# Wiring spool retainer



## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

Guess I'm going to run one cross wire on my medium frames , has anyone come up with a way of keeping the wire from unraveling . I'm not looking for a stationary holder as I hold the spool flat on the table and turn it against the frame for leverage to tighten the wire .


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## KevinR (Apr 30, 2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbry3lko14g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCXwi_ZFzvM


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## KevinR (Apr 30, 2010)

I use 20lb test fishing line.. I just thread it through, staple, pull tight, staple the other end and cut.


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## Michael B (Feb 6, 2010)

Most spools have small holes in them. I keep the wire with tension when crossing. Then take the cut end and put in one of the holes of the spool. Works pretty good.

Must have wired a thousand frames this way so far.

P.S. I got sick of it and run rite cell now.


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

My dad made an embedding frame back in the early 1960's. It was sloped and fit a deep or medium or another size frame part way between a deep and medium frame. In the upper right hand corner he had a bolt running out of the side of the frame that he slid the spool of wire over. Then he slid a soup can over that. The can had a hole in the end that the bolt went through so he could hold it on with a nut and washer. There was a small nail hole in the side of the can that the wire fed out of. 

I still have it but I haven't used it since the 1980's. It worked really well.


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

The jig in the last you tube video is pretty clever , but I just need something around the spool to keep it from unraveling .I tried fishing line and had a mess the bees ate through it and had one end hanging out the entrance , it drove them crazy , they were trying to fly with it and other end was still attached inside , I won't do that again .

It seems like a lot of guys eventually end up getting away from wax foundation and going with one of the plastics , I was comparing my wax foundation price to dadant plasticell and the plastic isn't much more , it would be worth it if they would draw it out as good , the rite cell is more. .Wax- 72 cents , plasticell 83 cents and rite cell 1.00, Are they reluctant to draw it out at all and is rite cell better than plasticell for that reason, I see alot are using rite cell . Can I use plastic foundation in my top bar wedge frames to use them up and then go with grooved top and bottom .


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

The real problem with wiring frames is, no one makes a wiring board anymore. There used to be several styles on the market, but now...none. A good wiring board makes it easy. Without one...well I can see why no one wants to wire frames anymore.

My old Dadant wore out, so I wound up making my own. I thought I had a photo of it but couldn't find it. I'll check my photo files on the other computer, and if it isn't there, I'll take one tomorrow and post it.


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## JWChesnut (Jul 31, 2013)

My spool of wire is on a block of wood with a square wood center peg. The clumsy pegs serves to increase the friction so the spool doesn't "freewheel" and overrun the wire consumption leading to loops that kink the wire. A rough peg works, or sandpaper glued to the block. I thought the pegs were supposed to be smooth dowels or polished bolts and they always give problems -- but when I rough hammered a split of wood into the bolt hole, all the freewheeling problems went away.

Make sure you have an little cuphook or eyescrew to provide a fairlead for the wire on the spoo block. Of course, since I am a bit of a neanderthal I just use a couple of box nails pounded over and the wire slips under them. Again, "freewheeling" is your enemy and friction is your friend.

I wire standing at a long, chest high table. I start the frame at the end away from the spool and as I wire I slide the frame toward the spool taking up slack. Works better than having the frame fixed and pulling the wire through -- instead do the reverse and pull the frame through the wire. Hooking the wire on a nail strategically hammered into the table, lets you get purchase (or slack in the wire) to finish the fourth run after the frame begins to bind.

Don't use eyelets, but 1/4" T-51 staples for the wire to run over. After you nail off the wire, you can pull any slack out of weave by pulling the wire sideways with a fingernail and sandwiching it under another well placed staple.

A piece of pig iron can trap the wire at the spool temporarily, while you straighten the inevitable loops by shaking them off the free end of the wire, or if the frame is already started just roll the frame. A smooth motion serves to take the loop out of the metal.


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

Does anyone know what medium pierco foundation cost , looks like they sell it boxes of 100 min. curious how it compares to plasticell and rite cell .The website doesn't list any prices that I see.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

I use a cheapo paint brush as a follower on my wire reel. The side of the reel cage has a hole about 15 thou. diameter the wire feeds through. Zero backlash. I have a measuring mark I pull the wire to and snip it an inch from the reel case which gives me about 2 inches to waste as I ring off on the last nail. The proper length wire is free to work with and makes lacing the holes easy. My wiring jig squeezes the frame enough that when released gives good tension. I also embed the cross wire while it is still in the jig. Time spent to make jigs sure takes the frustration out of the job.


