etc.) your bees will learn the return route . They aint totally dense .
My problem with the new material was the gapping , I now know what it should be, 'A fair bit wider than the light springs require'
VM

 

[Poly Hive]

Well actually I have left them on for over two weeks. Had this sort of blithe statement before so trialled it.

No probs.

PH

 

[victor meldrew]

I take it back (your bees may be totally dense)
VM

 

[Hawklord]

Please see the pics of two of my clearer boards.

The white plastic has been cut in half, as it is in theory meant to be on the middle of a clearer board but I prefer the bees to exit via the corners which in my experience works more effectively.

The home made one is on the same principle and works just as well.

The batten for the home made one on which the mesh is mounted is stock from B&Q 10mm thick. The exit hole is 8mm. The arrival hole as it were on the top is 25mm.

The price for the whole unit is barely £3 or so.

I hope this give some inspiration.

PH

Does the depth of the battons make any difference?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Does the depth of the battons make any difference?

A little - bee space under the escape means the bees have a clear view of the hole they want to get at - so they disregard the bee sized hole they went through to leave the super and try (unsuccessfully) to get through the smaller holes in the mesh - my rims are 18mm in depth and worked just fine last season. The escapes shouldn't be on long enough for the bees to do any serious brace comb building so it is not that crucial.
I'll stick my neck out and say 18mm minimum.

 

[Hawklord]

Thanks. Is there a maximum depth and does it make any difference which way the board ie exit parallel to frames or not and does the frame direction ie cold or warm make any difference?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thanks. Is there a maximum depth and does it make any difference which way the board ie exit parallel to frames or not and does the frame direction ie cold or warm make any difference?

I don't think there is a maximum - but you know what bees are like with extra space - I believe a depth up to 25mm has been bandied about but don't take my word for it. The orientation of the escapes to the frames doesn't matter a jot but I tend to align them at right angles to the frames.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Does the depth of the battons make any difference?

You just need to make sure there's space for the plastic lozenge + bee space above the top of the frames.

If you use top bee space then you only need battens the same depth as the plastic lozenge clearer which I think is about 8mm.

If you use bottom bee space you'd need battens the depth of the lozenge plus bee space, otherwise you'll crush bees when you put it in place.

I don't think there's any reason why you can't make the clearer board flat, without rims/battens, and put it directly above a feeder eke or an empty super. These escapes do clear supers very quickly, so the bees don't have much time to go mad with comb building.

 

[itma]

You just need to make sure there's space for the plastic lozenge + bee space above the top of the frames.

...
I don't think there's any reason why you can't make the clearer board flat, without rims/battens, and put it directly above a feeder eke or an empty super. These escapes do clear supers very quickly, so the bees don't have much time to go mad with comb building.

Your Apiguard eke would need to be better-made than most (ie with decent joints) to survive for long - with the weight of the full supers being put on top, any misalignment could be problematic!
Fixing the rim to the board makes the whole thing much more robust - even with my rubbish carpentry. (I actually funked out of cutting the rhombus and just used it conventionally.) And 1" tall strip was cheap enough at B&Q.
The basic rhombus worked brilliantly.