Home Made Solar Wax Extractor

[The Apprentices]

My latest project and my own design of a free standing wax extractor.

The main structure is made from a new sheet of cheaper end 20.00mm thick plywood which will make two units.

Main box and lid edge are of by dovetail construction and glued.

There is a ready made 3" deep stainless steel tray which has a foamed inner edges using PU spray foam.

Beneath the tray is a ply shelf which also has a further 25.00mm foam cavity sandwitched between ply boarding for heat retension.

The lid has a double glass cavity from free recycled glass.

There is a full.width gauze strainer held in place by a curved wooden shelf which is also held in place by the lower pane of glass.

I will post more pictures as I make the melter.

 

[The Apprentices]

Pictures

 

[mbc]

Very nice !
make sure the wood wont shadow the gauze or wax will condense there on cooler days

 

[beeatshellards]

extractorwell done, looks like a good you can now change your name from" Apprentice" to qualified

 

[beeatshellards]

well done, looks like a good extractor you can now change your name from" Apprentice" to qualified ... SORRY Muddled words up on previous message)

 

[The Apprentices]

Very nice !
make sure the wood wont shadow the gauze or wax will condense there on cooler days

Thanks for the tip there, will do.

 

[The Apprentices]

well done, looks like a good extractor you can now change your name from" Apprentice" to qualified ... SORRY Muddled words up on previous message)

Lets wait to see if she works first, cheers

 

[RoseCottage]

It looks very good. I have a homemade solar extractor that cost just a few pounds...and works on hot days well.

I went down to Homebase and bought a shallow see-through perspex storage container. It can hold a lot of combs (6-8). One end has a set of three holes and the feed into a baking tray.
Instead of the opaque perspex clip-on cover we have placed a clear sheet of perspex in a wooden frame.

Now admittedly it only really works well on a hot day but it does work.

Total costs:
Plastic storage container: 14.99
Wooden frame: just a few offcuts 0.00
Clear perspex sheet 4.50
Baking tray 4.50

Not as elegant in build but effective,
All the best,
Sam

 

[Hivemaker.]

Looks very good,if you also paint the interior tray ect matt black it will make it more effective....the double glazed glass unit may crack,but time will tell on that one.

 

[fincaazul]

Looks very good,if you also paint the interior tray ect matt black it will make it more effective....the double glazed glass unit may crack,but time will tell on that one.

Did a lot of research on Solar ovens for use in third world refugee camps. Google solar ovens and you will find much info on the topic that can be applied to a wax extractor. You can bake bread in a solar oven so more than enough heat to melt wax quickly.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Did a lot of research on Solar ovens for use in third world refugee camps. Google solar ovens and you will find much info on the topic that can be applied to a wax extractor. You can bake bread in a solar oven so more than enough heat to melt wax quickly.

Thats great,but i have no interest in baking bread in solar ovens in third world countries,athough this is now a third world country, but without much sun,we will have to eat uncooked bread from our solar ovens.

 

[The Apprentices]

Looks very good,if you also paint the interior tray ect matt black it will make it more effective....the double glazed glass unit may crack,but time will tell on that one.

The heat expansion did cross my mind, I have left a 5.00mm gap around the frame so it should be ok.

 

[The Apprentices]

Thats great,but i have no interest in baking bread in solar ovens in third world countries,athough this is now a third world country, but without much sun,we will have to eat uncooked bread from our solar ovens.

Believe you me, we are very far from a third world country only the organisation is third rate.
I was in a first world country when searving in HMF in Berlin and paid a visit to the eastern side and there was a third rate mentality and sight to behold.
For an accurate scenery to where every civilisation has and is headed, seek out the book called " Endgame One The Trouble with Civilisation.

Where you are the scenery is fabulous, the air may be a tad thinner but much better the East Berlin.

On the solar oven part why not use your wax extractor for cooking something instead, those that do are living within earth time and are not wanton upon the system that creates a third world state of mind.

Jarred Diamonds book, Guns Germs and Steel, explains things further, so does his book "Collapse"

 

[Steve Dyer]

Did a lot of research on Solar ovens for use in third world refugee camps. Google solar ovens and you will find much info on the topic that can be applied to a wax extractor. You can bake bread in a solar oven so more than enough heat to melt wax quickly.

