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Author Topic: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...  (Read 12506 times)

Offline little john

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A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« on: July 10, 2016, 07:47:21 am »

In my view, pallets represent one of our greatest untapped resources for QD (Quick an' Dirty) methods of building.

Here's what I'm up to today - the weather's rubbish (yet again ...), so I'll be inside, trimming these stand legs to size before fettling them with some automotive body filler and lashings of paint.




This surely HAS to be the simplest - and cheapest - method of individual stand construction ever devised - and good for at least half a ton (I've checked).

LJ
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Offline Jim134

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2016, 09:15:47 am »
       Takes up too much space in transportation or storage.  May work well in some operations..





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Offline little john

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2016, 09:57:12 am »
       Takes up too much space in transportation or storage.  May work well in some operations..

I've simply written and said what I'm up to today - I haven't suggested that these free-to-build stands are suitable for anything other than what I'm using them for - which is to replace the old car wheels I'm currently using underneath some of my nuc-building mother hives.

If not a single other person builds one of these, I really couldn't give a tinker's cuss - that's not why I've posted - but - if someone should indeed want to, then I'm more than willing to provide some construction hints.

I've noticed that there is a common tendency on beekeeping forums to interpret the subject of a personal idea as some kind of proposition that others should convert to a different way of doing things.  It was exactly the same when I posted about a Dadant-volume National hive I'm currently testing.  Weird.

LJ

« Last Edit: July 10, 2016, 04:34:37 pm by little john »
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Offline cao

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2016, 10:31:29 am »
I got some stands similar to those.  The seven hives in my backyard are on them.  Although I but them out of scrap lumber that I had Instead of pallets.  Also I added a another cross piece between the legs near the bottom.  I was afraid the legs would have a chance to wiggle or twist if the hive got bumped.  They work great for a few hives.  Yes I can see an issue with space and storage once you get more hives but they do weigh less than concrete blocks. 

little john keep posting on the different things your trying.  I for one enjoy reading about different ways people are keeping bees.
 
p.s.  How's the large frame hive going?

Offline little john

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2016, 11:08:02 am »
They'll sure look better than old car wheels and tyres - I've been feeling a bit embarrased when anyone calls, as the place is starting to look like a scrap yard !  (Is the same term used in the US ? - vehicle dismantlers etc.)

But for clarification - this is about knocking-up something halfway useful out of old pallets, for free - and that's not something a migratory operation with thousands of dollars invested in trucks and equipment could possibly be interested in.  This is (perhaps) of interest to the back-garden guy trying to survive on a tight budget.

If anyone does plan on fitting braces to the legs, fit them inside the legs, so that they will shed water easily.  I did try this a few years back on much thinner legs, and fitted them to the outside ...  and then had to apply a wedge of filler, to achieve rain run-off.

Almost forgot - these stands are quite tall (19-21"), as I want to get the boxes in question up to a comfortable working height.  All my 'regular' hives are near the ground, on plastic pallets.

Large-frame hive ?  No problems at all so far, but it's very early days of course.  Should have six large frames drawn by now (I'm feeding syrup whilst they're comb-building) - I'm due an inspection in the next day or two, so will update then
'best
LJ
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Offline divemaster1963

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2016, 12:41:13 pm »
They look great!  I haven't thought about doing them that way. I'm using junk metal crates I got from ATV dealer and adding tops. They work great for my nucs. Good hight for working them. They come up to miidle thigh with the tops. Can look into a double deep nuc without bending over.

John

Recycling and repurposing things show how to start out low cost. I think these ideas are the best way to get people into beekeeping and not scaring then with high costs to start up.

Offline gww

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2016, 01:49:51 pm »
lj

I am currently using four cender blocks with two 4x4s about ten foot long layed on top.  My original ideal was they would be easier to level (foundationless) all at once.  In practice I needed two more cinder blocks and to pick better pole cause they are sagging in the center.

The things I like about them are it is easy to put wedges under the hive to level the hive.  I also like that they bring the hive up high enough that skunks probly have to show their bellys.

The thing I don't like is they are not movable and take up lots of room and you can not walk around the whole hive.  They hold about 4 or 5 hives.  If I get one more I would have to put a hive stand that would have 5 empty spots.


I believe I am going to make a few like you have and try them.  I won't have pallets but have lots of junk wood from my homemade sawmill for lots of reasons.  I pile it till it bugs me then put it on the side of the road for free or just burn it. 

