Double hive stand - What do ya think?

[Hawklord]

DIY isn't my strong point but being unemployed with a lack of money and loads of time helped me decide to have a go. I've calculated the cost as being roughly £15. The hive is not mine it's 1 of Hivemakers.

 

[Mike a]

If you can stand on it in the middle it will be fine that's the method I use to see if my hive stands will be ok.

I'm a about 175 Lbs which is a more than 2 deep nationals hives with 1-2 filled supers.

 

[Haughton Honey]

Very nice stand Hawklord.

I don't suppose that you'd like to post the dimensions so that some of us could have a go at building one?

I like the recesses to enable you to pick up the hive from the base.

 

[learner]

I think that's a really nice piece of work.

 

[Onge]

Yep well done nice work.

 

[Somerford]

great work. the only thing I'd add as it looks like you used screws and not 10mm dia bolts as I do it to but a 3rd set of legs in the middle, and if leaving the middle open, pop some cross battens across as I have a similar set up and it prevents hive tools, tools etc from dropping onto the ground and is also a great place to pop the smoker too !

regards

S

 

[oliver90owner]

I am a bit with Somerford here. I would fit a short pair of centre legs (or even an extra couple of pairs). These things always need levelling up and four legs is hard enough, let alone six, so I would accept the need for 'shimming' and leave the middle ones short. Add at least one through-bolt, with large washers, on each corner for longevity.

I like the hand spaces but the boxes always seem to be welded on when I want to remove them and I never have anywhere to slip in a wedge (or hive tool) on mine.

So a good idea which I will follow up. Good for slipping tie-down straps through when moving colonies, too. So d*mned simple, I wonder why I never thought of it when I made my hive stands! Or since, for that matter!

I don't like double stands so all mine are singles - doubles won't fit my car, are too heavy and any other reasons not to have them, but that looks fine (more stable than singles is an advantage), will do the job and, you will doubtless find out that suitable timber will now surface for free, of course! So job well done. You might need a small fillet to fill that little gap from landing board to hive front.

For the budding DIYers, I used 50mm square legs and cut rebates on two sides for the timbers to bear on, so screws were fine as fixings (not bearing a load) and the footprint was about 450mm, so only about 10mm smaller than the hive, which sits exactly over the stand. Much lighter construction than Hawklord's and easier to knock up once the leg rebates were done. Mine are 300mm high (made before I changed to 14 x 12) and are not far off a good compromise for stability and comfort with that size box. They were just a tad too low, with a standard brood box, for manipulations - I have a bad back at times.

They nearly always benefit from standing on some pieces of scrap wood. The original two I had when I first started have rotted at the feet and have been pensioned off as they were of the more 'simple construction', have slowly become less serviceable without some serious maintenance, had that slightly less wide stance at the feet (so slightly less stable), and were only about 250mm high (so even lower for brood frame manipulations).

If I made them any taller I think I would seriously consider increasing the footdrint for more stability.

Regards, RAB

 

[Hawklord]

Thanks for the comments.

The stand is made from 22mm x 150mm, and the legs are 47mm x 75mm. The following dimentions have been used because of my height and the amount of space within the apiary. First I cut the front and back boards at
6', and then I cut 4 pieces at 416mm for the cross members. The hand spaces for lifting the hive's are made larger than my hand with plenty of space so gloves do not get trapped so are 125mm long and 40mm deep. I marked them out and the drew around a small glass to get the radius. I used a hole saw to cut the radius and finished the straight cuts off with a jig-saw.

I didn't want the hive floors sat in any rain water so thats why I placed the cross members directly under the edges of the floor. The landing boards were made from off cuts and are 22mm x 150mm x 416mm approx. Again I didn't want the floor sat in any rain water so I made a cut out in the front so the landing board sat in that. The other alternative was to bevel the edge of the landing board and butt that up to the front, which is what I will do with the next 1. To do the cut outs I used the jig-saw and set the foot plate at about 60 degrees, then had to turn the jig-saw over and set it to cut the bevel in the opposit direction. I then marked and cut the 4 fillets for the landing board supports and just offered a piece of wood up and marked it with a pencil.

Lastly the legs. I played about with different heights and found that the top of the stand is best for me at 21" above the floor, any higher and it would be difficult for me to lift supers off with my short arms, and any lower I would be working with a bent back whilst doing inspections. I had a little trouble trying to decide how to mount the legs as I found placing the legs inside the frame made it a little unstable. I then thought about having the legs splayed but having to work so close to the hive because of my short arms meant I was likely to catch my foot and trip over them, something I really don't want to do with a full brood box. So I finally put the front legs under the landing board and the back ones inside the frame. The whole thing seems stable and I put my 18 stone on the middle of it last night so it's strong enough.

I have used no. 8 x 2 1/2" decking screws and a couple of nails in the landing boards and all the joints have been glued. I think the only thing I will do differently on the next 1 is the landing board.