BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS
Making foundation
worrywort:
Hello Mr Bush.
I live in the UK and Have tried a few of your Brilliant ideas. The foundation less frames I tried I planed a 45 degree angle on the edge of the wedge which holds the foundation in place. I stapled it to the top bar. I put six inside a hive with a frame of foundation either side.
A couple of years later. I replaced the combs and as I was cutting out the old comb, I realised amongst them were The foundation less Combs. I had forgotten about the trial and they were used and waved about just like the Foundation combs. They looked exactly alike.
Back to the Foundation question. (Forgive me For a moment as I am relying on Memory. A few years ago a Magazine called The Beekeepers Quarterly ran an article about how some beekeepers in Africa would pour A thin layer of wax onto a wet board, peel it off and attach it inside a frame.
It was found that it worked as well as foundation if half a dozen 1 inch (25mm) triangular Holes were cut out with the point down. The bees would work it almost as fast.
Skeggley:
--- Quote from: worrywort on October 15, 2020, 07:17:33 pm ---
Back to the Foundation question. (Forgive me For a moment as I am relying on Memory. A few years ago a Magazine called The Beekeepers Quarterly ran an article about how some beekeepers in Africa would pour A thin layer of wax onto a wet board, peel it off and attach it inside a frame.
--- End quote ---
https://youtu.be/T7VxZVSLm4E
Beeboy01:
Actually I just made a batch of home made foundation this year with mixed results. I took some used wood frames and wired them with mono fishing line and cast the wax foundation in the frame instead of casting it separate and installing it in the frame.
It ended up being a pretty simple procedure, I cut a piece of plywood which was a tight fit in the frame, soaked it with water and pressed the wired frame onto it. Then I used a ladle to pour liquid bees wax onto the plywood and immediately took a second piece of water soaked plywood with a handle on it's back side and pressed the hot wax out into a sheet which embedded the mono fishing line and filled the frame. Sometimes a second pour of wax was needed for deep frames and to fill out the edges missed during the first pour. The first half dozen didn't fill out right till I got the technique right. I mainly made shallows with a couple of deeps.
Ended up with what looked like heavy usable foundation cast into the frame. Unfortunately the bees didn't seem to like it and wouldn't draw it out even during a flow. I had three or four frames that were drawn out just a little along the top bar but it looked like the bees were making burr comb not foundation. I only kept the home made foundation in the hives for about five or six weeks and they might of drawn them out more if I had left them in there longer.
Looking back at it I think that the foundation needed to be embossed like commercial foundation, the bees couldn't draw out the wax because it had a smooth surface and they couldn't get ahold of it to work it. I never could figure out a way to emboss the wax so it went on the back burner till I have more time to work on it. I was thinking about making a small roller but couldn't figure out how to cut the comb design in it.
Maybe transfer the comb pattern onto a aluminum roller and etch with acid but that's pushing my envelope a little. Casting a aluminum roller is another way to go but it's still outside my comfort zone. A small cold chisel and hammer would work but take forever dinging in each hexagon and I would still need some aluminum round stock to work with. Just some ideas I came up with to make a roller. A 3D printer would be the ticket but don't have one laying around LOL
If you are going to give it a try use regular foundation wire not mono fishing line, the fishing line has a lot of stretch when hot and the foundation will flop and sag.
Hope this helps.
Ralphee:
The aluminum molds are expensive, i wonder if a 3D printed mold using a heat resistance plastic would work?
Beeswax has a relatively low melting point range of 62 to 64 ?C (144 to 147 ?F), so it doesn't have to be highly heat resistant.
Now to try and find someone with a 3D printer! - has anyone tried this??
TheHoneyPump:
Some random ideas
- Buy a sheet or two of the thickest plastic foundation available. Would that perhaps bet the Rite-Cell brand?
- next get a liquid silicone pouring mould making kit.
Mix up the silicone and make a mould slab from the plastic foundation sheet. Make two slabs, one for each side.
Next take those silicone slabs and makeup a wax pouring unit that does both sides at once. Pour hot wax in, open to remove the new wax foundation sheet, repeat to makeup as many foundation sheets as you want.
Just thinking on the fly there.
There are two other ways of making foundation that are much more efficient.
1. Dont. Just give them a starter strip along the top bar and let the bees make it themselves.
2. Transmute cash directly to foundation. In other words, buy it.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version