The "Hot Air" Solar Wax Melter/Extractor DIY

[EnricoMarc]

Hi everybody!
I would like to share with you my personal project for a new type of DIY solar wax melter/extractor! It's an invention that I've developed (and I'm still developing it!) in the past two years (pandemic helps...).
As you know, all the solar extractors currently on the market have three characteristics linked to each other: 1)load capacity, 2)size and weight and 3)cost. The larger models, with greater load capacity, have high prices and considerable size/weight. On the contrary, smaller models are lighter but have a low capacity (1 or 2 frames) with a relatively lower price.
The "Hot Air" Solar Wax Melter project was born with the aim of creating and promoting a solar melter that is easy to handle and has a good load capacity but at a minimum price. Furthermore, the "Hot Air melter" wants to be completely DIY buildable: in fact, it requires very low construction skills and could be built using recovered beehive equipment already in the possession of the beekeeper. The little extra material could be easily purchased online or in DIY shops.
What I found is a good balance between size/load capacity/price. Those are the characteristics of the Hot Air Solar Wax Melter:
- Size/weight: similar to a beehive
- Load capacity: from 6 to10 frames (depending on building style/frame size/season)
- Costs: around €100 (conversion is less than 100GBP) plus your old/recovered beehive and hive materials.

Here you can see a video on youtube which is explaining a bit how it works (it has English Subtitles - You can find more videos with experiments and tests on my channel):


And this is a schematic of how the melter is working:



The first results are encouraging, I manage to melt 8 nest frames together this July!
The project is still in the experimental stage, and I'm always looking for the best technical solutions and the most suitable materials to achieve the optimum operating efficiency per price. However, I believe that yet still very good results are achieved at really low costs even if it is only a do-it-yourself project made from recovered beehives!
In the near future, I also plan to prepare an instruction manual to make the hot air wax melter easily replicable and buildable by everyone!
I hope you will like and be interested in this idea! My approach is to let the project open to everybody and I will be happy to welcome any advice or constructive criticism! Any feedback is important for further development!
I'm looking forward to any questions, doubts or comments!

Ciao!
E.

 

[MillMeadow]

Designs that can be built " With a minimum of constructive competance " are always a prerequisite for me

Thanks Enrico, I've been looking at bashing something together over winter and I'm sure this will come in handy.

 

[drex]

I am no DIY or design genius, but I cobbled one together using a polystyrene fish box, an old double glazing panel, a stainless steel roasting tray and a non stick loaf tin, with fine metal gauze over the top . It gets so hot no fan is needed and I can do 6 deep frames a day in sunshine. The size was limited by the fish box, but I just bung a new lot of wax in each morning and let it do its thing.

 

[Sutty]

This idea for a solar tracker could be added to lots of solar wax melters - probably just one axis to rotate it appropriately.

 

[EnricoMarc]

Designs that can be built " With a minimum of constructive competance " are always a prerequisite for me

Thanks Enrico, I've been looking at bashing something together over winter and I'm sure this will come in handy.

Glad that you find it useful!
If needed, in the video description, you'll find an English section with a list of the used material plus direct links to the Amazon/Ebay shops.

 

[JamezF]

This idea for a solar tracker could be added to lots of solar wax melters - probably just one axis to rotate it appropriately.

I suspect that you'd need more electronics though. Turning a melter full of combs and wax possibly requires more power than you'd get from such small solar panels. I'm not really convinced that his design would work well all year round, either. At some point you're going to end up with the rising Sun shining on the back of the panels because they're still facing the position of the setting Sun from the previous evening. Some electronics that turns everything to face the approximate position of the sunrise (or even just due east, say) once it starts to get dark would probably be useful.

The underlying idea of how to find the direction of the Sun is neat though. I have contemplated buying a load of solar panels, setting them up somewhere in our garden or orchard and having them track the sun if I could decide on a suitable way to do it. Our neighbour would probably do his banana though. He can be a bit like that.

James

 

[blackcloud]

Will this work in the UK in February or will I still be steaming myself over a propane burner?

 

[JamezF]

Will this work in the UK in February or will I still be steaming myself over a propane burner?

I doubt it, to be honest. There's precious little energy in the sunlight at that time of year compared with the middle of Summer. Then again given the way our weather seems (not) to work at the moment, who knows?

I have been thinking for a while that I need some sort of system for melting down old comb in volume combined with a solar melter that I can just dump brace comb and the like into as I remove it during regular inspections. Perhaps a large melter that can take at least a brood chamber's worth of frames might be sufficient though. Generally I tend to have frames to melt down after early Spring inspections, so given a large enough melter they could just sit there until it gets hot enough.

I'm not really prepared to burn electricity or fossil fuels to render wax any more. In terms of wax exchange I just don't think it's worth the cost, though today I did meet someone who was interested in buying wax which perhaps justifies putting some effort into finding new methods for rendering it rather than chucking it in the compost.

