Today I Made

[Lesgold]

Hi Jim,

I finally got around to using the laser on a gold lid. It was just an old rusty one that I found but as you can see, it has very little impact. It does engrave away the gold colouring but the contrast I?d poor. Black or dark coloured lids would be the obvious choice here.

[BeeMaster2]

Thanks for trying. My Falcon 2 was supposed to arrive yesterday but it is stuck in transit. I have been watching videos on Lasergrbl and LightBurn. I downloaded both of them to try them out. I think I?m going to use LithtBurn.
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

After 3 days the honey is ready for jarring up. Honey colour  is starting to lighten and thicken up. Better get it into containers before it sets.

[Lesgold]

After a bit of trial and error, I finally came up with a simple design for a queen cage to help battle varroa. A commercial cage that looked interesting was not readily available in my location so I decided to make my own. I started with an old plastic queen excluder for the sides of the cage. A queen excluder should allow nurse bees to enter but prevent the queen from escaping. Dimensions were made to suit the frames that I was using. Two sides were marked out and cut with tinsnips. The top lips of the cage will slip over the frame top bar and will basically keep the frame in place. A pin could be used to support the cage if needed. 25x6mm timber was then cut for the 4 sides of the cage. Two sides of the cage were then quickly stapled to the base.

[Lesgold]

1mm attachment holes were then drilled through the cage sides and tacks were used to attach the cage sides to the base. The top bar of the frame was held in place and a 1mm hole was drilled through both the frame sides and the top. This would form a hinge for the top of the cage. A chamfer was then sanded on the top to allow it to pivot open.
A couple of 1mm diameter pins were then made from galvanised wire. The hinged lid was then attached with one of the wires. This allowed the lid to pivot open for the insertion or removal of the queen.

[Lesgold]

With the lid closed, another hole was drilled to lock the lid closed. This pin would a slip pin that could be removed as required. An old frame was used to see how well the cage could be located. Some of the comb was cutout with a sharp knife and then the top wire was snipped to allow the cage to be inserted. If this system works effectively, the top wire won?t be inserted into future brood frames. As we won?t be allowed to move brood frames into honey supers when varroa hits, this won?t be an issue.

[Occam]

Brilliant. I like the simple design and operation. Very much along the lines of what I had in my head. Keep us posted on how it works. If it goes well might be something you could sell to fellow beeks that don't make their own equipment