Is this the best extractor EVER ?

[pargyle]

My 40 year old Lega ...

Takes 15 frames radially, built like a tank, bomb proof motor with a manual rheostat to control the speed (no electronics), proper stainless steel that stays stain free (including the motor mounting rail), no sharp edges anyhere, honey gate drains virtually everything before you have to tip it , easy extractor to clean, take the motor off (just two nuts to remove the motor and rail) hose it off, lift the cage out in one piece, turn it over, put it back the other way up and hose again. And I dare not tell you what it cost me second hand ...

I've seen a lot of extractors over the years but I've not seen anything to beat it for a sensible price but I'm open to challenges.

 

[StephenT]

I’ve got the 4 frame manual tangental Lega and is great for our 3 hive garden apiary. Same as you just two nuts off and cage comes out and easy to hose down. The issue I have is that you have to drain off the honey after each couple of frames otherwise the lugs drag in it. Is this due to longer lugged national frames or am I missing something?

 

[MillMeadow]

Do you extract 14X12 honey frames with it Pargyle? Or are you using something smaller in your supers?

 

[ericbeaumont]

drain off the honey after each couple of frames otherwise the lugs drag in it.

Undo the nut on the main shaft lower down the cage, slide the cage up as far as it'll go, and tighten the nut.

At this height you should be able to extract a couple of boxes before the lugs drag.

 

[StephenT]

Undo the nut on the main shaft lower down the cage, slide the cage up as far as it'll go, and tighten the nut.

At this height you should be able to extract a couple of boxes before the lugs drag.

Cheers Eric. Will have to wait until next year to try it now.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Undo the nut on the main shaft lower down the cage, slide the cage up as far as it'll go, and tighten the nut.

At this height you should be able to extract a couple of boxes before the lugs drag.

used to have access to a 9 frame one, everyone else moaned about the lugs dragging in the honey - until one day I noticed the bottom bolt

 

[pargyle]

Do you extract 14X12 honey frames with it Pargyle? Or are you using something smaller in your supers?

I use shallows in my supers ... I rarely have to extract brood frames ... it will take 14 x 12's but needs them to be put in at an angle which means they are sort of semi-tangential so have to spin them twice.

I keep thinking about getting a cage made that will take 14 x 12 brood frames as it would be a doddle to swap the cage over when I needed to spin out brood frames for any reason ... another project for another day ?

Ian is right about adjusting the cage on the spindle ... My extractor is actually for Langstroth frames so, in order to convert it to nationals, I replaced the vertical rods with stainless threaded bar to accommodate the length of the national frames. At the same time I lifted the cage up the central shaft (it's just held in place with an allen key grub screw) and there's no chance of the lugs getting anywhere near the honey.

It's got a really deep dish to the bottom of the extractor and I usually open the gate when the honey level gets near to the bearing point at the bottom of the spindle.

It is, in all respects, a beautifully designed and well made bit of kit. I don't know whether the modern ones are as well made.

 

[Hachi]

Some are some arn't Phil. You can't really expect much from the cheap end of the market after a couple of hard years extracting. Definately a buy once cry once purchase.

 

[pargyle]

Some are some arn't Phil. You can't really expect much from the cheap end of the market after a couple of hard years extracting. Definately a buy once cry once purchase.

Yes... it's like washing machines and tumble driers these days .... but even the expensive ones seem to be made out of bean tins these days with a built in obsolescence that kicks in the day after the warranty expires !

 

[Hachi]

My Giordan is extremely well made with heavy guage S/S hence my always recommending them and would have another but I expect mine will outlive me.

 

[JamezF]

Yes... it's like washing machines and tumble driers these days .... but even the expensive ones seem to be made out of bean tins these days with a built in obsolescence that kicks in the day after the warranty expires !

Dishwashers too. When we replaced our last one a few years back a salesman suggested that they were only expected to last about five years. When my wife said that the one we were replacing was at least fifteen years old he looked at us with an expression that I could only interpret as him thinking it must have been faulty.

Our current dishwasher is trying to persuade us that it is dying despite working perfectly well once it can be fiddled into starting. I suspect the microswitch behind the "start" button is failing. We had a similar problem with one of the buttons on the tumble drier some time back. I opened it up, removed the control board and swapped the faulty microswitch with one on a button we never used. Got a good few years more use out of it after that.

