DIY polyhives - is there such a thing?

[REDWOOD]

Derek is there any chance you could jot this down with some sizes please

 

[hedgerow pete]

pete, interesting ideas, but the wood sections you are using are quite a big heat leak. have you considered 3mm ply on top of the celotex? This uses the celotex to have the basic shape with just the ply to reinforce.

I'm sticking with Reticell/celotex matierial but facing the cut edges of it with a combination of metal and plastic to provide a good seal, high insulation, mechanical protection and low labour input.

yes you are perfectly correct, it is a large heat sink,

what i had suggested is that most people can find or obtain 1/2" ply and 22mm is a standard one inch piece of sawn timber planed square, ish!!

so what we have in old english is 1/2" play and 1" by 1" and 1" by 1 1/4" or 1" 1/2" planed timber

what i was thinking of was trying to use simple timber sizes and allow people to be able to buy them from high street suppliers and diy outlets, its the reason why the rounded edged profile was binned. good or bad i have drawn them all you can see the mind working process so you yourself can make your own desisions on which way you want to go

if you want i can explain how to manafacture a celotex (or what ever foam you wish to use) a cutting device to make rebates inside the top edges and bases, all you need is a stanley knief blade and some timber batton


and a cup of TEA

 

[user 6228]

....

if you want i can explain how to manafacture a celotex (or what ever foam you wish to use) a cutting device to make rebates inside the top edges and bases, all you need is a stanley knief blade and some timber batton


and a cup of TEA

i just use my router table

 

[user 6228]

Derek is there any chance you could jot this down with some sizes please

It's just national internal dimensions. With mitred joints (now)
This needs table saw and tilting chopsaw capable of 45 deg cuts in
50 mm. Four sides and the frame recesses made on a router table. Very simple construction

 

[notagain]

sounds very good,how long do they last?

 

[user 6228]

sounds very good,how long do they last?

we shall see . The later versions are more rugged and will probably last longer. The green one is around 12 months old.

 

[REDWOOD]

It's just national internal dimensions. With mitred joints (now)
This needs table saw and tilting chopsaw capable of 45 deg cuts in
50 mm. Four sides and the frame recesses made on a router table. Very simple construction

Thanks Derek, recap...... 50mm for the 4 sides, so outside dimensions are larger on 2 sides
what's the 45 deg angle for ?
any recesses for a hand grip ?

 

[user 6228]

Thanks Derek, recap...... 50mm for the 4 sides, so outside dimensions are larger on 2 sides
what's the 45 deg angle for ?
any recesses for a hand grip ?

yes its 100mm larger than the internal dimensions.
recesses for hand grips no way! why build in more cold spots (one of my gripes on bought poly boxes)

The density of the foam counts i found Reticel(Jewsons) to work well but Kingspan not so well.

The 45 deg is for the mitred joint where the sides meet and any bee friendly slopes
Use one of the grab adhesives that are recommended for insulation (screwfix)
use self adhesive foil tape(Screwfix) to cover edges and general sealing. A dab of resin on the edges will stop any lifting.

It might be prudent to use a single primer coat of polyester resin (Tiranti) on the cut surfaces .
To make it true and square build a former out of 18mm MDF with its exterior dimensions the same size as the interior of the hive so you can assemble the hive on it, and clamp the side to while the glue sets.

Pin the sides together as well using bamboo skewers (Sainsbury's BBQ dept)

Use 0.5mm folded ally sheet (Blackburns metals) as corner protectors and reinforcement.
(more tools or friend with tools for this)

Glue 2mm thick 50mm correx(protex(protec) strips using 5 minute Epoxy (devcon brand from Amazon) on the box to box faces as gaskets.

landing boards and vertical side scaling ladders (bees find the ally coated paper slippy) from pplastic mesh bought from the local garden centre

Unfortunately although its simple it does require specialist or bigger than standard DIY tools(300mm blade table saw, chop saw, metal guillotine, metal folder, router table) to make the bits.

 

[user 6228]

more pics
This is the mk1 with the original sloping entrance... the bees found a flaw in the bolt on tunnel and made a chamber possible as a as a guard room

This the current fleet. all 3 PIR hives are currently on solid insulated floors with 75mm to 125mm entrance tunnels, with the floor upto 110mm above the entrance. The bought poly will get replaced with the next batch of hive building. Note the floor sections are 150mm deep.

 

[blackcavebees]

Thinking of making one to try, do polys have OMF s?

 

[BeeJayBee]

Our commercially made (Sw1enty) ones do have OMFs, but if you're making your own then you can choose to have an open or closed floor. It's up to you

 

[user 6228]

tools for building foam hives

work in progress

routed

 

[user 6228]

Just got another really useful beehive making tool

A sheet metal guillotine for making rails and reinforcing

 

[madasafish]

Some serious equipment there.. Reminds me of the engineering companies I worked in..

I assume you have a LARGE garage/shed (with power) to run them in?

 

[user 6228]

Some serious equipment there.. Reminds me of the engineering companies I worked in..

I assume you have a LARGE garage/shed (with power) to run them in?

I work with all of these outside. My hive making needs good weather

 

[itma]

tools for building foam hives
...
routed

Are you using rails, and/or cladding the rebate with anything?

Maybe prop holds the surface together, but I'd have been concerned that taking frames in and out would damage the fragile cut surface of the foam.

 

[user 6228]

Are you using rails, and/or cladding the rebate with anything?

Maybe prop holds the surface together, but I'd have been concerned that taking frames in and out would damage the fragile cut surface of the foam.

Folded alu metal rails almost completely cover the foam rebate by the frames. theres just the ends not covered by the 1mm metal. The ends are covered by foil tape. The box mating surfaces have plastic gaskets

 

[itma]

Thanks. Picked up on your Correx 'gaskets' earlier, but not the Alu rails!

 

[user 6228]

latest design

 

[Smuffles]

I'm very impressed

Roughly how much did it cost you to make?