To get honey for sale, you need a special technique. If you are a beginner beekeeper, then money for expensive equipment may not be there. But this is not an obstacle, because the honey extract can be made from improvised means, for example, from a washing machine.
Many beekeepers claim that home-made equipment is more reliable and efficient than purchased equipment.
Types of honey separators
The honey extractor has a simple design, so you can easily assemble it. But first you need to decide what material to make it from. There are several options:
- Wooden container. Previously, all honey extracts were wooden. You do not need to assemble the structure, an ordinary barrel is suitable for this.
- Aluminum capacity. Easy and practical solution. You can take a large pot, barrel or tank.
- Stainless steel. For the prefabricated housing, you can buy stainless steel sheets and connect them by welding. And you can use the tank from the old washing machine. The advantages of this material are durability, strength, and easy maintenance (can be washed quickly after work).
- A plastic container may also be used. To do this, take a tank from the Malyutka washing machine or another container made of thick and durable plastic.
The sizes of the honey separator directly depend on the diameter of the frames with honeycombs.
The basis of the device are cassettes. Using clamps, frames with honeycombs are fixed on cassettes, the centrifuge rotates quickly, due to which honey is extracted. It flows down from the walls and exits through the tap into the prepared container.
Benefits
There are two types of honey separator design - it is radial and hordial. We will manufacture radial, and here's why:
- The radial honey extractor provides greater productivity with the same design dimensions.
- A device equipped with an electric motor allows you to quickly cope with pumping and get honey. Whereas the manual drive is ineffective.
- Honey is removed from the frames so high quality that their surface remains clean.
- Thanks to the design, only the drum is spinning during operation. Therefore, the radial honey extractor is more durable and reliable.
- Frames in such a device are not damaged and do not stick to the walls. In addition, the process does not require constant supervision on your part.
Preparation for work
To prepare all the necessary details, you need to understand the design structure. Radial honey separator consists of:
- A container of suitable size to fully accommodate the frames.
- Drive gear.
- Cassettes or stretchers.
Since the device will come in contact with honey, do not use zinc parts. They can oxidize, resulting in spoilage of the product. If you wish, you can paint the container with paint on metal to give a more aesthetic appearance.
Necessary parts and accessories
For a home-made honey extract, the Soviet Sibir or Alma-Ata washing machine is perfect. Having examined the detailed drawing, we will determine what is needed for the assembly:
- A beam of steel 4x80 mm, measure the length based on the diameter of the tank. Make holes at the edges and bend them so that they are then secured to the case.
- If it is a manual drive (which is typical for small volumes), then you will need a handle from a metal rod.
- Metal bracket 4x80 mm.
- Steel bars or fittings for subframes.
- For the base of the subframes, steel strips 2 mm thick are used.
- Bevel gears in the amount of two pieces.
- Steel rod as a shaft.
- A metal plate for the shutter in the lower part of the honey extractor.
Tools
- Vise.
- Welding machine with electrodes.
- Bulgarian.
- Sledgehammer and anvil.
- Soldering iron.
Instruction: making a honey extract from a do-it-yourself washing machine
The equipment is manufactured quickly enough, the main thing is to choose all the components correctly so that you do not have to redo it later. Consider how to make a honey separator with your own hands.
Cassette
A case frame is installed in the cassettes, standard sizes: 435x300 mm. If you use a purchased frame, it comes with an even smaller diameter.
Work sequence:
- Fold a rectangle of corners 550 and 520 mm long, 1 mm thick. For reliability, it is better to fix the structure by welding, but you can also tighten it with bolts.
- In order to pull the wire mesh into the subframe, make small holes around the perimeter. Using a stainless wire, pull it through the holes to make a mesh. In total, two such grids need to be made.
- Make two channels from stainless corners with a width of 40 mm and a thickness of 1 mm.
- Attach home-made nets between the channels. Weld a strip of steel to one of the ends of the cassette.
- Attach two metal staples from the cassette rib to the channel - from above and from below. Later, the design will connect to the rotor.
Cassettes are ready. Next, consider how to prepare the tank of the washing machine.
Rebuild the washing tub
All openings on the bottom of the tank must be insulated. To do this, cut the patches from the metal sheet to the size of the holes and fix them with a welding machine. To check for leaks, pour water into the structure.
Since all openings are blocked, you yourself need to make an additional hole for pumping honey. Using a drill, drill it in the wall, right near the bottom of the tank from the washing machine. You can close the edges with a rubber ring, or you can weld a tap, which is conveniently overlapped if necessary.
If you decide to leave a simple hole, then to overlap it will have to attach a metal plate. It is mounted on a bolt. When you need to close, turn the plate, blocking the flow.
Crossbar preparation
For the crossbar, take a metal strip 4 mm thick. The length depends on the diameter of the tank. Use a drill to make holes at the edges so that you can install the M10 bolt. In addition, make two holes closer to the middle of the crossbar, as shown in the figure.
Using a soldering iron, heat the plate and bend its edges at a right angle.
Now mark the installation location on the tank. To do this, install the crossbar strictly in the center, mark the places for holes on the tank with a marker. Drill holes in the marked places with a drill, fasten the crossbar with bolts.
Making the rotor bar
Take a strip of steel with a width of 15-20 mm and a thickness of 4 mm. At the edges of the plank you need to do a hole.
Now you need to fix the bar. To do this, make a shaft. Take a hairpin and cut a thread on it. Drill a hole in the center of the beam fixed to the tank and install the stud. On top of the pin, install the bevel gear and grab it with the nut. Secure the rotor bar from below and secure with a lock nut.
It remains to prepare another bar. You will need a metal strip 600x15 mm. Make holes at the edges and bend them. Now fasten the holes of the rotor strips with the pins together with the frame brackets. Movable structure is ready.
Thanks to the rotor of the frame, it is possible to turn over one side or the other. This allows you to extract honey from the honeycomb and completely drain the frames.
Stand
Be sure to make a stable stand under the tank so that you can then substitute a container for collecting honey. It can be made from a metal rod. Twist the ring from the rod so that it is slightly larger than the lower diameter of the tank. The ends are fixed by welding.
From the same rod, make as many legs and install the structure. For stability, metal strips can be welded to the legs.
Manual or electric honey extractor
It remains to install the drive mechanism. The question arises: which drive to choose? If your revolutions in the apiary are not too high, it is better to use manual.
The fact is that when installing the electric motor, it is also necessary to provide a device that will regulate the number of revolutions. This is important because at high speeds, the car simply breaks the frames - and this causes a direct loss.
After pumping out honey, the frames return to the hives, where the bees pump them with honey again if there is a “bribe”. But if it is a clean frame, the bees need time to grow their honeycombs. Therefore, you also lose time and money.
Another thing is a manual drive, where you can independently adjust the work. To make it, attach the bracket to the crossbar. Then a threaded rod with thread is threaded through it. At the end, fix the gear with the nut.
How to install and use a homemade honey extractor
We will find out how to properly install the honey extractor.
Install the case into the stand. Check that the structure is stable. Place a large container under the faucet, you can pan. Install the frames with honeycombs in the cassettes and begin to operate the mechanism by scrolling the handle.
That's how useful equipment for beekeeping can be made from unnecessary parts and an old washing machine.