I am but a hobiest and don't want to have another job selling bee products and so doing things cheeply as possible work well for my needs.  I did the blocks and post cause I thought it was easiest and cheepest.  I may have eventually thought of doing something like you are showing or I might not have.  Now I don't have to think of anything.  I will just do yours and see how I like it.

Keep showing things you are doing and I will steal the ideals that I like.
Thanks
gww

PS  I have seen your work and mine will be differrent.  There will be no paint or cosmetic improvements.  I will use them till they go bad and then burn and build more.  I always look for function before aesthetics.  I love looking at well kept stuff but am a bit more rustic myself, which has a certian type of charm also.

Offline little john

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2016, 04:57:54 pm »

Keep showing things you are doing and I will steal the ideals that I like.
Thanks
gww

PS  I have seen your work and mine will be differrent.  There will be no paint or cosmetic improvements.  I will use them till they go bad and then burn and build more.  I always look for function before aesthetics.  I love looking at well kept stuff but am a bit more rustic myself, which has a certian type of charm also.

Music to my ears ... :smile:

YES - take what you think may work for you, and disregard the rest.  Michael Bush doesn't paint either - works for him, but it wouldn't work for me.   Different people, different ways of working.

It isn't mandatory in life for everyone to sing the same tune from the same hymn sheet ... I do wish that some folks could embrace that basic concept.   

Wishing you all well ...
LJ




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Offline little john

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #8 on: July 10, 2016, 05:46:57 pm »
Recycling and repurposing things show how to start out low cost. I think these ideas are the best way to get people into beekeeping and not scaring then with high costs to start up.

Hi John - good words - couldn't agree more.  Take a look in a beekeeping supplies catalogue to give yourself a heart-attack !  Hundreds of 'must-have' gizmos being peddled to the uninitiated ...

I don't even use a hive tool (!)  I've always used a 1.5" paint scraper (so sharp I could shave with it) which is perfect for splitting propolis seals without damaging woodwork.  I'd never change from using that.  A large screwdriver for lifting frames - perfect for the job - and I can hold it vertically between Hoffman spacers when closing-up the frames, to prevent squashed bees.

You know, there are very few 'must-have' items that are truly essential (imo, of course) - a veil is one, and a good smoker is another.  Apart from those two items a person could build for themselves just about everything else.  I'm not saying that they should, or that it would make economic sense for a working person with an income.  But for someone who's broke, or otherwise down on their luck ... they could start beekeeping for next to nothing.

LJ


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Offline Jim134

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #9 on: July 10, 2016, 10:34:06 pm »


Music to my ears ... :smile:

YES - take what you think may work for you, and disregard the rest.  Michael Bush doesn't paint either - works for him, but it wouldn't work for me.   Different people, different ways of working.

It isn't mandatory in life for everyone to sing the same tune from the same hymn sheet ... I do wish that some folks could embrace that basic concept.   

Wishing you all well ...
LJ

      Does not Michael Bush hot wax dip his equipment to protect it from the weather.
      http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdipping.htm

            BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :smile:
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
 John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

Offline gww

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2016, 10:58:19 pm »
LJ
Quote
You know, there are very few 'must-have' items that are truly essential (imo, of course) - a veil is one, and a good smoker is another.

I actually made my veil and smoker.  I won't say either one is "good" though.  The smoker is made out of stove pipe and does take two hands to really make smoke go where you want but has kept me going so far this year just fine.  I made two veils out of window screen.  One slips over a orange deer hunting hat and one is soft screen sewn to a straw has with a string to tie it around my waiste.  I will eventually get a differrent smoker but what I have is working well so no hurry.  I use a putty knife for a hive tool.  The one that is not strait but a U type figure going to the sharp part.

Quote
I'm not saying that they should, or that it would make economic sense for a working person with an income.

Or change what I quoted you on to "economic sense for a person who is working for an income from bees"

I am doing it for the learning and fun.  I don't want another job but want to see what I can do.  If I wanted to pay to have fun I would go to the movies.  Just want to do productive things with out making it a job.  Then time doesn't matter and it is just the experiance.  Don't get me wrong, I want to make honey, cause if I don't I have really did nothing.

I think lots of times if I tried to repeat what I have done over and over, It would cost more to do it this way cause you wouldn't have stuff laying around to use.  If you do have stuff laying around or can come up with it without to much hassel then, in my view, why buy the new.

