Thorne jar filling set up

[jenkinsbrynmair]

now HMRC might stick you for VAT at 20% on arrival though

you forget the import duties - plus handling charges from the courier/agent

 

[plain_hunt]

I would love one of these, but seems a bit overkill for 150 jars a year

And I jar about that as well, but I do like shiny things….
I’ll have a good look at them next week.

 

[plain_hunt]

This seems to be the same machine direct from China supplier, now HMRC might stick you for VAT at 20% on arrival though
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/14529331...ZleoiArYxT5wddUExrr0ogDYJXWL5EGBoCxwgQAvD_BwE
But would still come in at £480 for a unit then cheaper than buying here.

We didn’t get charged vat when I bought a set of foundation rollers from China, and they were more than £500.

 

[Newbeeneil]

This seems to be the same machine direct from China supplier, now HMRC might stick you for VAT at 20% on arrival though
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/14529331...ZleoiArYxT5wddUExrr0ogDYJXWL5EGBoCxwgQAvD_BwE
But would still come in at £480 for a unit then cheaper than buying here.

Plus the £110 delivery charge!

Edit, with everything included probably easier to buy local and get guarantee and service.

 

[pargyle]

Maisie’s had one of these at the beekeeping show in Telford. Lots of interest
https://bees-online.co.uk/product/small-honey-bottling-machine/

This one is on Alibaba ..shipping negotiable - I've bought from Alibaba in the past -they usually ship single items as 'manufacturer sample' and they normally escape VAT and customs duties. There's always a risk but even with shipping it's £100 cheaper at least buying direct.

https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...offerlist.normal_offer.d_image.e3a57191uYxcpg
But .. my honey bottling requirements don't warrant this sort of scale - my two £1.20 plastic jugs suit me at present - when I'm organised I can do 30 to 40 jars an hour including labelling. If I needed to do 300 to 400 it would be a different matter.

 

[IGPebble]

This seems to be the same machine direct from China supplier, now HMRC might stick you for VAT at 20% on arrival though
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/14529331...ZleoiArYxT5wddUExrr0ogDYJXWL5EGBoCxwgQAvD_BwE
But would still come in at £480 for a unit then cheaper than buying here.

It is, all the machines are made at the same factory in China. I've imported plenty of bits from China and it's honestly hit and miss whether you get hit with customs and import.

For me, I got Thornes because I can return it without issue if it develops a fault, and it also comes with the bucket and custom hose port already setup so I could just use it straight off the bat.

You have to look at it from a cost/benefit analysis, I'm fine paying an extra £100 for less risk especially on a purchase that expensive, and if you did get stung with full import charges and VAT (which is very possible) you'd be paying about the same but with no warranty, bucket, hose adapter or viscus nozzle attachment (extremely useful, stops all honey drops).

That's just my choice though, others may have a different mindset.

 

[Minxpinx]

It is, all the machines are made at the same factory in China. I've imported plenty of bits from China and it's honestly hit and miss whether you get hit with customs and import.

For me, I got Thornes because I can return it without issue if it develops a fault, and it also comes with the bucket and custom hose port already setup so I could just use it straight off the bat.

You have to look at it from a cost/benefit analysis, I'm fine paying an extra £100 for less risk especially on a purchase that expensive, and if you did get stung with full import charges and VAT (which is very possible) you'd be paying about the same but with no warranty, bucket, hose adapter or viscus nozzle attachment (extremely useful, stops all honey drops).

That's just my choice though, others may have a different mindset.

I agree with you.

 

[Stubbin wood]

I've got to the point where filling jars by hand has become a real bore. I'm wondering if anyone on here has one of these Smart Weighing and Filling Machines from Thorne? Smart Weighing and Filling Machine

I've been eying it for a while and would love to get some reviews, please.

The capacity would suit me well and it doesn't have miles of pipework to lose lots of honey in/to clean + it doesn't take up much space... is it too good to be true?!

I purchased one from china on AliExpress for and it’s the exact same as the thornes sell and makes life a lot easier

with Ali express. Your money is protected as the seller doesn’t receive the funds Untill your receive the item and confirm it’s been delivered
￡430.56 | Convenient Honey Filling Machine 50g~2500g Filling Scale Stainless Steel Honey Filling Machine Viscous Paste Filling Machine
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKCTXrO

 

[ericbeaumont]

same as the thornes sell and makes life a lot easier

Does AliExpress include warranty, bucket, hose adapter or viscous nozzle attachment (extremely useful, stops all honey drops)?

