Honey weighing machines

[Nannysbees]

Probably not the right terminology. I've been looking for a machine to weigh out the honey but they are really pricey!!!! I weigh individually at the moment which takes ages, we only have six hives so I don't want anything industrial. Are the majority expensive? What do you use and is it reasonably priced. I'd like to put the honey money to good use ready for next year

 

[enrico]

Probably not the right terminology. I've been looking for a machine to weigh out the honey but they are really pricey!!!! I weigh individually at the moment which takes ages, we only have six hives so I don't want anything industrial. Are the majority expensive? What do you use and is it reasonably priced. I'd like to put the honey money to good use ready for next year

I just weigh it as I jar it. I always close the gate an ounce before the weight is reached and the last dollop is usually two ounces. So a little more goes into each jar.

 

[Nannysbees]

I just weigh it as I jar it. I always close the gate an ounce before the weight is reached and the last dollop is usually two ounces. So a little more goes into each jar.

I'm the same at the moment would just like something a bit quicker and cleaner

 

[Nannysbees]

What about this one?

 

[Amari]

Probably not the right terminology. I've been looking for a machine to weigh out the honey but they are really pricey!!!! I weigh individually at the moment which takes ages, we only have six hives so I don't want anything industrial. Are the majority expensive? What do you use and is it reasonably priced. I'd like to put the honey money to good use ready for next year

I may be missing the point but I can't see why you need to weigh the honey especially as you only have six colonies. Presumably you sell some of the crop but surely only on a modest scale. I fill my jars so that there is no visible airspace between the top of the honey and the lid (a criterion also used by honey-show judges) and place them in my sales box at the gate. I have never received any complaints.

 

[ericbeaumont]

only have six hives

Still worth buying the bottling machine: Henry gave a detailed assessment of the two main options at post 16 of this thread.

At first I thought you wanted an efficient weighing machine and I agree that filling & weighing jars individually is tiresome, but I still do it until money rolls in for the machine.

Scales for individual weight should be Trade Approved and will cost £180-250; for years I used electronic kitchen scales and added 2g to each set weight; TA scales cost me £170. If you overfill by 10g or so to make sure, then after 25 jars you will have given one away free, so it is worth filling accurately (I still add 2g).

 

[Nannysbees]

Still worth buying the bottling machine: Henry gave a detailed assessment of the two main options at post 16 of this thread.

At first I thought you wanted an efficient weighing machine and I agree that filling & weighing jars individually is tiresome, but I still do it until money rolls in for the machine.

Scales for individual weight should be Trade Approved and will cost £180-250; for years I used electronic kitchen scales and added 2g to each set weight; TA scales cost me £170. If you overfill by 10g or so to make sure, then after 25 jars you will have given one away free, so it is worth filling accurately (I still add 2g).

Thank you post 16 very informative

 

[Nannysbees]

I may be missing the point but I can't see why you need to weigh the honey especially as you only have six colonies. Presumably you sell some of the crop but surely only on a modest scale. I fill my jars so that there is no visible airspace between the top of the honey and the lid (a criterion also used by honey-show judges) and place them in my sales box at the gate. I have never received any complaints.

Thank you. Not on a grand scale but 400 jars still takes quite a bit of time

 

[ericbeaumont]

Not on a grand scale but 400 jars still takes quite a bit of time

Always a good idea to future-proof processes and equipment, so investment is worthwhile. You might creep up to 10 colonies in two years, and then who knows...

 

[pargyle]

Probably not the right terminology. I've been looking for a machine to weigh out the honey but they are really pricey!!!! I weigh individually at the moment which takes ages, we only have six hives so I don't want anything industrial. Are the majority expensive? What do you use and is it reasonably priced. I'd like to put the honey money to good use ready for next year

I keep getting tempted by this one on AliExpress ... you might get stung by customs - it's the luck of the draw I've found but it is still less than anything you can get in the UK:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...=scene:pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller|query_from:

 

[Nannysbees]

I keep getting tempted by this one on AliExpress ... you might get stung by customs - it's the luck of the draw I've found but it is still less than anything you can get in the UK:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007540094145.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller.4.de89csSDcsSDHN&gps-id=pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.354490.0&scm_id=1007.40050.354490.0&scm-url=1007.40050.354490.0&pvid=911c1d5d-93bc-4f63-8fa4-0132e38c2b65&_t=gps-idcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.40050.354490.0,pvid:911c1d5d-93bc-4f63-8fa4-0132e38c2b65,tpp_buckets:668#2846#8115#2000&pdp_npi=4@dis!GBP!194.32!116.59!!!1745.91!1047.53!@211b876e17301260582698445e9af3!12000041212423228!rec!UK!118415609!XZ&utparam-url=scenecDetailTopMoreOtherSeller|query_from:

I like the look of that, really robust

 

[robmort]

I fill about 30-40 jars at a time to avoid any chance of subsequent crystallisation which is easier to deal with in buckets. So digital scales placed under the jar being filled is easy and efficient.

