The National Uncapper

[Wilco]

An option to buy spares?

Don't think so at this point but ask Martin.

 

[MartinBee]

Good work, Martin. I spoke to Simple Harmony a few years ago and yes, it transpired that the dimensonal difference was an issue.

What's it like after 200 frames?
Food grade materials, I take it.
Suit Manley? Don't have one to hand to compare with SN.
Depth of cut? Deeper will deal with dips in combs.

Eric, since it is hot off the production line i have only put 42 frames through it but it hasn't clogged up significantly. The cappings and honey caught on the rollers and between the blades just drip down into the tray.
Materials are all food grade, HDPE frame, the white stuff you see - which is very solid. The "spindles" are a single piece of aluminium with cutting blades with pitch and thickness set at the combination that gave the best results in trials. The fixing bolts and screws are A2 grade stainless steel and the tray is polythene. Actually the tray is an off the shelf item from "The Really Useful Box Company - 50 litre" who are delighted we have found another use for their boxes. The frame is bolted to the top of the box with an M6 allen key bolt and a HDPE plastic "Washer" reinforces the connection and protects the box from fixing.
Yes it will cope with Manley frames, the geometry allows for wide sidebars.

 

[MartinBee]

Popped by earlier as I was in the area and Martin kindly allowed me to have a go, inspect it and ask a few questions. I'm still thinking and want to hear how it performs after much more use but initial thoughts are below:

Looks like a solid design which has been thought through. I was able to test it on some SN4 style frames and it was quick to use and very tidy. Build quality is nice and it's a combination of polypropylene frame with aluminium rollers. Attention to detail excellent with chamfered edges on the frame plus everything being food grade material. Can get the full length of a frame in.

I saw frames which had been spun out following using it and it seemed most of the honey was out although a side by side comparison with 'traditional' uncapping would be interesting. Hard to be sure if the cut width is adequate for full extraction without such a comparison.

There is very little cappings wax produced/collected. This is either a pro or a con depending on what you're harvesting.

For nicely filled flat frames it works effectively on. For more uneven ones I'd like to hear more after further testing - some bulky or very uneven frames will still need a degree of uncapping with a knife although this also helps even up the frames for future use anyway. I'd suspect that it will overall reduce processing and mess even if some frames need to be uncapped manually.

I believe there are a couple of intense testing sessions happening soon, including one local association extraction day, so hopefully there will be a lot more info. on performance.

Lead time is several weeks and the design is being finalised so it may not be available in time for everyone interested this year.

Cleaning looks simple, cold water should do. the trick and it doesn't appear to clog.

View attachment 36949

Thanks for posting your report Will, good to meet you.

 

[MartinBee]

Are the rollers sharp or do they work by bruising the surface as well? It looks a good and well thought out bit of kit. Even for someone with 10 hives over 10 years that outlay works out at ~ £3 per hive per annum which if effective is a good investment I would say - especially when you think what we spend on jars, medication etc etc and also the amount of time and money cleaning up afterwards in the normal run of things. I will certainly keep a look out for it.

Square cut @Gary Rigby so they cut through the wax caps in most cases. Because we use a figure of 8 "O" ring arrangement, the spindles rotate together so it is cut motion rather than a drag. Other sellers are using a single O Ring situated inside the frame which will get very sticky, slippery and loose traction! we are using another standard item O Ring from RS Components (larger diameter, smaller cross section) that is batch ordered 50 at a time and costs pence. Our design allows for the O Rings outside the frame, so they don't get slippery in honey, and the drive part of the spindle has 3 grooves so you can change the amount of spring force for different wax types and frame thickness. Also having 3 O Rings increases the surface area of contact between the rings and the drive wheel on the spindles.

 

[MartinBee]

They're square cut @Martin Godet are you happy for me to share the photo of the rollers here? Too early to know about longevity but as I said it appears solid. The only parts which may need replacing in time and the elastic ring tensioners.

Yes Will, go ahead and share the pics.

 

[MartinBee]

An option to buy spares?

Eric, spares would be the drip tray and the O Rings.
The drip tray is available online everywhere from "The Really Useful Box Company" and you can get one for £20. The box could break in time but is tough and i've been using the same brand for storage for years for my cycling gear.
The O Rings are readily available and will definitely need replacing (depending on wear, could be yearly?) as the nitrile material is prone to hardening over time and in contact with some oils and UV. We will send out each Uncapper with a spare set of O Rings and they are currently £10 for a bag of 50, 20p each.

 

[MartinBee]

And OSR that sneaks into the second crop.
I'd put an order in right now!
How is it cleaned?

Well my bees are cleaning it up this morning but i just hose it down in the back garden.

The other way is to unbolt it from the box and run it through the dishwasher on a suitable cycle. (cool - you don't want to melt the wax into your dishwasher filter)

It does inevitably get propolis on it and i'll take your tips on removing that if i can be bothered!

 

[MartinBee]

Thanks for all your interest and questions. I have started uploading more videos on @youtube.com on how it deals with sunken frames or really bumpy ones. more to come on replacing O Rings and mounting the frame to the box.

My Association - Petersfield&DBKA - is having our extraction day next Sunday 23rd July - so i will be able to see what it looks like after several hundred frames have been uncapped. Videos and reviews to follow. Many thanks, Martin

 

[Erichalfbee]

I hope you have a patent on it

 

[MartinBee]

I hope you have a patent on it

working on that!

 

[Erichalfbee]

working on that!

I’d get a move on

 

[Jimmy]

It does inevitable get propolis on it and i'll take your tips on removing that if i can be bothered!

Washing soda is the normal propolis cleaner. But aluminium - I thought that was discouraged?

 

[blackcloud]

So far so good Martin -the first hurdle is always a forum-savaging pile-on which you appear to have jumped....

 

[Wilco]

 

[Wilco]

working on that!

Might also be worth editing your posts to remove the spacing data.

 

[Jimmy]

Maisemore seem to be offering something similar in August according to a Facebook post on 13 July

 

[MartinBee]

Maisemore seem to be offering something similar in August according to a Facebook post on 13 July

Yes i was alerted to their version yesterday - I'm not sure our version would be improved by adding half a dozen mild-steel bolts and butterfly wingnuts! i guess you lot will decide.

 

[Ian123]

Hi Does it work on deep frames

 

[Anduril]

Might also be worth editing your posts to remove the spacing data.

If the application has been submitted before making it public then there is no problem, although you perhaps should have signed an NDA while trialling it. There might be challenges to the patent if others are on the market.

 

[blackcloud]

If you don't put the frames in reasonably horizontal will it chew the Hoffman lobes?