 

[a.rebordao]

Hello! I've been asked to give an opinion:

I have both bottling machines, first I purchased the pneumatic one from Thornes at a convention after having a quick demo. After using it for a year, it's better than hand-bottling but extremely finicky and can't be left setup, the main cons are:

Gravity-fed: Inconsistent fill rate and have to lift honey up quite high to fill it, also tipping the whole thing near the end gets very annoying.
Pneumatic: the units prone to leaks and struggles with thicker honey (as its gravity fed), the compressor (if using a small one) will eventually limit your duty cycle as they get hot quick
Faster than manual, but still slow: It's maybe 30% faster than manual if you consider just the jar filling, but the fettling and cleaning after every session quickly adds up.
Accurate-ish: More accurate than manual filling, but still not super accurate and it can be quite hard to adjust up/down a few grams, I'd say the repeatable accuracy is +/- ~2-5g (which varies depending on honey pressure/thickness).
Can't be left setup: A really terrible design flaw, but when the piston is in the "closed" position, honey can leak into the rear of the piston chamber which prevents the piston from retracting properly. This is guaranteed to happen if you leave the machine sitting with honey in for any length of time, or can happen if you're bottling very runny honey.
Sub-par build quality: The whole thing is quite shoddily made and doesn't feel like it will stand numerous years of use, when I finally got to using it I didn't feel like I got my money's worth.

After using this for a season and a bit, I decided to bite the bullet and spend £750 on Thornes new HD Bottling Machine and wow, what a difference. In my opinion, it's well worth the extra £200 and perfectly fills the gap between manual filling and a £3,000 swienty turntable. I'll list the main things I've found:

Positives:
Can be left setup: Easy to sanitize and seal the bucket and nozzle, so can be left for extended periods (I've left it for weeks) with no adverse effects, starts right back up.
Scalable: The unit itself is fed by a hose, with the right connector you can connect that to any sized setting/bottling tank.
Fast and consistent: It fills jars faster than I can replace and lid them, I'm easily able to do 300-500 jars in a 3 hour stretch without much thought.
Powerful: I thought I might have to have the honey bucket above the jarring machine, but once the pump is primed it has absolutely no problem lifting honey from the floor to table height, even with colder/thick honey.
Accurate: Easily hits a repeatable accuracy of +/- 1g.
Compact: The unit itself is tiny, it's a very compact design with no wasted space and can be setup just about anywhere you can fit a 5gal bucket and a 30x30cm footprint for the actual unit. It also packs down to fit inside the 5gal bucket with ease.
Build quality: This is honestly what shocked me the most. The build quality is superb, everything feels very well manufactured and the components seem fit for purpose, I've done 500+ jars in a single session and it hasn't skipped a beat. The pump motor itself is enormous and powerful, I'd say it easily rivals anything in the cheaper lines of classic impeller-style jarring machines.
Quiet: No compressor, no additional plugs, the unit itself isn't particularly noisy.

Negatives:
Cleaning: Cleaning can be a little finnicky as you need to dismantle the impeller housing, care must be taken not to damage the threads, the mating surfaces, or the small custom o-ring sealing it. The plus side is you really only need to clean it when you're packing it away after the seasons complete. If properly maintained and filled with honey, I see no reason why it couldn't be left setup the entire season.

Conclusion
The HD Bottling machine wins hands down! Knowing what I know now after using it, they could increase the price to over a grand and I'd still buy it, I consider it extremely good value for the money and it will probably last me the rest of my beekeeping career unless things get wildly out of hand. A few other members who have visited to have a nose at it can testify how good it is.

In other and completely unrelated news, I have a pneumatic honey filling machine for sale.

EDIT: Happy to answer any questions or post custom videos if you're curious about a specific feature, but might take me a little while to reply as I don't look at the forums often (far too many opinions).

Video of it in action (in manual mode, it also has an automatic mode that detects the weight of a new jar, tares it, then dispenses the correct weight of honey).
View attachment 37901

Hello, thanks for posting this.
I just bought one of these machines. Could you please elaborate on "dismantle the impeller housing"? Is there an easy way of dismantling the pump's case? Thanks.

 

[Dodge]

Hello, thanks for posting this.
I just bought one of these machines. Could you please elaborate on "dismantle the impeller housing"? Is there an easy way of dismantling the pump's case? Thanks.

Thanks for the very in deph review.

Is the pneumatic the top one in my attachment and the HD the HQ at the bottom. Couldn't work out the reference to the £200 prove difference.