Before I ask if you could share any more info about these nucs, is there a link to a previous post where you've done just that? I can see the wood at the top to support the frames and the walls, all of which is clear. Are the floors the standard UFEs which some of us here make? Anything you could add about the roof or cover for the insulation eke / crownboard?
There may be a post somewhere; I'm not honestly sure. However, having made these ones I think I can improve the design so they're easier to make. I'll post full details once I have that sorted.
The main walls are 40mm PIR for the ends and 25mm PIR for the sides, glued together using foaming PU glue with bamboo skewers for additional support. The wall bases have 5mm or 10mm (can't recall which off the top of my head) timber strips glued to it, mostly to prevent the PIR being damaged by a hive tool. The tops have 40mm deep timber glued to them, rebated on the ends to take the frame lugs. Again part of the reason for using timber there is to protect the PIR. All the joins, internal and external, and any exposed foam areas, are covered with aluminium tape. I plan to paint them when I've had a sort-out in the workshop and identified cans we no longer need. 40mm PIR is a standard size but not one of the commonly-used ones so I had to order that. he rest I try to scavenge from people who are doing building work.
The crown boards are clear, with the upper sides tall enough to take a lump of 50mm PIR to insulated them. I made the sides of mine from 15mm birch ply, some of which is laminated on both faces (one with a most appropriate hexagon pattern), mostly because I have access to quite a lot of scrap ply from work. Given that it will be covered by the roof I wasn't really worried about it getting wet.
The floors (which I have cut but not yet assembled) are a fairly standard UFE design, just like a narrower version of the ones I and others here use for full hives.
I've sized everything so the external dimensions of the nuc boxes end up as 460mm x 230mm. That gives 380mm x 180mm internally, which should be sufficient for five (35mm spacing) Hoffman frames with a little wiggle room. It also means that putting two side by side should mean that a standard National roof will fit over the top. I may make some single roofs at some point, but I don't feel the need right now. Could be handy if I want to move a single nuc to another apiary for some reason, but if necessary I could swap the frames into a poly nuc to do that, or if I want to set up a colony as five frames over five.
If there are any other details you'd like, by all means ask.
James
