# making sloped bottom boards



## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

Hi, I have to make 200 sloped bottom boards and I want to know what the best setup is for cutting the slope on the sides ? Is there a jig for a table saw or is a router table best ?
Thanks


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Start with banging your head against the wall lol


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Tried and failed at explaining how to do it safely. Never mind. 
These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Nothing to see here. 
Move along. 





D'oh. :scratch:


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## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

Ian >> I already did that, now what ? Something that seems so simple is so baffling to me ! Must be an easy way to go about it?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I've never done it
But your looking at making a slide jig over a router 
Have the jig hold your board angled , if you know what I mean


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

If you want to cut pieces , just be careful for flying wood


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## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

I guess you know what I am making a bunch of  

I might have to go see my neighbour, he is a woodworker and may be able to show me how to set it up to get the angles right on both sides. Other than that, I will just make a flat 3 way pallet and put screened drains in the boards to avoid frustration.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

This can be done with a dado head for a table saw and a slide to hold the wood at the proper angle. When you are ready to cut rails, set up the dado with 3/4" stack or as needed for the thickness of the boards for the bottom.

Measure and cut a board 28 inches long by 6 inches wide of the same stock the bottom board rails will be cut from. Mark that board at center on one end and center on the other end. There should be 3 inches on the left and 3 inches on the right of each mark. Now make a mark 1/4 inch to the left on one end of the board and 1/4 inch to the right on the other end. Straight edge and mark the line so that the slant will be correct. If you do not want a 1/2 inch slope in the bottom board, try 7/32 or 3/16 on each end. Rip the board free hand down the line. Now cut two end boards about 8 inches long and 3 inches wide. Place a piece of your rail stock in the middle, then glue and screw it together. I put mine on the table saw and used the edges of the cast iron top to square it up. Cut a small block to fit underneath at one end and glue it in place. This block will keep the rail from moving while cutting the groove. When finished and the glue is dry, you can trim the edges and sand smooth if you choose.

It took less than 15 minutes to make this one. 5 of those 15 minutes were from going to the trunk of my car to get the sheetrock screws to hold it together while the glue dries.


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

I think you have to make one jig for each side but that's the way I would do it too.
Bill


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## ron manos (Aug 24, 2016)

you have to make a jig for each side.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

Here it is with both sides on, propped up on my frame wiring jig so you can see the profile.


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## tazke (Mar 23, 2015)

The jig fusion power shows above is very similar to one I have used. 

Couple of tips:
After you have all your side's cut to length, make two stacks, left and right. Move one stack away from your work area, as in outside your reach. That way if you mean to make 25 you don't end up with 50 lefts. 

Also I used two different colored markers to mark the jig, red says right, blue says left. Helps if you get interrupted or don't finish in one session. (I also mark the ends of each stacks of boards)

Things go much better if you have a "catcher" on the out feed side of the table saw. They can take the jig and board, lift the jig off, return jig to you, repeat, repeat......


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## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

I will give it a shot, thanks for the information.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Everything I make is flat bottom. The sloped bottoms are nice but not important enough for me to spend that extra time involved. 
I think you will like them though


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

I just adapted the board above by cutting 7/16 off one side so the dado will correctly cut the board for both left and right sides. It needed 7/16 shaved off of one side for everything to work right. The objective is to make one setting for the table saw and be able to flip the board over to cut either side with the same setting of the saw. It took about 15 minutes to align and figure out how much needed to be trimmed.

Now that I have it set up, I can cut sides just about as fast as I can feed them through.


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## Jim Hancock (Dec 30, 2016)

There are taper cutting jigs you can make for a table saw. If you cut the sides to the proper width first you could then run them through the saw with the jig and make a matched set in one pass.
www.woodworkersjournal.com/table-saw-taper-jig-plans/


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Hey Ben!!! What an honor, you are using the bottom board patented by my Grandfather. It was called the "Level-Drain".. Enjoy.

Crazy Roland


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

...
Keeping that moisture off the bottom board helps Colony health 
Worth the time and effort


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

> There are taper cutting jigs you can make for a table saw. If you cut the sides to the proper width first you could then run them through the saw with the jig and make a matched set in one pass. http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/table-saw-taper-jig-plans/


 Correct that a tapering jig is a useful tool in the shop, but caution that this type tapering jig would be unsafe to use with a dado head to cut side rails. The slide I made can be used safely with a couple of push tools. Also, that type jig would have to be used with stock cut to width but twice the length of the bottom board rails. As you said, it can be adapted to cut a left and a right side out of a 50 inch piece of stock then cut down to two 25 inch pieces to have the right size rails. It would be a bit finicky to set up and would require knot free wood to work right. All in all, the slide I made would be a better choice for easy to make, safe to use, and can use odd cuts of wood instead of having to look for longer pieces.


