What did you do in the 'workshop' today

[Garry R]

Got my model hive and tools back from the Honey Show. Was great fun making it .

 

[Garry R]

And on the stand

 

[Superlativesoul]

Stan made ….. a box.
With a resin top

View attachment 38030
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Lovely craftsmanship there Stan ,will become a family heirloom.

John

 

[JamezF]

Fed a load of bits of PIR board through the table saw today and fitted them inside my fat dummies.

All glued up and no place to go...

I have enough top bars to make about fifty. I feel sure I'll run out of materials (probably) and patience (almost certainly) before I get anywhere near that far. They've cost me next to nothing though and it helps to get a load of stuff out of the way. And in the case of the PIR stops it ending up in landfill, at least for the foreseeable future.

James

 

[JamezF]

I've been playing in FreeCAD, trying to come up with a design for a five-frame nuc made of PIR insulation board (mostly) so that two will fit on a standard national footprint and that will "stack" so I can run them as "five over five" if I want to. I think I'm pretty much there, though I may have to end up gluing 12.5mm PIR to 25mm if I can't find someone who can supply 40mm sheets.

James

 

[markyfive]

I've been playing in FreeCAD, trying to come up with a design for a five-frame nuc made of PIR insulation board (mostly) so that two will fit on a standard national footprint and that will "stack" so I can run them as "five over five" if I want to. I think I'm pretty much there, though I may have to end up gluing 12.5mm PIR to 25mm if I can't find someone who can supply 40mm sheets.

James

Hi James, 40mm PIR is not an unusual thickness, surely your local Travis Perkins or the like can supply you……glueing sheets together sounds a right faff

 

[JamezF]

Hi James, 40mm PIR is not an unusual thickness, surely your local Travis Perkins or the like can supply you……glueing sheets together sounds a right faff

I asked last time I had some delivered and 40mm wasn't a size that that particular builder's merchant had in stock, but there are other choices so I'll have a ring round and see what I can find.

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

I've been playing in FreeCAD, trying to come up with a design for a five-frame nuc made of PIR insulation board (mostly) so that two will fit on a standard national footprint and that will "stack" so I can run them as "five over five" if I want to. I think I'm pretty much there, though I may have to end up gluing 12.5mm PIR to 25mm if I can't find someone who can supply 40mm sheets.

James

You’ve lost me James, why do you need a 40mm thick PIR when 25 is perfect.
If Hoffman spacing is 35mm x 5 = 175 + 25+25 = 225 in total.
Almost exactly 50% of the width of a standard national.
BTW I have tried this and found the surfaces of the PIR were not dense enough to take prising apart when the bees started propolising it and it got damaged.
More successful was sticking 5.5mm ply to 20mm PIR for the construction including on all the touching surfaces.
The ply tended to delaminate on the top surface of the nuc over winter so in the end I put a 20mm x 20mm rim of cedar around the top.
In the end I found it too much hassle and expensive so have gone back to 18mm cedar as there is not much room for removing frames with 25mm sides.
I run the cedar ones together under one roof over winter so both colonies get warmth from the other like Mike Palmer does.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Refurbished two WBC roofs for a client. The ply in the roof had delaminated and the constant wetness had caused the metal to start rusting on the underside.
I stripped the roof, cleaned the metal up and gave the underside a coat of Hammerite, replaced the ply with cedar boards, repainted the woodwork and reassembled.
Should be good for another few years.

 

[JamezF]

You’ve lost me James, why do you need a 40mm thick PIR when 25 is perfect.

40mm for the front and back, to give space for the frame lugs. 356mm for the width of the frame (minus lugs) + 2 x 9mm clearance to the walls + 2 x 40mm for the front and back walls gives 454mm.

I was also planning on having timber top and bottom rails so the PIR wouldn't be damaged by a hive tool.

I would really like some more poly nucs, but they have become so expensive that right now I can't justify the cost.