James

 

[Garry R]

I made a solar wax extractor taking about 5 frames + of wax. Basically it is a big box lined with king span to insulate it. The "glass" - a piece of correx /polycarbonate scrapped from a conservatory roof which is removable. I bought a large aluminium roasting tin and cut a slot at one end at the bottom edge and hammered out a lip for the wax to run out. I lined the whole tray with pond liner with a slot at the bottom corresponding to the slot in the aluminium tray which is stuffed with J-cloth. The wax is cut from the frames then into bits and crushed and placed in a veg bag Lidl) then popped into the leg of a pair of tights. This is placed in the tray attached to the top of the tray. Wax runs down the pond liner, out of the slot and into a cake mould under the lip. I use a silicone cake mould to collect the wax. The whole box is mounted on the wheels of an old office swivel chair at an angle to allow you to swivel it round easily to follow the sun. When it cools take the wax out and wash the cake in cold water. The wax is really clean straight from the extractor. I will draw up a plan and take some photos and post them. Not as sophisticated as the earlier one shown but reckon the build was about £25

 

[EnricoMarc]

I am no DIY or design genius, but I cobbled one together using a polystyrene fish box, an old double glazing panel, a stainless steel roasting tray and a non stick loaf tin, with fine metal gauze over the top . It gets so hot no fan is needed and I can do 6 deep frames a day in sunshine. The size was limited by the fish box, but I just bung a new lot of wax in each morning and let it do its thing.

Hi drex, that's a simple but effective DIY project!
I avoided polystyrene because some typology could get softened at relatively low temps (around 80-100°C) and it doesn't offer long-term robustness.
My approach was to fit the maximum number of frames in the smallest available place, and the vertical disposition of the frames is the better solution to reach 10 frames capacity. The solar collector with the fan becomes useful to transfer the heat to the frames. I managed to melt 8 frames in around 2,5 hours thanks to the heat circulation!

 

[EnricoMarc]

I suspect that you'd need more electronics though. Turning a melter full of combs and wax possibly requires more power than you'd get from such small solar panels. I'm not really convinced that his design would work well all year round, either. At some point you're going to end up with the rising Sun shining on the back of the panels because they're still facing the position of the setting Sun from the previous evening. Some electronics that turns everything to face the approximate position of the sunrise (or even just due east, say) once it starts to get dark would probably be useful.

The underlying idea of how to find the direction of the Sun is neat though. I have contemplated buying a load of solar panels, setting them up somewhere in our garden or orchard and having them track the sun if I could decide on a suitable way to do it. Our neighbour would probably do his banana though. He can be a bit like that.

James

I agree about the fact that a fully loaded melter is really heavy to move. Moreover is not fully necessary because on a good summer day the hot air extractor manages to melt 8 frames in about 2,5 hours. If well positioned, the melter doesn't require tracking the sun. The "trick" is to add some reflective solar panels (i.e. mirrors) that can artificially increase the total solar collector area. (check the video)

 

[pargyle]

This idea for a solar tracker could be added to lots of solar wax melters - probably just one axis to rotate it appropriately.

Very neat and creative... whether you could generate enough electicity to drive a stepper motor sufficiently geared to rotate the average solar wax melter - not sure - the melter would have to be mounted on an almost frictionless base to have any hope of turning - plus, of course, our notoriously unreliable sunshine won't help.

BUT, ... I like it... another project for when I finally retire and can fit the play projects in with those that 'er indoors considers top of her priorities and sufficient grounds for all sorts of reprisals if they are not completed - or, at least, in my case begun !

 

[EnricoMarc]

Will this work in the UK in February or will I still be steaming myself over a propane burner?

My experience (in Italy) is that I was able to melt almost completely only one full nest frame at the end of January last year. Fan output temps never went above 70°C during the 4 central hours of the day. External temps were around -1/+1 °C on a really shiny day. Probably better results would have been achieved if I had to install reflective panels.
To summarise, it could work during good winter days but you can't melt large quantities of wax. So is probably better to wait for good spring sunny days.

 

[pargyle]

My experience (in Italy) is that I was able to melt almost completely only one full nest frame at the end of January last year. Fan output temps never went above 70°C during the 4 central hours of the day. External temps were around -1/+1 °C on a really shiny day. Probably better results would have been achieved if I had to install reflective panels.
To summarise, it could work during good winter days but you can't melt large quantities of wax. So is probably better to wait for good spring sunny days.

Or in the case of the UK... Hot summer ones !

