Frame making query!

[Queens59]

I bought a hive in Belgium - their equivalent to a WBC - and it came with frames and wax...but I can't put the two together! There are no side channels for the wax to slide down, nothing to hold it to the bottom bar - just the split top bar - so how do I hold the wax in? There are holes predrilled in the top and bottom, am I meant to wire it in and if so what do I need and how do I do it?

All help gratefully received!

 

[britishbeehives]

Hi,

Search on youtube for wiring beehive frames, theres plenty on there but i expect there will be someone along soon to tell you how to do it.

Regards
British Beehives

 

[Black Comb]

Does the foundation have any wire embedded into it?

 

[drstitson]

yes you need to wire it - get some appropriate wire - run it up and down through the holes then lay the foundation on it.
take a car battery and a couple of wires - attach one end of each to the terminals and others are held gently against wires above and below wax. take care as the wax melts quickly - you just do it until the wire starts to enter the wax.
simples.

 

[roche]

I wouldn't use a car battery - a bit dangerous. Something with much less power would be appropriate.

 

[winmag270]

there is a section of this in Hooper's book....

without looking I think he mentions 9 volts

 

[hedgerow pete]

alot of bee foundation frames dont have a british style of fixing wax sheets, without a picture i am just guessing here but i would say that your frames are to either have, done by you a set of two or three holes down each side for the wax sheet to be melted into or the wires are to run up and down again through the wax sheets

if the wax comes with a set of wires running up and down with a small loop at teach end i would remove the top bars brace piece and replace it with a nail through the two timbers and via the wire loop with a small 6 mm staple a fixing the bottom loops

 

[victor meldrew]

there is a section of this in Hooper's book....

without looking I think he mentions 9 volts

Maybe he does but the resistance of the wire is the deciding factor .(Ohms Law)
If stainless steel, it has a comparatively high resistance and heats up quickly ,
I would suggest a 12 volt battery charger as most 9v stuff has a low current output and would scarcely heat the wire
One wire To one end of the frame wire, the other wire is clipped onto the frame wire at a distance from the first wire determined by experiment!

John Wilkinson

 

[Black Comb]

My 9v heats the s/s wire quickly enough John.

 

[RoofTops]

Dave Cushman's site has quite a lot of information on wiring frames. I fear however someone may have been a little rash buying a hive in Belgium! You will probably not be able to get any frames or extra supers to fit it in the UK.

But if you can post some piccys it would help us.

 

[victor meldrew]

My 9v heats the s/s wire quickly enough John.

Fair enough Peter but most people have redundant power supplies hanging about that are designed for light use, if not aware they maybe disappointed .

John Wilkinson

 

[Queens59]

Hi Rooftops...probably was rash, but couldn't resist the price! The frames are actually WBC/National size, so if I can wire them I can use them...the supers etc are also a similar size to National / WBC. I think I can mainly use all with UK bits - there wasn't a stand but a national stand fitted so I think other bits will too.,,

H/P...The top bar has 5 pre-drilled holes and the bottom bar 4 holes - I will try to take a photo tomorrow - if I can find the memory card....

Thanks for all the comments, but am a bit worried about open current - so may sell them on one site of another...

 

[Hombre]

with Victor. I believe that Poly Hive uses a 6V battery charger, if my memory serves me, but I use a 12V charger and stainless steel wire, to great effect.

 

[Queens59]

OK here's a photo...but I fear we all agree - and as Cliff says 'me playing with current is asking for trouble...'

 

[hedgerow pete]

yep just as i thought they are wire it your self frames, we used to buy frames from poland and they used to come the same way as does the wax sheets without wires.

as for power supplies if i rember rightly i used to use an old lap top power supply unit 12 volts dc and some small currant but we used to use a stick of wood with four nails through it two live two negative about 3 inch apart

 

[Chris Luck]

Not much use to you I guess, but we, (in France), use a soldering iron device with a toothed and slotted wheel that runs along the wire with the foundation pressed against it.

It's a lot of fun if you like that sort of thing.

Source. http://www.ets-leygonie.net/

Chris

 

[hedgerow pete]

thats a brilliant little tool chris lucy, the only one i have ever seen was a solid version you had to heat up your self.

i forgot to ment with wiring frames and this is another arguement about to start

"i like to gromets in the holes before wiring them to stop the wires cutting in when extracting them"

and i use them in the broods to stop them slipping intot he timber with heavy use,

tin hat on and ducks back into bee shed air raid shelter

 

[RoofTops]

Yes, you need to use eyelets in the holes although some people use staples instead but I found the sharp edge of the staple stops the wire running as smoothly as an eyelet.

The tool pictured above is a spur embedder. The classic one is heated by a blowlamp or some such source of heat.

A crimper helps tension the wire afterwards although a few folk don't bother.

With horizontal wiring you can deform the side bars in a jig using a cam, thread the wire hand tight and then release the side bars which tightens the wire automatically.

 

[Chris Luck]

You make it sound over complicated to me, I don't use eyelets, just a pair of pliers.

Chris

 

[Hombre]

Without staples or eyelets the wire is apt to cut into the grain of the wood.

Eylets are relatively expensive.

I would tent to argue against the crimper for tensioning the wire, because once the wire is heated by the application of current the crimps stretch out.

There are devices, even a sash cramp that can deform the side bars of even supers sufficiently to increase the tension when released.