 

[Sutty]

I looked at some of these machines on amazon after a previous thread, what really put me off was when I enquired about spare parts they couldn't provide any.

 

[Jimmy]

I looked at some of these machines on amazon after a previous thread, what really put me off was when I enquired about spare parts they couldn't provide any.

Swienty did an online sales talk about their filling machines 3-4 years ago and were asked about cheaper alternatives. They were very dismissive about the quality and longevity of the internal components. It wasn't clear whether they had in mind European or Chinese alternatives and I get that every top end specialised equipment supplier in sales history would trot out a similar line.

 

[pargyle]

Years ago, when I had my spraying company, we used to buy airless spray pumps that were supposedly made in the UK. On a whim I bought one from a German company who openly admitted that they were importing them from the 'Far East; - it was less than half the price of the alleged UK made ones.

I told our UK Supplier, who we spent many thousands of pounds with annually - they were scathing about the quality of 'foreign crap'. The sprayer arrived - apart from the logos and labels on the outside it looked identical and worked just as well ....one of our UK ones packed up and me and my storeman took it apart ... and then, out of curiosity took the 'foreign crap' one apart - only to find that part numbers stamped on components were identical to the 'UK made' one ...

I swapped the casings of the two machines over and got the local rep to come in and have a look and give us an opinion.. on what looked like the 'foreign crap' one ... after he showed us the inferior castings, the 'cheap' components and telling us that I had wasted my money on foreign garbage .... we let him in on the ruse ! I don't think I've ever seen a rep more totally lost for words before or since.

One of the hinges on our (rather expensive when we bought it) showrer enclosure doors broke last week .. replacment from the original supplier £73.62 each ... replacement from ebay (in stainless steel not chrome plated white metal) £12,93 .. ) identical shape and design and better than the original. I've replaced both hinges for less than half the cost of one OEM job. !

I do wonder ...

 

[Newbeeneil]

Years ago, when I had my spraying company, we used to buy airless spray pumps that were supposedly made in the UK. On a whim I bought one from a German company who openly admitted that they were importing them from the 'Far East; - it was less than half the price of the alleged UK made ones.

I told our UK Supplier, who we spent many thousands of pounds with annually - they were scathing about the quality of 'foreign crap'. The sprayer arrived - apart from the logos and labels on the outside it looked identical and worked just as well ....one of our UK ones packed up and me and my storeman took it apart ... and then, out of curiosity took the 'foreign crap' one apart - only to find that part numbers stamped on components were identical to the 'UK made' one ...

I swapped the casings of the two machines over and got the local rep to come in and have a look and give us an opinion.. on what looked like the 'foreign crap' one ... after he showed us the inferior castings, the 'cheap' components and telling us that I had wasted my money on foreign garbage .... we let him in on the ruse ! I don't think I've ever seen a rep more totally lost for words before or since.

One of the hinges on our (rather expensive when we bought it) showrer enclosure doors broke last week .. replacment from the original supplier £73.62 each ... replacement from ebay (in stainless steel not chrome plated white metal) £12,93 .. ) identical shape and design and better than the original. I've replaced both hinges for less than half the cost of one OEM job. !

I do wonder ...

I agree, my jarring machine is Chinese via Thornes but it’s a great bit of kit and does the job well. I’m tempted to buy the pumped one straight from China to compare the use.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

Swienty did an online sales talk about their filling machines 3-4 years ago and were asked about cheaper alternatives. They were very dismissive about the quality and longevity of the internal components. It wasn't clear whether they had in mind European or Chinese alternatives and I get that every top end specialised equipment supplier in sales history would trot out a similar line.

But there are many of use that can testify to the quality/longevity of the Swienty machines.
Ours has now passed the 100,000 jars mark with no breakdowns and couple of quid spent on spare parts.

 

[Hull Bees]

What about this one?

Definitely not that one. It will be extremely slow with that tiny pump. If you look at the model Thorne sell it looks similar except for the large geared pump on the side. If you go for this style machine aim for one with a pump that looks like that. .