Swienty Poly Nationals - design change

[Madge]

... Or did you mean in your original post that they have the new BB and the rest of the old parts will be replaced when the old stock are sold?

No - I said they have in stock the new design for all the parts apart from the brood box (because they still have quite a lot of the old brood box stock to shift) - but it seems Tim has the new brood box, so you'd better check directly with them what they do, and don't, have. I think she said they're busy updating the photos.
Kitta

 

[itma]

.. but it seems Tim has the new brood box, ...

That looks very like a 14x12 brood!
And Tim's profile says he uses ...

 

[user 6228]

hopefully get my hands on one on Saturday

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Tim,


I have the pains model and supplied flimsy sheet drops down onto the frames and is all but useless in the winter when feeding fondant. I ended up making new boards but they are then exposed at the sides as a normal national roof does not fit the pains BB so I plan to get some thicker polycarbonate sheet and make some cover boards.

I feel that the pains poly is better than the m b poly national despite the paines one being softer. What are your thoughts of the paines one compared to the swienty?

 

[Alabamaeee]

Haven't got a full Swienty hive yet but the CWJ supers I bought last year have been really strong and the poly is much harder to dent.

 

[Alabamaeee]

CWJ have new 14 X 12 hive now on their site. I have not seen the adverts in the magazines but to me this looks like a new BB, floor, old supers and possibly new roof.

Anyone seen the swienty advert and can compare the pics with the CWJ offering?

 

[Alabamaeee]

Just noticed that the floor has a ledge on two sides (see arrows in pic). Assuming the BB is flat at the bottom and is the same outside dimension as the floor it looks like the ledge on either side of the floor is a haven for "proposers".

Has anyone with the new floor noticed this or found it a problem in use?

 

[Bates]

hopefully get my hands on one on Saturday

Same here

 

[Tim1606]

Here is a close up of the frame rest before assembly looking at it end on. As you can see they fit neatly into the slot.

 

[itma]

Here is a close up of the frame rest before assembly looking at it end on. As you can see they fit neatly into the slot.

Thanks for that. Mr Yates would be pleased with the idea of a knife-edge frame support design.
How do castellations work with such a box? (And no, I'm not suggesting using them in the brood, but I expect the new super to have an identical setup.)
Do you just slip the strip inside that L-shaped "frame rest", and use the knife-edge for support and the castellations purely to set the spacing?

 

[alanf]

Thanks for that. Mr Yates would be pleased with the idea of a knife-edge frame support design.
How do castellations work with such a box? (And no, I'm not suggesting using them in the brood, but I expect the new super to have an identical setup.)
Do you just slip the strip inside that L-shaped "frame rest", and use the knife-edge for support and the castellations purely to set the spacing?

Castellations were not mentioned in the sales pitch, they probably assume hoffman. I don't know if anyone else asked. However, since a brood box seems to have found it's way back to mine, a quick dry run shows you could ease out the plastic rest a mm or so and slip a budget style castellation strip into the gap where the height would be about right for a bottom space frame. However, you'd have to trim the strip end with a hacksaw or similar because at the usual ten frame super spacing you only get nine in these boxes, so the strip is too long.

 

[Alabamaeee]

If they are still selling the old style super as shown on their site I bought some in 2012. I just cut off a length of a standard castellation strip so that it held 9 frames and it worked out OK.

I will be buying a couple of 14x12 ploys from them but still not sure if the 14x12 complete hive has all new design pieces or just the floor and BB?

If Swienty have produced a completely new design then I will hold off until all pieces are to the new style.

Has anyone bought the complete 14x12 hive yet or seen it 1st hand?

 

[Red Bee]

How can these poly hives be bottom bee space when the bottom of the B/B is totally flat? No rebate to protect from squashing bees on frame lugs.

 

[Alabamaeee]

Except for changing floors or combining hives mine are never lifted off the floors. As far as I recall there is no rebate on commercial BB's either.

 

[Hivemaker.]

How can these poly hives be bottom bee space when the bottom of the B/B is totally flat? No rebate to protect from squashing bees on frame lugs.

The Paynes bottom bee space poly nationals have a rebate in the bottom of the boxes, above the frame lugs.

As far as I recall there is no rebate on commercial BB's either.

Do they make a poly commercial hive?

Some of wooden commercials have a small recess, but not really needed as only 19mm thick side walls, as opposed to around 44mm in the end wall of a wooden bottom bee space national where the frame lugs rest.

 

[itma]

How can these poly hives be bottom bee space when the bottom of the B/B is totally flat? No rebate to protect from squashing bees on frame lugs.

I'm sorry, but could you clarify that please?

As Hivemaker notes, the Paynes polys DO have that headspace above the frame lugs let into the bottom of the boxes.

It is particularly important between boxes (eg double brood, or super to super) and irrelevant between floor and brood box.
Absent the headspace, frames get propolised to the box above, and then those frames are lifted/disturbed when the box above is removed during inspection. // Added - This can be a nuisance on at least some WBCs which I have encountered that lacked this headspace. Problem doesn't exist on Commercial, lang, Smith.

Which poly boxes are you saying are lacking this feature? (If Swienty/CWJ is this old or new or both?)

 

[user 6228]

SWienty new: minus the rail the head space is 7.5mm. I didnt get any rails although the BB is grooved to take them.

 

[Alabamaeee]

SWienty new: minus the rail the head space is 7.5mm. I didnt get any rails although the BB is grooved to take them.

Looking at the pictures posted earlier it looks like there are no rails, just a flat plastic insert, unlike the Paynes which are slotted to take a drop in metal rail.

 

[Swarm]

When pushed into the slot, the plastic insert creates a ridge above the moulded shoulder that becomes the rail, AFAICS.

 

[Tim1606]

When pushed into the slot, the plastic insert creates a ridge above the moulded shoulder that becomes the rail, AFAICS.

That is correct.

Alabamaeee
If you look at the picture I posted on post 29 you will see it clearly. Very rigid in my opinion.