thornes are the cheapest

[hedgerow pete]

yep even i have struggled with that one.


i want to get hold of a set of foundation rollers to make some sheets with. i have a list of new friends that want to rent,bottow,beg,hire and steal it from me when i do.

so i thought i would get the price of t*****es first as a base cost and then beat it and buy the cheaper.

for a start off these things are so rare that the is no secondhand sales

so its new only and i can only find swienty selling them for £1700,

th****es for a cheaper £1000

and get this, tried a chinise company thinking they are the cheapest, to have it completley paid for and delivered to brum all in ,
ready,
no i mean are you realy ready

£2790

apart from that they just dont exsist any where else. the odd company sells them in france and europe etc but they all sell the swienty one for a bit more.
yep so its offical th****s are cheap, lol

and since a grand is £998.50 more than my budget ha ha ha i had better start saving my pocket money.

it looks as if fibre glass plates it is then

 

[Tom Bick]

Good to see a British company coming top

I suppose the cheapest option is no foundation

 

[hedgerow pete]

blew me away i was thinking a grand here and half that in europe or china, but its not happening at all,

so it looks as i will be doing the fibre glass plates instead as they are cheapest.

because of work i always try to quantify ever job i do with a bill of quantities to see the cheapest option before i start work so i dont waste my time and money when it can be better spent else where,

i did think about going down the self build route but i always find that its very rare for me to get below a shops price unless i dramaticly alter the design, ie i can not buy the parts to make a 9 frame extractor for less than then price to buy one but i can build a 21 frame extractor for that exect price and thats with bells and whistles on it

 

[Storm™]

These are in essence mills. We used to use them in the goldsmith trade - when I was one. You should be able to pick up a second hand set of "mills" for a couple of hundred quid. Oh and pete I know your the king of "yeah....but", but your talking precision kit, so your going to have to dip into your pension or use a rolling pin and two metal rulers either side.

first 2 seconds of search found this and I aint even trying - "Rolling mills" - http://www.goldsmith-tools.com/rollingmills.htm

a few mins and its cheaper here - http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/-Range=Rolling_Mills/-Size=0/-Type=0/&prdsearch=y

 

[eddiespangle]

Dumb question I know. But does foundation have to have a hexagonal pattern on it? Has anyone tried using a foundation with parallel lines at the appropriate distance – 5.4mm? If this does work a roller could be made on a wood lathe!

 

[Storm™]

Dumb question I know. But does foundation have to have a hexagonal pattern on it? Has anyone tried using a foundation with parallel lines at the appropriate distance – 5.4mm? If this does work a roller could be made on a wood lathe!

You could probably get a sleeve to go over rollers that has the pattern on it. Or buy a cheap set of mills and replace just the roller part or just make do with flat foundation.

 

[Storm™]

In fact although Pete has said they are around a £1000 with Th**ns, thats only for the embossed type, you can get flat manual foundation mills for £673.26 inclusive of VAT with Th**rnes. So you can just use flat foundation as thats what they selling. So your better off going for an ex jewellery set of Mills. Cheaper because they are not a Beekeeping supplier. And like I said you can get them for a couple of hundred.

 

[hedgerow pete]

i realised that they are presision made rollers , but i did think stupidly that t****S were always exspensive but i was wrong massively wraong. the jewlery rollers i never knew exsisted, and they seem ok if a little narrow.


the thing is i could make a set , well the frames any way but the rollers i cant make as i would need some form of engraving machine, i never even bothered to find out how much a bespoke set of rollers would cost because its bound to be more than a whole from a supplier to t*****S supply and demand and large bulk orders easily bring costs down.

i was thinking of making a new pair of rollers by casting a set of rollers from fibre glass resin around a metal/wood core, but it would be easier to produce a flat sheet of wax from a dipped ply wood board and then using two fibre glass formers run through the mangle i own.

must admit i have only once used flat plain foundation and the bees hated it and they dont do to well with starter strips either.

and lastly these rollers just never seem to come up on the second hand market and if the did it would be silly bidding time and proberly go for more than new