It is all fun.
gww

Offline little john

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2016, 05:01:54 am »
I made two veils out of window screen.  One slips over a orange deer hunting hat and one is soft screen sewn to a straw has with a string to tie it around my waiste.

Nice one. 

Hats with brims don't feature much over here these days - although they used to be all the fashion - so I added a brim to a hard hat, and attached a cheap and nasty Chinese keep-net to it. 




It would be rubbish as a keep-net, but ideal to see through.  Even came with hoops and a draw-string !
LJ




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Offline gww

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2016, 07:28:03 am »
LJ
The hats I used are probly 40 years old.  One I have used many a deer season and one my wife probly got for close to nothing on a yard sale.  I think she was buying it to give to a neibor but I used it before she could.

I tried posting pictures on this site once but my camera sucks,  I have no data plan and am not smart enough to transfer from my phone and I tried taking some from my computer but you have to resize the picks so I guess you have to take my word for it.

I also found on other thing that is not working on my computer on this forum.  I had to reload my computer with the original configuration.  When I forgot my pass word and punched the tab saying so, the site said it would send a email to me and it never does.  I finaly figured out my pass word but someday I won't be a member cause I won't remember and that function does not work on this forum and it says you are already signed up if you try to reregister.

I am probly illiterate in a lot of ways.
I do have some pics of things I have done on other sites but mostly on the sawmill I built but also a few on the long langs I made but am not using yet.

I am glad you have the picture thing figured out cause it is hard to steal ideals that you can't see.

Thanks for posting.
gww

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2016, 09:56:06 am »
> Does not Michael Bush hot wax dip his equipment to protect it from the weather.
      http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdipping.htm

I was just not painting for quite a few years, but when I was increasing my equipment significantly I decided it was worth some effort to make it last longer.  So I cooked them in beeswax and rosin.
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Offline little john

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2016, 09:56:54 am »

I am glad you have the picture thing figured out cause it is hard to steal ideals that you can't see.

LOL  :smile:

There are quite a few ways of getting pictures onto here, but most that I've seen involve registering with somebody-or-other, and I'm a bit paranoid about attracting spam and viruses etc, so I use Tinypic  http://tinypic.com/  which will give you a link to the photograph to include in your post, without registering with anybody.

Just click on the above link, use Tinypic's 'Browse' buttion to find your photograph, select the size you want, and go for it.  Then Tinypic will ask you some fool question to prove you've a human.  Eventually, up will come a page with links on it.  Copy and paste the required link (bulletin board etc) into your post - and that's it.

Can't help with the password malarky, I'm a bit of a duffer on that stuff myself.  There must be someone on here who knows about such details ... and probably knows how to program a video recorder as well - that's something else in life I never got to figure out ...
LJ

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Offline divemaster1963

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #15 on: July 11, 2016, 11:36:41 am »
I just use a pad of school paper and write the site name then username then password. Put them in column form attached to clipboard and taped to inside of cabinet door. That's only way to remember all of then.  I hang calendar over it to hide it.


John

Offline little john

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #16 on: July 15, 2016, 05:08:01 am »

Ok - so here you go ... the finished articles ... ready to join the circus.  I don't suppose the bees will care one way or the other, but a little filler and a lick of paint takes care of my 'appearance' neurosis ... :




 :smile:
LJ


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Offline Rurification

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #17 on: July 15, 2016, 09:42:02 am »
Beautiful!   I love that blue. 
Robin Edmundson
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Beekeeping since 2012

Offline divemaster1963

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #18 on: July 16, 2016, 12:23:41 pm »
Sweet. Now I have more projects for when I get back to health.
Thanks a lot. :angry:

I'm going nuts sitting still.

John

Offline little john

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Re: A touch of Pallet Engineering ...
« Reply #19 on: July 16, 2016, 03:42:15 pm »
Robin - yes, a lovely colour.  I suspect it's called 'Powder Blue', the colour a lot of food processing machinery is painted (which is how I came to buy a part-used tin of it) - that is, the equipment which isn't made from stainless steel.  Bright blue can be easily spotted amongst the colours of vegetables - so it's the colour chosen for Band-Aids, disposable gloves etc. in food factories.

John - if (and only if) it's not too personal, what's the health problem ?
I agree - sitting around can make a person 'stir-crazy' very quickly.  We had a terrible spring - rained nearly every day and I couldn't get on with anything - drove me absolutely nuts.

'best
LJ
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