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Author Topic: 3D Printable Bee Equipment  (Read 8336 times)

Offline Joe

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3D Printable Bee Equipment
« on: March 27, 2018, 07:07:24 pm »
For those beekeepers who own a 3D printer I wanted to point out a couple of designs of mine over on Thingiverse.

Third Comb - A 3D printable fully drawn plastic foundation specifically designed for Mann Lake's groove top & bottom bar frames. At https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2550700

and

The Drain Frame - A 3D printable self extracting frame, similar to a Flow Frame, but made for extracting outside of the hive.  The Drain Frame does not require modification of standard Langstroth equipment.  It is available at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2806199


I'd love to hear what people think and how these two designs can be improved.

Thanks,
Joe

Offline Acebird

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2018, 08:15:32 pm »
I would assume you will design internal ribs but that is an assumption.  How will it actuate?
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Offline little john

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2018, 05:41:44 am »
Hello Joe,
I'm one of those people who would never in a million years put plastic comb into a beehive - but having said that - if there were ever to be offered on the market a fully-drawn plastic comb with a cell-size significantly larger than a drone cell (so that the bees would never be tempted to use it for brood purposes), substantially angled downwards towards the midrib, and of thick-wall construction - then such a plastic comb could be very useful for holding Baker's Fondant within mating nucs during the season, and for supplying BF as an emergency feed during winter.

BTW, the illustration on the 'Thing' site appears to show cells without any 'down-angle' - but that might simply be an optical illusion, of course.

'best.
LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Offline Acebird

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2018, 09:43:26 pm »
Except for the cost you could buy flow frames.
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Offline Joe

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #4 on: March 29, 2018, 09:35:24 pm »
Acebird,
   There are internal ribs in the Drain Frame design and they are actuated by inserting a Flow Frame key into the drain hole and rotating the key 90 degrees.  The cost of printing a Drain Frame will of course vary based on the type and brand of materials used to print the frame.  Using natural PLA or PETG (both of which are generally considered food safe) you could print and assemble a deep version of the Drain Frame for less than forty dollars.  A medium Drain Frame would be a little cheaper given that it uses less plastic than the deep version.  As of the time of this reply, in the US, the cheapest you can purchase a Flow Frame for is $63.86 and that's only if you buy the "Classic 7" bundle for $447.00.  If you didn't want to spend that much you could go as low as $259.00 and get the "Classic 3", but the unit cost there jumps to $86.34.  Furthermore, you would have to modify your hives to accept the Flow Frames, the Drain Frame is the same size as a standard deep or medium frame, so no modifications would be necessary.

Little John,
   Both the Drain Frame and the Third Comb designs have cells with a slope of 13 degrees.  I'm happy to draw up the design of the fondant feeder you described.  The Third Comb wall thickness is 0.4mm.  Let me know what wall thickness you are thinking would be most suitable, also, the desired slope of the cells and I'll have the new design posted fairly quickly.  If you don't have access to a 3D printer I'd be happy to print some frames and send them to you to see if they will work. Just let me know.

Offline Acebird

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2018, 09:44:45 pm »
Comparing the thickness to wax .4mm is heavy.  Is that a limitation of the printer?
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Offline Joe

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2018, 09:53:49 pm »
I don't know that I would call it a limitation, but 0.4mm is probably the most common nozzle size on the market right now. There are a lot of nozzles to choose from though, a company called E3D in the UK manufacturers nozzles as small as 0.15mm. There may be smaller ones out there, but I'm not aware of them.  The bees accept the 0.4mm wall thickness just fine. I used to have HSC frames, don't recall measuring the wall thickness on those but I do remember them being quite thick.  In my experience, once the bees accept a fully drawn plastic frame, they treat it like any other frame in the hive.

Offline Robo

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2018, 10:05:18 pm »
As of the time of this reply, in the US, the cheapest you can purchase a Flow Frame for is $63.86 and that's only if you buy the "Classic 7" bundle for $447.00.  If you didn't want to spend that much you could go as low as $259.00 and get the "Classic 3", but the unit cost there jumps to $86.34. 
 

 That comes to $17/EA. with Free shipping
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Offline Joe

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2018, 10:17:45 pm »
You got me there Robo, I forgot about the Chinese clones on the market now.  They are significantly cheaper than Flow Frames! According to a review I saw about them on YouTube, they are not of the same build quality - though they may be good enough for their intended purpose.  Depending on your needs the Drain Frame obviously can't compete with the clones on price.  But in my mind the Flow Frame, and the Chinese clones, still have a significant drawback: they don't work with standard Langstroth hive bodies.  They also don't make medium versions. 



https://youtu.be/9ZrUqsvuTgU

Offline Robo

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2018, 10:32:39 pm »
Joe,

Fair enough.   I admire your effort on this,  but you need a pretty decent 3D printer for such a design.
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison



Offline Acebird

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2018, 09:16:35 am »
Using natural PLA or PETG (both of which are generally considered food safe) you could print and assemble a deep version of the Drain Frame for less than forty dollars.
Is that a retail offer or a price that someone could have if they bought a 3D printer and made it themselves?
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Offline little john

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Re: 3D Printable Bee Equipment
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2018, 05:07:32 am »
Little John, Let me know what wall thickness you are thinking would be most suitable, also, the desired slope of the cells and I'll have the new design posted fairly quickly.  If you don't have access to a 3D printer I'd be happy to print some frames and send them to you to see if they will work. Just let me know.

Hi Joe - have sent you a PM.
LJ
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