Heat gun for decapping

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DanielSELondon

New Bee
Joined
Dec 10, 2009
Messages
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Location
Brockley, London, UK
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2
Hello,

I wonder if anyone could advise me about purchasing a hot air/heat gun for decapping my supers.

Will the cheapest one do? Which one do you have?

Any other hints for doing this?

Cheers,

Daniel
 
stick with a knife dipped in hot water or my preferred option uncapping fork even thought its a lot slower and less losses.
 
Hot air gun works very well, I allready had one so didnt need to buy one. You get very little mess and no cappings to deal with as they simply pull back to the cell walls.
 
Only fair to mention the cons of using a decapping hot air gun.

1. Possible damage to honey.

2. Lack of wax to, trade in, to make foundationw ith, to make candles with and to make polish with.

3. Not good for the bees to have a lack of wax work to do. Can be a negative factor in swarm control.

Not a route I would choose.

PH
 
Does no damage to the honey at all as it is only passed quickly over the cappings.
 
I tried a hot air gun and couldn't get it to work. It melted the cappings fine but then the wax solidified again over the honey. I gather there needs to be air under the cappings which doesn't always happen. I tried doing it slowly, quickly, close to the comb and far away. Same result every time - I needed to use a knife or cappings fork to uncap.
 
I use a DeWalt one with a temperature dial.

Dispenses with the hassle of having to deal with a pile of wet cappings.
 
Here electrial uncapping knife 580 W is 160 euros.
I used my first knife 35 years.

What do you have there?

ElecUncapKnfLge.jpg
 
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When I extracted I used a cold knife and a spin dryer to separate the cappings from the honey. 2800 rpm is very efficient.

Now I use a knife to cut cut comb.

PH
 
Moved to hot air gun decapping for my spring harvest 2010, repeated for my main harvest. For speed, cleanliness, reduction in 'bits' it is brilliant. I did melt back some of the empty frames as well to a reduced depth with it because I wanted the frames re-drawn and the girls accepted the challenge and just re-pulled the foundation.

General comment - Don't knock it until you've tried it - and that's tried it with a will to make it suceed rather than with the intent of proving it does not work!
 
The standalone stainless spin dryers with gravity drain, not pumped, start at about £108 from my researches. The standard spin speed seems to be 28,000rpm.

I had a look at a French job (Coffnet Euromel ?)made specifically for the purpose. It is very sturdy and looks like it might last a lifetime. Spin speed 28,000rpm 80W motor. Now that was a real surprise to me. Like the domestic version it has a small load capacity, but the feed is from the top, continuous, and so it can look after quite a bit more honey/wax before it needs the basket/filter emptied. I hate to think what it cost and the price of spares. 24V AC internally.

PH, can you tell me/us what manufacture/model you actually used and any obvious points to watch out for when selecting a suitable spinner?
 
So what's the trick of getting the hot air gun to work? Anyone able to show us a video? I am not saying it doesn't work as clearly it does for some people - it is just it didn't work for me. Wrong temperatures pehaps but I also gather the air under the cappings is essential and the comb must be handled gently before uncapping so the air is not dislodged.
 
So what's the trick of getting the hot air gun to work? Anyone able to show us a video?

I just tried and couldn't get it to work either. The wax just went solid again, so I resorted to the fork. What is the right technique?
 
Here electrial uncapping knife 580 W is 160 euros.
I used my first knife 35 years.

What do you have there?

I bought one of those second hand, and it is painfully slow. I switched to a smooth serrated bread knife and haven't looked back.
 
I bought one of those second hand, and it is painfully slow. I switched to a smooth serrated bread knife and haven't looked back.


That electrict knife is slow if the comb is cool. As 25C it is slow, but when I heat the combs in my closet to 35C, it is just fine. I think that the heat has been adapted to the temp 35C= hives temp.
 

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