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## Mefco (Oct 16, 2015)

So why exactly why would one want to make sloped bottom boards? If it's drainage, wouldn't a 2x4 under the back do the job? Seems like a lot of bother for a problem with a quick fix....


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## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

Roland said:


> Hey Ben!!! What an honor, you are using the bottom board patented by my Grandfather. It was called the "Level-Drain".. Enjoy.
> 
> Crazy Roland


That's awesome !


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## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

Mefco said:


> So why exactly why would one want to make sloped bottom boards? If it's drainage, wouldn't a 2x4 under the back do the job? Seems like a lot of bother for a problem with a quick fix....


They are going to be fastened to a pallet and used as a 3 way queen system, so they have to be level with each other.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Just make your frame and staple them in at an angle. These have screened area for even better drainage for really big overwintered colonies in a wet cold climate.
Not a big deal to make, takes a few extra minutes but you won't come out of winter with those waterlogged, grungy disgusting solid bottom boards. These come out dry as a bone and very clean.

































Here's how they look after an entire season of use without cleaning. From April to late December in a triple deep 2 year old colony. (Checking after OAV treatment) The extent of burr comb is minor, brittle this time of year and comes right off.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Same design as my 2 queen divided long lang hives.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

With the "Level-drain" bottom board, the hive can be level(not tilted) and yet the bottom board will drain. If built properly, they are also reversible.

Crazy Roland


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

That is the way I set up the slide shown above Roland. The bottom board can be 3/8 sloped to 3/4 at the front or it can be 3/4 sloped to 1 1/8 at the front allowing for a larger area for more ventilation. As an interesting trivia item, one of the original reasons given for making sloped bottom boards was so wax moths would roll out the front. This was back in the 1880's. I suspect your grandfather was more interested in keeping water from pooling in the hives.


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## JConnolly (Feb 21, 2015)

Lauri, thanks for the pictures. I've been stalking your long hive threads. I've been considering building one and am working on a design with an adjustable SBB so I can use Langstroth deeps or Dadant Modified (11-1/4) frames.

The design as I have it now has a flat screened bottom board insert with a V-shaped bottom under the insert with a screen in the middle. Sticky boards can be placed between the two. The V bottom is only 1/2 as deep since it slopes from both sides. Is there a particular reason you placed the screen on the side? 

Since you've actually used these, what advantages do you see over putting the screen on the side verses putting in the middle of a vee bottom? And are there any disadvantages you might see for the V bottom?


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## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

Lauri said:


> Just make your frame and staple them in at an angle. These have screened area for even better drainage for really big overwintered colonies in a wet cold climate.
> Not a big deal to make, takes a few extra minutes but you won't come out of winter with those waterlogged, grungy disgusting solid bottom boards. These come out dry as a bone and very clean.
> 
> View attachment 31291
> ...


Thanks for the pictures and information, those look interesting, might have to try some and compare them to the ones I am going to use.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

I like those sloped bottom boards and will be making more. But it's hard to beat a SBB for drainage. I just keep the slide in IN. Can't beat the ease of monitoring mite drops too. I make them with no landing board due to my *wet *climate.

I use FRP for the slide in. Never swells like wood will, last forever, takes a scraping & hot water wash. I tried SBB's with it pulled out and didn't like the results. But they drain really well in winter without being drafty. I make sure the slide in doesn't sag and allow winter drafts. I overwinter some big colonies that create a lot of condensation. Sometimes I have to vent it a little more to control it. 

I'm sick of the waterlogged grungy solid BB's I come across about this time of year. Anything ugly is going in the burn pit as I get to them this spring.

Here's what I am working on today. I have a good pile of slightly irregular rough sawn 1x2's I needed to use up. This makes good use of them. The really bad ones with knot holes, etc I use for the slide in base.

































Will keep working in the shop as long as my weather is bad. Threat of snow in my forecast later this week. 

Those sloped BB use 5/4" x 4" cedar. I have a nice stack of that to work with. I try to use up my ugly wood first before dipping into the good stuff.


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

If anyone in the area is interested, I gave Albert Zook a slide to make sloped bottom boards. He can make them on request.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Fusion wrote:

I suspect your grandfather was more interested in keeping water from pooling in the hives. 

True that, hence the name "Level-Drain". They may have been manufactured and sold under license by the A.I Root company. There was also an "Insulated-Ventilated" roof, patented by my grandfather, that I believe was also sold by Root.

Crazy Roland


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## enus75 (Aug 3, 2014)

I would think that a miter saw would work much better or a radial arm saw much safer easy enough to make a stop so you can duplicate


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## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

> I would think that a miter saw would work much better or a radial arm saw much safer easy enough to make a stop so you can duplicate


 Make one and show us how you did it! Would love to see.


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## enus75 (Aug 3, 2014)

I was just watching beekeepers workshop on YouTube and he cuts his on 45 degree angle and he uses the radial arm saw check it out under making bottom frame stand


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