Here is how make a solar:

1. Go to the pub.
2. Ask the landlord for a free dud beer fridge:
http://www.buycleverstuff.co.uk/ind...-single-door-with-clear-glass-front-298-p.jpg
3. Slide out all the shelves except the bottom one.
Put a metal tray (an old uncapping tray is perfect) above the shelf.
4. Put a wood or plastic handled saucepan below the shelf to collect the wax.
5. Lean it against a brick so that the double-glazed glass is roughly at right angles to the sun's light.
6. Put frames in.
7. Return to pub with jar of honey to thank landlord for giving you his junk.

You will have to repreat this process about every four years cos the black plastic in the fridge degrades in the working temperatures of a highly efficient, double glazed, hermetically sealed and insulated solar - which is what you have just made.

Best

Steve

 

[Steve Dyer]

Did a lot of research on Solar ovens for use in third world refugee camps. Google solar ovens and you will find much info on the topic that can be applied to a wax extractor. You can bake bread in a solar oven so more than enough heat to melt wax quickly.

Here is how make a solar:

1. Go to the pub.
2. Ask the landlord for a free dud beer fridge:
http://www.buycleverstuff.co.uk/ind...-single-door-with-clear-glass-front-298-p.jpg
3. Slide out all the shelves except the bottom one.
Put a metal tray (an old uncapping tray is perfect) above the shelf.
4. Put a wood or plastic handled saucepan below the shelf to collect the wax.
5. Lean it against a brick so that the double-glazed glass is roughly at right angles to the sun's light.
6. Put frames in.
7. Return to pub with jar of honey to thank landlord for giving you his junk.

You will have to repeat this process about every four years cos the black plastic in the fridge degrades in the working temperatures of a highly efficient, double glazed, hermetically sealed and insulated solar - which is what you have just made.

Best

Steve

 

[Tom Bick]

Lets wait to see if she works first, cheers

Yes it looks great and no doubt will work a treat.

Just one observation the glass is this a double glazed panel you salvaged or a home made job? Its just that plenty of double glazed panels are now made with K glass and depending on the way round you have it on the extractor may have an effect on how good it works. It will still work but may be improved with greater heat trapped under the glass if reversed.

Also like the spinning wheel in the photo started one of them myself once but alas other projects took over I still have ambitions to do one day.

 

[The Apprentices]

Yes it looks great and no doubt will work a treat.

Just one observation the glass is this a double glazed panel you salvaged or a home made job? Its just that plenty of double glazed panels are now made with K glass and depending on the way round you have it on the extractor may have an effect on how good it works. It will still work but may be improved with greater heat trapped under the glass if reversed.

Also like the spinning wheel in the photo started one of them myself once but alas other projects took over I still have ambitions to do one day.

The glass is normal household seperate sheets with about an inch gap, if you use a standard DG panel that has a smaller gap between the sheets you don't get as good a result, you get a better result if the inner/inside gap is plus 20.00mm or larger say 25.00.

I have made several spinning wheel over the years and it takes roughly 100 hours to complete each machine.
I have developed a near system for making any size of wheel rim using a carosel type clamp and a travelling arm mounted router, if you like PM me and I will send some pictures of how to do it cheaply if you have router and cutter, its a far safer way than turning a 30 incher.

Here are another couple of pictures of the finished melter, notice the filter gauze which can be positioned anywhere along the pan area and held in with the lid in place via neoprene window seal/strip.

 

[drstitson]

a fortnight ago i left a wpf/paynes poly nuc lid propped against a hive in late afternoon to let stragglers make their way in - when i went to remove it next day the brace comb had melted and dripped off of the corner as a lovely bright yellow blob.

 

[The Apprentices]

Here is a better picture of the stainless mesh holder, the other wasn't very clear.

 

[drstitson]

Looks better designed and made than the one recently bought by our association. loads of design flaws. but then again italian manufacturers don't need to design to harness every last ray of feeble UK sunshine.