# Wax melters...



## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

I have a antique Kelly's that I got when I bought out a beekeeper. I wish it had a better way to filter system for sum gum and fines out. But it does the job of getting capping into a block of wax.


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## hex0rz (Jan 14, 2014)

Steam render!

You cam do it large scale if you think about how to do it.. Use the boxes as a stack for your container. Sanitizing the insides of the boxes and frames as you go. Win win!


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I use an water jacket old sump. Not very efficient but I load it every morning, tap off in the evening. No fire hazard. I have a perforated screen to catch the slum. I only have one tap so I'm constantly screening out fines. I might install a secondary wax tap to help with that issue. 
I send my slum away to get further processed


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

I am talking capping only.


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## D Coates (Jan 6, 2006)

I started using a 16 gallon Maxant bottling tank this year. Get it up to 200 degrees, drop in the cappings (the drier the less honey wasted) and pour about 1/2 gallon hot water in there. The next day it should be all melted, turn off the bottling tank. The day after that assuming the wax is solid, poor off the liquid (I feed it to my nucs), pull the puck out and get rid of any loose slumgum. Note: If you've got a lot of wax get a few feet of decent rope and tie knots in the ends and drop those ends in the molten wax so you have an easy handle to pull the puck out with once it's solid. Put the puck back in there and turn the heater back on. The third day put an old sock over the ball valve (do not use the bottling valve) and pour the molten wax into a 3-5 gallon bucket. Once you get down to nothing but slumgum stop pouring into the bucket. Pour some hot water in the bottling tank and turn off it off. The last day pull the 1"-2" thick wax/slumgum puck out of the bottom (the water allows it to break free quickly but is otherwise useless) and put the puck in a solar wax melter. I used to spend weeks letting the cappings drip dry, and they never really did. Melting them down was a chore as well as I only had a solar wax melter. I use a Maxant capping spinner jr. to dry my cappings.

Once done with melting wax, to use the honey bottler for it's intended purpose simply get it hot again. With a rag wipe the inside out (residual wax and and slumgum is molten). Change the ball valve to the bottler valve and you're ready to bottle.


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## JohnBruceLeonard (Jul 7, 2015)

Thanks to all for the fascinating replies...

My-smokepole, that sounds like a good system for wax cappings. Why doesn't work for anything else?

hex0rs, that is an excellent idea about using steam directly in the box. I've been playing with some ideas for making a melter (hence the motive for this thread) and I'll see if I can't incorporate that. Do you do anything of the sort, out of curiosity?

Ian, sorry, I'm afraid I didn't quite follow. Could you tell me what a "water jacket old sump" is? 

D Coates - great description with some capital ideas. The rope, for example - I can't imagine how many years it would have taken me to come up with something similar. Also, feeding the surfeit water back to your nucs. Since you've seen one of these Maxants first hand - do you think that some (obviously much cruder) version could be wrought up with scrap materials, by someone who is foolish enough to try and reckless enough not to mind the occasional singed beard?

John


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

It works just don't like it. I have been clean up some VERY OLD brood comb from hives that I bought. The concoons hurt it. Been doing water bath to get read of the heavy then the melter


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## D Coates (Jan 6, 2006)

JohnBruceLeonard said:


> D Coates - great description with some capital ideas. The rope, for example - I can't imagine how many years it would have taken me to come up with something similar. Also, feeding the surfeit water back to your nucs. Since you've seen one of these Maxants first hand - do you think that some (obviously much cruder) version could be wrought up with scrap materials, by someone who is foolish enough to try and reckless enough not to mind the occasional singed beard?
> 
> John


You could do it. You'll simply need to make a large double boiler. Put a Watlow immersion heater in the water gap between the outside pot and the inside boiler. You have to make sure it's water tight where you have the heating element and you'd need to make up some way to get the wax out of there for filtering while molten. You'd need your materials to be stainless to avoid screwing up the wax with rust of any form. Depending on the cost of your time, supplies, and the learning curves/costs you could be better off buying it though. Only you can answer that one. http://www.maxantindustries.com/wax.html is made for nothing but wax melting. http://www.maxantindustries.com/bottling.html is the one I am referring to (16 gallon) and can be used for wax melting and bottling. A bunch of other folks make them and you might be able to find a used one too.


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## zhiv9 (Aug 3, 2012)

I have ~100 colonies and the Maxant WPT wax melter. I like to process the cappings as I go due to limited space. The only flaw is you lose any "melter honey" with this until as the cappings are melted in water. You can rinse the cappings first and make mead from the rinse water and then melt them down. The multi-valve system works well and keeps all the slum on the bottom of the puck.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Double walled sump, water heater, temp up to 200F


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## JohnBruceLeonard (Jul 7, 2015)

Based on the replies I received to this thread, as well as some reading I had done elsewhere, I developed a rough idea for a wax melter I wanted to try to build. I was discussing it with a local beekeeper, when it came out that he had built a melter very similar to that I was considering, and had it kicking round in his backyard. He was unable to use it, moreover, for last time he had it running his neighbors called the fire department on him. In consequence, he gave it to me, and I've put it to use several times now. It is a simple affair - a stainless steal drum on tripod, which one fills with water and wax, before lighting a fire underneath. It serves my purposes for the moment beautifully, and I wanted once more to thank those who have responded to this thread, for I may never have found this melter, without their kind input.

As an aside, in case it is of interest to anyone - this beekeeper shared with me a simple way of divesting the wax of its grosser particulates: namely, by putting the dirty wax into a burlap sack, which is then submerged in water inside the drum. The molten wax percolates through the holes of the burlap, leaving behind the mass of unwanted material. I tried this on some wax that I had thought lost, for it was freely intermixed with an abundance of wax moth feces and wood shavings, and the result was very clean. 

Here are some pictures:

This was the wax before melting:









Here is the melter in action:









Here is the wax that came out afterward:









And here is what was left behind in the burlap sack:









There were some pieces of wood embedded in the wax that came out of the burner, but these had fallen in from the top as I was feeding the fire.

D Coates - As you can see, I put your rope idea into action, and it worked beautifully. Thanks very much for the tip.

Once more, many thanks to all who posted their advice.

John


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I have an old Maxant separator that I bought new back in the early 90s. Great melter that makes beautiful yellow wax and doesn't burn the honey. I have the 4' model and wish I had bought the 6'. Too bad Maxant doesn't still make them. You can find a used one from time to time.

You can see mine on this video....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IROmWBYfdF0


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## davidsbees (Feb 22, 2010)

i melt cappings in a steam kettle skim off the free wax, then slum is put in a solar melter or slum press. I'm currently rebuilding my press.


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## JohnBruceLeonard (Jul 7, 2015)

Mr. Palmer - thank you kindly for the video link. It was of great interest, and not just for the wax melter (which, incidentally, I'll keep my eyes out for - though it is unlikely I'll find any such thing here in Sardinia). It's one devil of an outfit you have there.

David, thank you for the pictures. An incidental curiosity - what does "treatment eo's" mean in your signature?

John


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## davidsbees (Feb 22, 2010)

I use essential oils spring, summer, and fall then use hard treatment before winter ( EO'S don't work well in cold weather but they work in SoCal )


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Love my Cook and Beals melter. 
http://www.cooknbeals.com/wax-melter/


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