Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: Wits End on January 04, 2017, 03:54:06 pm
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Anyone know good ways to clean pierco plastic foundation for rewaxing? Tried scraping, brushing then almost boiling water. Foundation came clean but warped pretty bad.
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I use 2 techniques.
If I have a lot of time before I need them, I stack them outside and let nature clean them up then use a wire brush and a fox tail to remove the remaining dust.
If I need them right away, I will place them in a large pan and use a pressure washer to clean them. It is messy and you are going to get wet but it works real well.
I do not like to wax them until it is close to the time that I need them because our weather is so warm that the bugs get back into them.
When they need to be waxed, I use a 5" firm roller dipped in wax at 170 degrees and roll both sides. This goes very fast.
Jim
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Thanks Jim. I have noticed the boxes of frames I have stored in the barn for a couple years were dryer and much easier to clean.
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Hot water Pressure washer. You do not want to get the plastic over a 150F. The plastic will catch a memory ..and Warp.. after you're done cleaning rewax Foundation.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :smile:
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I just put it back in a strong hive...
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It's been my personal experience. If you do not rewax the plastic foundation. Most of time the bees with put Burr comb in between two frames or up against the outer walls. I hope your experience is different. If you try this without rewaxing the plastic foundation.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :smile:
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This is a little off topic but this is the method I use for waxing plastic foundation. So easy and much less messy than with a roller. I made a wood rack out of a 2x4 just cutting groves with a skill saw. I use cheap stock pot I picked up somewhere deep enough to dip the frames in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuKM24t3r6M&t=59s
I think I'll start a thread with this too.
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Following
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This is what I used to clean plastic frames off with. This is a hot water pressure washer. The pressure is about 4,000 PSI with about 300F water at the tip.
After I do this. I will coat the foundation with Beewax or have an awesome flow on.
Here is a short video of the operation.
https://goo.gl/photos/2YS6dvmzAjEFUTPS9
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :smile:
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Jim,
That 4000 PSI works a whole lot better than my 2500 PSI unit. I like how placing the plastic on the pallet keeps it from sliding away. I have been placing them on concrete and they are constantly moving. I ended up placing them in a stainless steal pan and it makes for a very wet job.
Jim
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I just use a 1885 psi pressure sprayer myself as I've only had to clean a small number of frames but... if I ever needed to get serious I'd be aspiring to something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0DQfFgqVVk