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Joined
Jun 4, 2015
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Location
Co / Durham / Co Cleveland and Northumberland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
17 nucs....
After giving it a motor I decided to give it some feet to take the casters..it has killed two birds with one stone so to speak..aswell as stopping it bouncing about it has also raised it higher so I can fill the 10L buckets easier.
 

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After giving it a motor I decided to give it some feet to take the casters..it has killed two birds with one stone so to speak..aswell as stopping it bouncing about it has also raised it higher so I can fill the 10L buckets easier.

I put casters on mine (seemed like a good idea at the time) ... and then I found I was chasing it round the kitchen liks a mad thing .. even with the brakes on ! I took the casters off and put them on my table saw.

I now have a frame similar to yours to raise it up just that bit extra to get a 10ltr bucket under the gate. It sits on a piece of industrial rubber mat when in use .. doesn't hardly travel at all now. The frame has captive studs and wing nuts to attach the frame so I can take it off if needs be .. I've also thought about making a prop so that I can tip the extractor to get the last bits of honey out ... probably won't get round to that until it comes out of storage for a spring crop ...(in hope !)
 
Your kitchen must be a place where the laws of physics are different :D
When I added the Thornes custom built motor upgrade to my old manual 9 frame radial it ran and shook all over the kitchen. Had to either hang on to it or sit on it to stop it moving...at least until until the frames equalised out. Asked this forum for advice and basically they said add casters...so...
Added castors and solved the problem. It now made small gyrations bit like waltzing on the spot and was now amazingly stable.
Was yours a radial with a motor? Might be different forces at work for a motorised tangential.
 
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Your kitchen must be a place where the laws of physics are different :D
When I added the Thornes custom built motor upgrade to my old manual 9 frame radial it ran and shook all over the kitchen. Had to either hang on to it or sit on it to stop it moving...at least until until the frames equalised out. Asked this forum for advice and basically they said add casters...so...
Added castors and solved the problem. It now made small gyrations. but was now amazingly stable.
Was yours a radial? Might be different forces at work for a tangential.

Mine is exactly the same as Millets but still has the hand winding mechanism ...it wandered less when used radially than when it was tangential .. in fairness, it did wander quite a bit before I put the casters on .. just more after the casters were fitted. I did fit the casters straight onto the bottom of the legs so that might have exacerbated the problem.

The extra stability of the timber frame and a rubber mat made a huge difference and I now don't fear the higher revs of the latter stages of spinning the honey out (Previously there were times when I though both the extractor and me would enter low earth orbit !).
 
There is a big difference to how your extractor behaves when it has a light manual hand winding one vs one with a heavy electric motor now strapped to the top (or bottom).
From many's experience with an electric one, the castors (as Millet has just written) make a huge difference.
 
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There is a big difference to how your extractor behaves when it has a light manual hand winding one vs one with a heavy electric motor now strapped to the top (or bottom).
From many's experience with an electric one, the castors (as Millet has just written) make a huge difference.

I'm sure he will tell us when he has fitted his castors... they are not the heaviest of extractors but for what they cost when we bought them they were good value and they work well enough.

Whether it's worth the effort Millet has gone to in converting it to an electric I'm not sure - I think I'd be inclined to get a bigger one like yours and spend time motorising that ... credit to him for his inginuity though ...
 
There is a big difference to how your extractor behaves when it has a light manual hand winding one vs one with a heavy electric motor now strapped to the top (or bottom).
From many's experience with an electric one, the castors (as Millet has just written) make a huge difference.

Good day /good evening/ or good night night to you .. either way this extractor needs a patent putting on it as it is so simple to do/modify and so easy to use..
 
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.you will need some form of speed control. You have a centrifuge that starts off spinning differently weighted frames of honey. Best to let them start slowly. It was the problem I found from my original conversion as the motor went from zero to very fast far too quickly which resulted in too many blown frames ...
 
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.. I've also thought about making a prop so that I can tip the extractor to get the last bits of honey out...

A lump of 6x2 under the back leg works a treat 😀
 
Back to extractors...you will need some form of speed control. You have a centrifuge that starts off spinning differently weighted frames of honey. Best to let them start slowly. It was the problem I found from my original conversion as the motor went from zero to very fast far too quickly which resulted in too many blown frames ...
I have fitted a speed controller N..that is how it is turned on..it starts of really slow and a gentle turn of the knob slowly speeds it up..;)
 

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All finished and ready for spring..as well as having the speed controller i rigged a three position switch up to give me forward stop and reverse and tidied all the wiring up..it works of a 12v leisure battery which i have two of and the wooden base that is on castors works a treat..if the video works it is not the best but you will get the general idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N71muCx8siw
 
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