# Easy, cheap bee vacuum that will change the world <grin>



## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

My bee vac is ready (used last week on a cutout for a beta test)! I made it using a tubular inner cage instead of a box. This makes for EASY construction and has GREAT flow. Could be adapted to any kind of outer container (like a plastic trash can), this is a recycled large nursery pot. I made this almost entirely out of scrap so this design could look a lot better. The lip of the pot made it easy to screw the pot to the square face, against which the circular cage front suction-seals. The goal was to have a bee vac that was inexpensive and where the replacement cages were EASY to make. They're just a wood circle for the front and a wood ring floor which screen is stapled to. Then the front has a circle of scrap paneling to make the overlap lip (plus holes for the tubing coupler and the suction control), and the bottom has a same-sized paneling circle with a crashpad. There are wingnuts holding the floor onto the cage and holding the cage into the vac body. Other attachments would be easier, wings are just what I had.

The vacuum motor (not pictured d/t pic limits) is a $20 Target minivac screwed onto the bottom of the nursery pot, with a wood reinforcement inside. 

When the cage slides in, the circular lip overlaps the housing's opening creating a good seal. On the inner cage, the bottom ring has another circular lid to close up the cage. Just remove that to dump the bees. I made some guides to center the cage inside but it sits fine without them.

It still needs cutting down the square front to reduce size, painting white for heat, and adding a shoulder strap, but it worked like a charm. And my co-workers loved seeing a cage of bees under my desk all day.

The vac:










The cage in place:










The cage, dump floor attached:










The cage, floor removed:


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Aw heck here are the rest of the pics .

Inside the container:











Outside, motor mount:










The full cage:


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

*nice job*

Ben, Nice job, It's always a good feeling to design and build yourself something from scratch, and as a bonus have it be simple and work well. And the extra added bonus comes when you use mostly materials at hand!


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## Hampton (Apr 24, 2007)

*BeeVac...*

Brewcat,

That's a nice beevac. How much does it wieght? I like the design as it has a lot of surface area. What is the second hole for? Is that how you adust the suction?

Andy


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Seemed kinda heavy to me at 15 lbs, but I wanted it big enough to not have to stop and empty mid-job. Though that's about half the weight of the Kelly one. Much of the wood is half-inch particleboard (heavy) which will be substituted with a lighter material in future versions. The cage was pretty much sized based on the size of the flowerpot. Hopefully I'll leave the thing on the ground mostly, I have a couple lengths of PVC fitted for those high reaches.

Overbuilt but fun sawdust therapy!

Yep, that second hole has screen inside. It'll get a sliding flap to incrementally cover the hole to adjust suction. So far I've used duct tape.


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## allrawpaul (Jun 7, 2004)

Dont leave it in the sun with bees in it! Great design!


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## AllFloridaBee (Sep 25, 2007)

nice work, Ben. I've been wanting to make an electric bee vac. thanks for the pics and commentary. very inspiring!


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## Fernhill (Dec 30, 2004)

That's a very nice design and simple too. Do you operate it on its side? It looks like it probably can't stand up on the pot base since that's where the motor is mounted. Also, if it does run on its side wouldn't it make sense to leave one part of the top flat to keep the unit from rolling around on the ground. Thanks for the great photos.

Mike


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Yep, it sits on the side. And yeah I'm planning on just taking off the top two corners, rolling around would be a pain!


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## jeff123fish (Jul 3, 2007)

Do you think i could do that out of a drywall bucket? i have about 50 of those kicking around? I like the design.
-jeff


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Yeah, one of my criteria was to be able to use whatever was around. As long as the cage's volume (allowing for a flow gap) is big enough, it could be anything. At one point I was looking at concrete form tubes but the length would have had to be too long to get a decent cage size. Next time will probably be a round plastic trash container.


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## Everett (Feb 25, 2007)

Hi Ben, Now that its a season later, how did it work? What did you learn about it and what changes (if any) would you make?


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Actually Everett I just made it a few weeks ago. I'll update as I get to use it more. Unfortunately I have only the one removal as a trial (which went GREAT). Since these pics I have added a pivoting closure over the screened hole for vacuum control which is distinctly easier than duct tape. Changes for the next one that I have so far are:
substituting actual materials for scrap . Meaning instead of the nursery pot (which necessitated an additional floor to securely anchor the vac motor), use a straight-walled (or nearly so) plastic trash bin or other floored cylinder. The add-on floor adds weight and the drainage holes in the pot needed sealing. And I'll use paneling or other thinner, lightweight materials for the bucket's face as well as the cage's overlap.
The wingnuts are fine, but I might use something a little less involved for the closures. Certainly it doesn't need four to hold the cage in the vac, three at most would be fine. When the vac is running you'd be hard-pressed to remove the cage, so the nuts really just keep it together in transit before it's full of bees. Also thinking I will at some point drop a wingnut: a closure without droppable parts would be better. I was originally thinking of the snap-over style closures older houses had for storm windows and screens, but I couldn't find them.
And though it seems to be bee-tight so far, where the screen edges overlap on the cage's side the cut screen might get caught on something or with a good bang could open a bit. I'm planning on threading some wire along the length of the seam to "stitch" it closed (or maybe duct tape) but some way to close a join of #8 screen would be nice.
And really it doesn't need the cage guides inside the pot. With sturdy mounting of the screen to its face the cage should remain in place well enough. Though with a few pounds of bees and a bunch of ladder-climbing, reinforcement isn't going to hurt anything. Another thought I had was to put guides on the cage instead. I even considered casters but then I remembered the goal of cheap, not fun . Since the pot diameter was larger than the opening diameter that wouldn't work for this pilot one, but with a straight trash-can body the hole in the face of the vac could be the same size as (and flush with) the opening of the trash can.
And the overlap where the cage vacuum-seals against the vac body's opening doesn't have to be that big. An inch or two would be plenty as long as there's enough to secure the cage in place.
And obviously keep it white for summer temperature control, though when the cage is in place it'll pretty much be running anyway.


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