Extractor size

[VEG]

I bought a four frame tangential sold that for more than I paid for it bought another of the same type but with a honey tank under it. Tore the ligaments in my shoulder after extracting a load of supers about 8 in all. Work out how many times the frames had to be swapped around lol. Sold that one again for more than I paid for it. I now have a 9 frame electric.
If you dont have the cash for an electric one try and get a radial one even if it will only hold 3/4 frames as turning the frames around on a tangential is a right pain in the butt.

 

[Poly Hive]

Couple of points here so far I think not mentioned.

For Heather work a Tangential is essential. Fact.

For most people that does not apply and so a radial is the machine to consider.

For most hobbyists they end up with rather more colonies than they expect and so undershoot on the purchase of a decent machine.

I would suggest to you that a 9 frame electric radial is a good machine for some 20 supers or more.

I would say that any sort of combined machine has issues. Fact. There is always a compromise involved, and rarely to your benefit.

Keep your extractor for getting honey out of the combs and your filtering system as another set up.

For high quality filtering (contentious bit now comes) you need, I stress need, some sort of force. The easiest force is centrifugal. The cheapest source of that is a spin drier. High quality filtering now comes cheaply. £80 for a 2800rpm spinner, some £10 for filter material and voila.... clean honey, VERY clean honey. Show bench standard in your commercial jar.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/ca...og_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ8wIwAA#

Which is AS IT SHOULD BE. Your customer is more deserving of an excellent product than the Show Judge is. Your customer, (lest you forget) paid you for it, you GAVE it to the Judge.

PH

 

[VEG]

Is that a food grade spinner though? (lol)
Why do I NEED a spinner when gravity will pull it through a filter?

 

[Poly Hive]

What is the orifice size of your filter?

Food grade spinner.... if a spinner is sold that is so toxic it contaminates your clothes how long would it last on the market?

PH

 

[Queens59]

This is going to sound REALLY THICK...you put the honey in a spin dryer????

 

[For want of a better word]

I have used a [I]vacuum filter[/I] in chemistry lab, but not for honey

filter funnell with a flat bottom with filter paper fits on top of a flask connected to a vacuum pump.

would work if scaled up.... quicker if honey warmed

but surely not that necessary?

Buchner funnel?

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes Queens, through a filter inside a spin drier.

Very effective.

PH

 

[For want of a better word]

Yes Queens, through a filter inside a spin drier.

Very effective.

PH

more info pleeeze!

presume you had an outer drum that caught the filtered honey with an inner drum of mesh and filter material that contained the unfiltered honey
can imagine how this could work
what filter medium did you use that could take the forces involved?????

 

[jimbeekeeper]

would work if scaled up....

Yes it will, I designed process requireing 2m diameter Rosemund vacumm filter presses (scaled up Buchner funnels)

Filtration is a specialist area of my work, currently in the field of gypsum, (@ 1Tper 3 mins x 42 basket centrifuges machines) but has been as diverse as sugar to cyanide.

Polys way is just using centrifugation and the motive force for filtation rather than gravity or vucuum.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

more info pleeeze!

presume you had an outer drum that caught the filtered honey with an inner drum of mesh and filter material that contained the unfiltered honey
can imagine how this could work
what filter medium did you use that could take the forces involved?????

I assume poly is using a vetical axis basket clothes spinner?

A simple cloth weave could be added to inside of the existing perforated drum to act as the filter medium, or stainless woven meshes are very common.

 

[Hombre]

What PH didn't tell you, is that the commercial spinners for wax cappings etc also run at 38,000 rpm and cost many times more. The limited capacity being augmented by an inlet pipe directly into the cappings/honey basket filter, so a continuous process.

He did mention some while ago that it was a spin drier exclusively used for honey processing from new. Gravity feed and not pumped.

I have been playing with the idea for some time now. Next year it will probably be something that I will purchase. With a 100w lamp underneath to take the chill off the metal it should sing of a summer's evening.

Question PH, was that the model that you used, or merely a similar one?

PS hope your day is improving.

 

[Adam]

but looking ahead, my first extractor is a twenty frame electric and will double that up if I need to...

Unless you have a lot of assistants, you'll be unlikely to need more than a 20 frame. I find it takes 3 people to feed a 15 frame one running near constantly. I'd guess you'd need need at least 6 people and vast numbers of frames to need two extractors so big. You'd be better investing in a uncapping brush than a large extractor.

Adam

 

[VEG]

What is the orifice size of your filter?

Food grade spinner.... if a spinner is sold that is so toxic it contaminates your clothes how long would it last on the market?

PH

I dont eat my clothes though.

 

[oliver90owner]

Using gravity or even a vacuum (max one bar delta P) is easily improved upon by pumping or spinning (centripetal force). However filtering digressions will not help those considering extractor size. Filtering deserves it's own thread (then the search function might be helpful for those souls in need of help in that area).

The consensus, so far, seems to be that cheapness is a major factor even though some users already realised that a larger more versatile extractor would likely follow along shortly. It seems a cheap way to gain comparisons of the better extractors before getting a more appropriate machine, as the second hand market is still fairly bouyant in this sector.

Seems that a 6 frame radial electric would be a much better small extractor for most beginners, than a tangential only, and smaller capacity machine.

That makes the electric drill-driven machines at around 300 quid a better investment for most?

Regards, RAB

 

[Hivemaker.]

I dont eat my clothes though.

Reason?

 

[VEG]

Reason?

Clothes dont taste nice lol

 

[Hivemaker.]

I thought there must be one...lol.....but you must of tried it, to know they don't taste nice.....could it be somthing to do with your spin dryer..

 

[VEG]

Maybe I ought to dry them in the extractor then they will taste better

 

[Hivemaker.]

Maybe I ought to dry them in the extractor then they will taste better

Nice one...lol.

 

[beebreeder]

I've got a Thomas 44 frame monster bolted to the floor plus a 20 frame Lega in reserve (and for anything I want to hold back from the bulk tank). Has anyone else had a Lega any length of time? They seem good value. With hindsight I should have just got 2 of them for less money than the Thomas

Hi Chris
Yes I have a Lega electric radial at least 4 probably 5 seasons old and still as good as new, I have to be carefull with the lids (plastic) but otherwise good value for money and you don't have to bolt it down. As an aside to anyone thinking of buying a big electric extractor, remember to measure to access point door, a commercial friend of mine bought a big Thomas, only to find when it was delivered he could'nt get it in had to remove door and frame etc and now its in for good!!
kev