On the other hand, when humans are extinct and the insects have evolved to replace us, insect archaeologists are going to be dumbfounded by the number of fully functional million year old Kenwood mixers that they keep digging up...

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

My Giordan is extremely well made with heavy guage S/S hence my always recommending them and would have another but I expect mine will outlive me.

I had a Drill driven Giordan
I wish I'd kept it and simply replaced the drill with a motor. Lesson learned. Never get rid of kit in a hurry

 

[Jimmy]

I had a Drill driven Giordan
I wish I'd kept it and simply replaced the drill with a motor. Lesson learned. Never get rid of kit in a hurry

I had the same Giordan extractor before a 20 frame Lyson, I'm not convinced it's always quicker with the larger extractor. It probably is overall but with different bottlenecks - uncapping mainly.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

My 40 year old Lega ...

Takes 15 frames radially, built like a tank, bomb proof motor with a manual rheostat to control the speed (no electronics), proper stainless steel that stays stain free (including the motor mounting rail), no sharp edges anyhere, honey gate drains virtually everything before you have to tip it , easy extractor to clean, take the motor off (just two nuts to remove the motor and rail) hose it off, lift the cage out in one piece, turn it over, put it back the other way up and hose again. And I dare not tell you what it cost me second hand ...

I've seen a lot of extractors over the years but I've not seen anything to beat it for a sensible price but I'm open to challenges.

Morris Beekeeping takes be back a few years. Bought my first hive from him. Saved up £5 each week from a paper round. Took ages to save up. Think it cost about £90. It was made up and the newly cut cedar smelt lovely. He was on the forum a while ago and I managed to catch up,

 

[Hachi]

I hate uncapping, whenever I hear or read that word I witness a chemical chain reaction take place inside me. Urrrgghhh!!!!!

 

[pargyle]

I hate uncapping, whenever I hear or read that word I witness a chemical chain reaction take place inside me. Urrrgghhh!!!!!

I think the key to successful uncapping lies principallyin the the quality of the drawn frames. If they are capped flat, just above the level of the top bar and all the same ... uncapping is a pleasure. Unfortunately, my bees seem to delight in building uneven, lumpy, fat combs with bits of brace comb anywhere they can fit it in. Probably, what I should do, if I was a proper beekeeper, is trim the comb flat over winter and drag the frames out during the season and level any where they are getting creative but .... whether that's what the bees want ? Not sure ?

I bought a heated uncapping planer like this:

https://www.maxantindustries.com/uncapping.html
It works brilliantly on flat combs but ... not so good on uneven ones ! Back to the knife and uncapping fork !

 

[enrico]

That reminds me... My first extractor was an old single tub spin dryer. I used to crush all the frames in a net bag and throw it in. I only used it one year but it worked quite well. I haven't seen a spin dryer like that for years. You didn't used to get them in the washing machine!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It is, in all respects, a beautifully designed and well made bit of kit. I don't know whether the modern ones are as well made.

they are - which is reflected in the price - compare the prices Maisies charge for their Lega 9 frame compared to the Lyson (another quality machine) 20 frame radial

 

[pargyle]

I had a Drill driven Giordan
I wish I'd kept it and simply replaced the drill with a motor. Lesson learned. Never get rid of kit in a hurry

Hmmm... as someone who tends to keep EVERYTHING ... I rarely have that problem ! Trouble nais it's difficult to justify keeping TWO extractors (which I did for about two years until 'er indoors persuaded me that the extractor sitting in the corner of my study was not something easily explained to guests - or indeed, the rest of the family and it had to go ... so it went down to the storage container for a holiday with all the other stuff waiting to be surgically removed from my possession and it finally went off to a good home with a member on here ... but I have the occasional tinge of regret !

 

[pargyle]

That reminds me... My first extractor was an old single tub spin dryer. I used to crush all the frames in a net bag and throw it in. I only used it one year but it worked quite well. I haven't seen a spin dryer like that for years. You didn't used to get them in the washing machine!

My Mum had one until the top loading Hoover washing machine finally gave up the ghost after nearly 40 years use and she reluctantly (VERY RELUCTANTLY AND WITH MUCH COMPLAINT) gave in to me buying her a front loader and dumped the Burco spin drier - which she viewed with a lot of suspicion because 'a friend told her - the door could come open and spill water all over the floor' . She used to sit in the kitchen and watch it in case it did .... it never did and outlived her.