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## Kofu (Jan 26, 2011)

I put the wire in a cardboard box, just a bit bigger than the spool. The spool lays on its side inside the box. Cut a hole in the side of the box, at the level of the wire, reinforce around the hole with masking tape, and run the wire out the hole. I made the box from a cereal cartoon and masking tape. It works fine!

You can pull the wire out of the box as you need it. And because the wire unspools inside the box and you're holding the end of it to keep it from twisting, it doesn't coil and kink.

Maybe there's a better way to run wire horizontally in the frame, but here's how I do it: Pull it from right to left through the top holes, loop it around and through the bottom holes, wrap the end of the wire on a small nail in the _side_ of the upright bar, pull the wire tight and wrap it (with needle-nose pliers) on the same nail and bang that in. Then break off the wire from the spool, at the nail. And done.

I've been running mostly foundationless, so the wire is there to reinforce the comb when the bees get around to drawing comb down over the wires. They don't seem to mind it, most of the time...


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I wire on a wood box. The spool of wire is on the side of the box on a threaded bolt with washer tight enough to allow it to turn but not unravel spin. The wire is thread through a small hole from the side of the box to the top which holds it from backing up and allowing the roll to spin.


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## turtle95 (Aug 5, 2012)

use a big rubber band on the wire in the spool ,it will help stop the backlashing of the wire . I switched to plastic foundation ,get it uncoated then use your wax from the cappings with all the crud in it , I found the bees drawed it out first ,over wax , wax coated plastic foundation Stay Warm !!


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Michael Palmer said:


> The real problem with wiring frames is, no one makes a wiring board anymore. There used to be several styles on the market, but now...none. A good wiring board makes it easy. Without one...well I can see why no one wants to wire frames anymore.
> .


So this is the wiring board I made. The frame fits snuggly into the jig, and a toggle clamp compresses the side bars against a stop. The wire is threaded through the sider bar frames...I use two horizontal wires...pulled tight, and attached to the nail. When the toggle is released, the bow in the side bars straightens and the wires are tightened. A metal "spring" holds the spool from turning too easily, and an eyelet keeps the wire from unwinding between frames.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

My wiring table has serviced me well since about 1977. It is a wood box attached to an overturned fir deep super. The roll of wire is held on the side of the box by a bolt with some washers to control it from spinning, and the wire is retained by passing it through two holes on the top corner of the box. I have wired thousands of frames on it. This contraption will prove Charlie's opinion of me being a cheapskate correct, but it works just fine for me. Used it today for a few hours.


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## Knisely (Oct 26, 2013)

Michael: Two questions. What do you use as a 'stop', and where can a toggle like the one you've used be found for purchase?


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## Cottonwood (Apr 16, 2013)

Knisely said:


> Michael: where can a toggle like the one you've used be found for purchase?


I just purchased an Bessey Auto-Adjust Inline Toggle Clamp on Amazon. It is probably a little overkill, but I am hoping it will be easy to use. Planning on replicating MP's design. I'll post a picture once I'm done. Thank you Michael for sharing your design.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Knisely said:


> Michael: Two questions. What do you use as a 'stop', and where can a toggle like the one you've used be found for purchase?


The stop is one I salvaged of an old one I had. It's a hardwood dowel with a copper bushing. The bushing is a copper pipe. The toggle clamp comes from the Grizzly catalog.


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I drilled a fine hole through my sacrificial fence (made of MDF plywood) that I made for the table saw to straddle the fence. The spool sits behind it to hold tension and the wire does not pull through easy. It does look like I have been doing it wrong, though I put in the wax first and then do a alternated between the top and bottom through the wax before melting it in. Looks like I am supposed to do the wire first! :s
I tried the fishing line and I got multiple frames that looked like this when the bees got done with them:
http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n599/6minz/bee death 2013/beedeath041_zps9c157f1d.jpg
So I got a big roll of wire and went back to what works.


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## Dave1958 (Mar 25, 2013)

I drilled whole in a coffee can( plastic) and put a small block of wood beside the wire part of the spool and a small block of wood on top so it wont rattle inside e the can.


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