 

[EnricoMarc]

I made a solar wax extractor taking about 5 frames + of wax. Basically it is a big box lined with king span to insulate it. The "glass" - a piece of correx /polycarbonate scrapped from a conservatory roof which is removable. I bought a large aluminium roasting tin and cut a slot at one end at the bottom edge and hammered out a lip for the wax to run out. I lined the whole tray with pond liner with a slot at the bottom corresponding to the slot in the aluminium tray which is stuffed with J-cloth. The wax is cut from the frames then into bits and crushed and placed in a veg bag Lidl) then popped into the leg of a pair of tights. This is placed in the tray attached to the top of the tray. Wax runs down the pond liner, out of the slot and into a cake mould under the lip. I use a silicone cake mould to collect the wax. The whole box is mounted on the wheels of an old office swivel chair at an angle to allow you to swivel it round easily to follow the sun. When it cools take the wax out and wash the cake in cold water. The wax is really clean straight from the extractor. I will draw up a plan and take some photos and post them. Not as sophisticated as the earlier one shown but reckon the build was about £25

Hi Garry, this is a really good and cheap solution!
My approach was to fit the maximum number of frames in the smallest available place to avoid large and cumbersome boxes because I don't have much space to park a big melter. Frequently I use the hot air melter on the table of my small balcony and for me is really convenient to have a light melter to move around. Of course, due to the small size, it requires a solar air heater to work effectively, but a higher cost is totally absorbed by the large load capacity and the small size and weight!

 

[Sutty]

Very neat and creative... whether you could generate enough electicity to drive a stepper motor sufficiently geared to rotate the average solar wax melter - not sure - the melter would have to be mounted on an almost frictionless base to have any hope of turning - plus, of course, our notoriously unreliable sunshine won't help.

BUT, ... I like it... another project for when I finally retire and can fit the play projects in with those that 'er indoors considers top of her priorities and sufficient grounds for all sorts of reprisals if they are not completed - or, at least, in my case begun !

It wouldn't need to be a stepper motor, just a cheap DC motor as long as it reverses direction with reversed polarity.
With the slow speed required (even to initially set) it could be geared down massively eg a 1000 rpm motor geared down with a 30000 ratio would do a half revolution in 15 minutes.
Might help to make alternative designs like the OP's viable in the UK.

 

[Garry R]

I made a solar wax extractor taking about 5 frames + of wax. Basically it is a big box lined with king span to insulate it. The "glass" - a piece of correx /polycarbonate scrapped from a conservatory roof which is removable. I bought a large aluminium roasting tin and cut a slot at one end at the bottom edge and hammered out a lip for the wax to run out. I lined the whole tray with pond liner with a slot at the bottom corresponding to the slot in the aluminium tray which is stuffed with J-cloth. The wax is cut from the frames then into bits and crushed and placed in a veg bag Lidl) then popped into the leg of a pair of tights. This is placed in the tray attached to the top of the tray. Wax runs down the pond liner, out of the slot and into a cake mould under the lip. I use a silicone cake mould to collect the wax. The whole box is mounted on the wheels of an old office swivel chair at an angle to allow you to swivel it round easily to follow the sun. When it cools take the wax out and wash the cake in cold water. The wax is really clean straight from the extractor. I will draw up a plan and take some photos and post them. Not as sophisticated as the earlier one shown but reckon the build was about £25

Here are some details of the extractor I use.

The box is constructed of chipboard or perhaps pallet boards would be better but the chipboard one has been going for about 4 years OK. The box is 900 x 650x 380mm the bottom is pallet planks. The box is lined with cellotex (25mm) lightly screwed to the box on the inside with penny washers to spread the load. The poly carbonate "window" is 20mm and is 960 x 570mm (it was old conservatory roofing and is level with the top of the box and overhangs the bottom of the box. The window is bounded by a strip of timber on each side of 900 x 20mm screwed to the box. The window is a push fit into position but held by a nail just pushed into a ovesized hole drilled into the top of the box which stops the polycarbonate sliding down. A couple of wooden turnkeys stops warping and prevents wasps and bees entering during use. The aluminium tray is held in position using cross pieces to suit yourself. The angle of the extractor is not important but the mount to the chair allows turning easily into the sun. Two side legs screwed to the box sides are cut to length to hold the whole melter at the angle you want. The silicone cake mould is supported level below the lip created in the metal tray. I painted the entire box with several coats of Ronseal 5/10year woodstain . It stays outside all summer and stored dry in the winter. Any questions just ask

 

[A.Bumbler]

I am no DIY or design genius, but I cobbled one together using a polystyrene fish box, an old double glazing panel, a stainless steel roasting tray and a non stick loaf tin, with fine metal gauze over the top . It gets so hot no fan is needed and I can do 6 deep frames a day in sunshine. The size was limited by the fish box, but I just bung a new lot of wax in each morning and let it do its thing.

We have done something similar

 

[Hachi]

I'm not really prepared to burn electricity or fossil fuels to render wax any more. In terms of wax exchange I just don't think it's worth the cost, though today I did meet someone who was interested in buying wax which perhaps justifies putting some effort into finding new methods for rendering it rather than chucking it in the compost.

James

Is it me or has the cost of new wax comb gone up and yet the beek trade in rate has not changed?

 

[Sutty]

I wonder whether a simple very highly insulated box with a small fan and electric element plus thermostat would work ok, preferably simply hooked up to a solar panel. The biggest heat loss from my simple solar wax melters will be through the double glazed polycarbonate front.