# DIY Honey Extractor



## CesarBeeCool (Apr 11, 2011)

IT'S ALIVE!! Very cool. How did you get it to spin so freely and smoothly. Is it pivoting on the threaded rod? Great job.


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

Looks good!


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Cool..You'll have to let us know how it works in practice! How many cans of Coors Light did it take you to build it?


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## Urbannewbee (Jul 6, 2013)

Beautiful! Did you design it yourself, or work from plans? 

The only thing I'd worry about with the plastic bin is if there's enough weight at the bottom?


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

CesarBeeCool said:


> IT'S ALIVE!! Very cool. How did you get it to spin so freely and smoothly. Is it pivoting on the threaded rod? Great job.


The shaft is 1/2" all thread. It moves with the bin that holds the frames. It has a bearing at it s base and near the top. I used the all thread so I could easily attach a bearing.


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

double post oops


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

Urbannewbee said:


> Beautiful! Did you design it yourself, or work from plans?
> 
> The only thing I'd worry about with the plastic bin is if there's enough weight at the bottom?


I didnt have any plans. I used these 2 as visual guides.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/
http://www.littlehouseonthebighill.c...php?detail=125

I wouldn't worry about it moving around. I'm building a stand today. It will be quite stationary when I am done.


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## wglord (Nov 23, 2009)

If you guys want to see a good set of plans Google 'Bush mechanic' for an excellent extractor. It uses a 55 gal plastic food grade barrel, a threaded rod set in 2 bearings set into wooden cross bars and 2 bicycle rims to hold the frames. I made one for a demo on a development project I worked on in Malawi 3 years ago and it works like a charm. I ran it with a 1/2 inch drill and used a Mann lake honey gate. Great, simple design. The only trick is to find a set of bicycle rims that fit inside the barrel. I spray painted everything with oil based spray paint and ran 10 medium supers through it for a trial.


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

wglord said:


> If you guys want to see a good set of plans Google 'Bush mechanic' for an excellent extractor. It uses a 55 gal plastic food grade barrel, a threaded rod set in 2 bearings set into wooden cross bars and 2 bicycle rims to hold the frames. I made one for a demo on a development project I worked on in Malawi 3 years ago and it works like a charm. I ran it with a 1/2 inch drill and used a Mann lake honey gate. Great, simple design. The only trick is to find a set of bicycle rims that fit inside the barrel. I spray painted everything with oil based spray paint and ran 10 medium supers through it for a trial.


Sounds like a good build. Mine is quite similar, rather than bike rims I made the cage to hold my frames out of wood and Aluminum. Its also made from a 55gal plastic barrel and will hold 10 deep frames.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Duh!!! And here I am making mine out of 304 stainless. Maybe I will get it finished before the snow flies. 

Crazy Roland


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

Roland said:


> Duh!!! And here I am making mine out of 304 stainless. Maybe I will get it finished before the snow flies.
> 
> Crazy Roland


I would have preferred a stainless steal cage, I just don't have the means to construct one.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

The "cage" is coming along, most of the pieces are made, only need to cut/bend up about 180 more.

Crazy Roland


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

nice  I spun 10 frames through mine today. Yield was about 3 gallons of honey.


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

Worked like a charm.

1 deep super extracted!


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## cerezha (Oct 11, 2011)

mroark said:


> ...I made the cage to hold my frames out of wood...


 This is what concerns me. Are you going to sell honey? How you could clean-up internal parts including the wood? It looks like your lower bearing will touch the honey, is this true? Also, it looks like your "cage" may be weak for 10 full of honey frames. Sorry for critique.


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

cerezha said:


> This is what concerns me. Are you going to sell honey? How you could clean-up internal parts including the wood? It looks like your lower bearing will touch the honey, is this true? Also, it looks like your "cage" may be weak for 10 full of honey frames. Sorry for critique.


The wood is coated with the food safe butcher-block oil, clean up was a snap. The lower bearing is mounted to a stand under the 22.5" spinning wood disk. The stand is raised 8 inches off the bottom of the barrel. The honey free flows from the extractor into a bucket. No honey will ever touch that bearing. I ran 10 frames in it yesterday with no issues.


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## AramF (Sep 23, 2010)

I have built at least 3 different extractors in my mind and all of the failed "in my mind" before I read your post. I utilized some of your ideas and I did not think they'd work. Do you mind if I ask some questions to compare my theoretical to your actual experience?

1. The bottom wheel. You have plywood disk, an outer metal ring and bolts sticking out of the ring. What is the inside diameter of the barrel and what is the diameter of the wheel. It seems you have very tight clearances, do the bolts scrape the sides of the barrel?

2. You are using a clean frame to design the extractor, but honey frames can be as wise as 2 inches on the sides. Do you find that bottoms of the frames maybe are too crowded on your extractor making extraction difficult?

3. When you spin the frames, does the cage travel up and down allthread, even when tightly bolted? (I've concluded that I need to weld the cage to the vertical althread to prevent that) In addition, it seems that radial althreads (top ring) bend when rotated. Is that a significant issue, or do you figure that clock and counterclock wise spinning counterbend them.

4. You don't show any braces or dowels on the top ring to nest the topbars. Was that added later or do you operate without those? I would think that frames would be falling all over the place without them.

I realize there are a lot of questions, but I really like your design, so you got me thinking if many different directions. Thanks in advance.


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## mroark (Oct 2, 2012)

AramF said:


> I have built at least 3 different extractors in my mind and all of the failed "in my mind" before I read your post. I utilized some of your ideas and I did not think they'd work. Do you mind if I ask some questions to compare my theoretical to your actual experience?
> 
> 1. The bottom wheel. You have plywood disk, an outer metal ring and bolts sticking out of the ring. What is the inside diameter of the barrel and what is the diameter of the wheel. It seems you have very tight clearances, do the bolts scrape the sides of the barrel?
> 
> ...


I plan to replace the Plastic Barrel with a 200qt (50 gallon) aluminium stock pot. This will give me a good bit more clearance in the diameter department. I'll dig up my exact measurements. The Plastic Barrel is a bit of a pain. I had to make a ring with tabs to hold the top round and out after I cut it.


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## AramF (Sep 23, 2010)

Thanks, this is very helpful.


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## hey_bloo (Sep 3, 2013)

that just gets me excited right there. being new to this, it is good to see the finish line.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

This thread represents one of many useful threads on Beesource on homemade extractor designs. :thumbsup:

Just as a reminder, the _Build It Yourself _section offers free plans for many different beekeeping items, including two different extractor plans:
http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/


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