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

40mm for the front and back, to give space for the frame lugs. 356mm for the width of the frame (minus lugs) + 2 x 9mm clearance to the walls + 2 x 40mm for the front and back walls gives 454mm.

I was also planning on having timber top and bottom rails so the PIR wouldn't be damaged by a hive tool.

I would really like some more poly nucs, but they have become so expensive that right now I can't justify the cost.

James

Ah, gotcha now. I’ve always retained the hand holds in the ends by using 25mm but I can see where you are coming from. Would you use 25mm in the sides then?

 

[North End Bees]

@derekm has often said that it would be good to fill insulation in the hand holds on the sides of nationals. That's wood though so not sure about poly. But he's also said recently that the benefits of 50mm over 25mm is negligible.

If the two nucs are going to be paired under one roof they might as well have much thinner touching walls to benefit from the warmth of eachother.

 

[user 6228]

@derekm has often said that it would be good to fill insulation in the hand holds on the sides of nationals. That's wood though so not sure about poly. But he's also said recently that the benefits of 50mm over 25mm is negligible.

If the two nucs are going to be paired under one roof they might as well have much thinner touching walls to benefit from the warmth of eachother.

it applies to polys some of which have big hand holds. 25~50mm is only if sides not insulated/

 

[JamezF]

Would you use 25mm in the sides then?

Indeed so.

James

 

[user 6228]

I've been playing in FreeCAD, trying to come up with a design for a five-frame nuc made of PIR insulation board (mostly) so that two will fit on a standard national footprint and that will "stack" so I can run them as "five over five" if I want to. I think I'm pretty much there, though I may have to end up gluing 12.5mm PIR to 25mm if I can't find someone who can supply 40mm sheets.

James

like this? note the extra thick end walls (PIR and correx from Jewsons) 50mm and 30mm

 

[JamezF]

Just nipped out to see a local chap who does a lot of work cutting ply panels to fit vans and campers etc. He has loads of waste hardwood ply in 5mm to 12mm thicknesses and has to get rid of it, so he's offering it to anyone who can pick it up for beer money, basically. I came back with a car load of 5mm that I can use for clearer boards, demaree boards and suchlike, all for £10.

I shall be going back with a trailer next time

James

 

[JamezF]

like this? note the extra thick end walls (PIR and correx from Jewsons) 50mm and 30mm

View attachment 38098

Along those lines, yes. I assume you've used correx top and bottom to protect the edges of the PIR?

I'm thinking that I might make some standard size UFEs up with a divider down the middle so they'll work for either a full brood box or a pair of nucs side by side.

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

Along those lines, yes. I assume you've used correx top and bottom to protect the edges of the PIR?

I'm thinking that I might make some standard size UFEs up with a divider down the middle so they'll work for either a full brood box or a pair of nucs side by side.

James

If you use a standard floor divided you can’t heft the individual colonies late in the year or separate them to empty the boxes of bees if you want to put them into a full box. Much more versatile to have individual floors.

 

[Superlativesoul]

Hi all ,
Been busy making 5 frame nucs for myself and friends ,I have a lot of timber that has cupped ,I've tried using water to straighten them ,perhaps I'm too impatient but does not improve significantly. Could someone please pass on a remedy I could try that has worked for them .The timber is 18mm pine .
John.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just nipped out to see a local chap who does a lot of work cutting ply panels to fit vans and campers etc. He has loads of waste hardwood ply in 5mm to 12mm thicknesses and has to get rid of it, so he's offering it to anyone who can pick it up for beer money, basically. I came back with a car load of 5mm that I can use for clearer boards, demaree boards and suchlike, all for £10.

I shall be going back with a trailer next time

James

Years ago I knew someone the same - he lined/fitted out vans for craftsmen etc. And was happy enough for me to help myself to anything in his 'waste' pile as he had to pay the council a waste disposal fee - he even offered to to put anything 18" square to one side to ensure It didn't get snatched up by other skip divers.