Repairing Poly Hives

[Olivia9801]

I have an opportunity to buy a few second - hand poly hives which are a bit dented. I know this has no impact on their performance, but I was just wondering if anyone has used any fillers to patch them up and then repaint them?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

polyfilla, or, as advised by the late Eric Hiam at Maisemores - mix ordinary Portland cement powder with PVA to make a thick paste

 

[JamezF]

I've used epoxy car body filler to repair dents and small holes in mine.

James

 

[ericbeaumont]

no impact on their performance

Worth filling dents that allow rodent or insect to gain a foothold, or water to seep inbetween the poly grains. As James said, body filler such as P38 does the job; put one coat on to fill the bulk but scrape it level, sand roughly and add a final skim to finish flush.

Leave the second skim as flush as you can to avoid too much sanding, which tends to remove the surrounding poly in preference to the harder filler.

 

[Olivia9801]

Thank you for your replies. Good to know that car body filler doesn't melt away the polystyrene!

 

[Jules59]

I've found that the polystyrene frame runners get damaged quite easily and its not easy to remove propolis from them. I cut them off and screwed on plastic runners.

 

[Olivia9801]

Has anyone used expandable polystyrene to repair holes in poly hives?

If not I wonder what that would be like?

 

[ericbeaumont]

expandable polystyrene to repair holes in poly hives?

Used it often to glue poly boxes together and it may well fill holes, but it is a messy option as the excess must be cut flush and then sanded. One drawback is that even a 60ml bottle of Gorilla glue costs £6-7, but the real issue is that storage is unreliable.

One idea to make it last is to use & seal it and park it upside down until the next time; the upside-downness prevents moist air (drawn in when using it the first time) from reacting with the glue in the dropper and sealing the exit. That sort-of works, but not much use when it doesn't, when you go to use it after a few months and find it's gone solid.

P38 is only a couple of quid more and will last a couple of years if the lid is on properly.

 

[Olivia9801]

Used it often to glue poly boxes together and it may well fill holes, but it is a messy option as the excess must be cut flush and then sanded. One drawback is that even a 60ml bottle of Gorilla glue costs £6-7, but the real issue is that storage is unreliable.

One idea to make it last is to use & seal it and park it upside down until the next time; the upside-downness prevents moist air (drawn in when using it the first time) from reacting with the glue in the dropper and sealing the exit. That sort-of works, but not much use when it doesn't, when you go to use it after a few months and find it's gone solid.

P38 is only a couple of quid more and will last a couple of years if the lid is on properly.

I agree that it's messy. I've used a lot of it for building purposes and to fill holes in poly is not viable.

Think P38 is the best option.

 

[JamezF]

One drawback is that even a 60ml bottle of Gorilla glue costs £6-7

Much cheaper if you buy a different brand of foaming PU glue though.

James

 

[Sutty]

Could you use a bit of expanding polyurethane foam with a greased sheet of rigid plastic or metal clamped over the defect to limit expansion?

 

[Olivia9801]

Much cheaper if you buy a different brand of foaming PU glue though.

James

I wonder how well it would bond to the poly hive??