Fixing aluminium flashing as frame runners

[SB-Russ]

So I've seen some recommendations that metal frame runners work much better than the bare wood rebate that factory hive boxes come with.

Assuming that's true, as I don't have any hives yet, I was looking for something suitable to use as a runner over a standard box. I found some 90 degree aluminium flashing here, that is 12mm x 12mm x 1.4mm (about 15/16" x 15/16" x 1/16"). Is there any allowance between frame dimensions and box dimensions to just affix this flashing over the existing wooden rebates (after trimming one side to match the rebate width) or is the 1.4mm thickness of the flashing too much and it would require adjusting the rebate size to fit the flashing at the current levels of the wood?

Thanks.
Russell.

[Michael Bush]

>So I've seen some recommendations that metal frame runners work much better than the bare wood rebate that factory hive boxes come with.

I've gone to some trouble to remove all of them from all of my boxes... they just get in the way.  There are three different kinds, all of which I have disposed of.  Plain metal with no significant height.  The raised ones shaped kind of like a "T" on it's side (which requires a deeper rabbet) and the self spacing stoller spacers.  I've tried all of them and I don't like any of them.

[little john]

With the British 'National' Hive they're pretty-much essential on brood boxes due to the longer lugs our frames have, which give the girls a much greater 'gluing area'. The type we use are shaped like an inverted 'tick', such that an inverted 'V' stands proud of the rebate.

In practice they make sliding the frames a breeze, and there's also less chance of squishing bees when replacing frames. The downside of using them is the difficulty in cleaning propolis build-up from behind them. They're not worth fitting to nucs, imo.

I was once given some supers which had castellated runners, which I immediately ripped out and replaced with the standard sort.

LJ