# Convert inch to millimeters



## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

When reading the book _Dadant system of beekeeping_ I found this statement :

"_In exhibiting a hive at the Storrs meeting, Mr. Latham made the remark that the *1 3-8 inch* spacing of combs, from center to center, in common use, was a promoter of swarming. We have used the Quinby spacing of *1 1-2 inches* ever since 1866._"

Can you help me convert these two measurements to millimeters? I've looked on google and is not to be easy. Thanks!


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## Dave Burrup (Jul 22, 2008)

1 3/8 = 1.375 inch = 3.492 5 centimeter
http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm


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## mgolden (Oct 26, 2011)

Google an "Inches" to "mm" Converter and enter the inches and then select convert.

http://www.convertunits.com/from/inches/to/mm

1 3/8 inches is 1.375 inches and equals 34.925 mm

1.5 inches is 38.1 mm


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

One of Google's features is unit conversion within the search engine...no need to google another website.

'1 3/8" in mm' will do the trick. This works with almost any untils...teaspoons to gallons...even converts lengths to smoots!


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## ch.cool (Aug 22, 2012)

inch x 25.4=mm


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Thank you all!:thumbsup:


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## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

ch.cool said:


> inch x 25.4=mm


:thumbsup:


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## tech.35058 (Jul 29, 2013)

If you are using a windows computer, another FREE program is "convert for windows" after installed it works with out need for internet.
We use it at work.

http://joshmadison.com/convert-for-windows/


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## ch.cool (Aug 22, 2012)

tech.35058 said:


> If you are using a windows computer, another FREE program is "convert for windows" after installed it works with out need for internet.
> We use it at work.
> 
> http://joshmadison.com/convert-for-windows/


No need for another program. Windows calculator: go to view- check unit conversion and that's it.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

ch.cool said:


> No need for another program. Windows calculator: go to view- check unit conversion and that's it.


Thank you! I use Apple. How can I do without resorting to net?


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## ch.cool (Aug 22, 2012)

Eduardo Gomes said:


> Thank you! I use Apple. How can I do without resorting to net?


Like I said: all inch x 25.4 or mm/25.4. As a mechanical engineer in the US, it's my business day by day.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

I was wondering if the Apple computer has a converter without having to resort to the net. ch. cool your information is valuable because even with just a pencil and paper I'll get to do the conversion. Thanks again:thumbsup:.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Off topic from the measurement conversion, but I'm rather surprised Dadant actually said that. 1 1/2 inch (38.1 mm) seems rather extreme, plus I don't see how it would stop swarming.

My own frames are 33 mm and I do have to work to control swarming, is there something I am missing here?


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

Moses Quinby, Charles Dadant, G. M. Doolittle and others all said that 1 1/2 inches was the best spacing for brood combs. They also said that spacing retarded swarming.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Well that's real interesting and something I've never heard of before. What is their reason?


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

They believed the increased space between frames allowed better ventilation and gave more area for the adults to live in.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Reason I'm interested is the first outfit I ever worked for ran only 9 frames to the brood box and did not have much issues with swarming. Swarming has been harder to control everywhere else I have been but I thought it must have been their climate. Maybe I should run a few hives that way and see what happens.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Hi Oldtimer
I was very interested in these CP Dadant data. The reason he gives is this :

"_The bees work as satisfactorily with the one spacing as with the other. In fact, the original advisors of either mode of spacing had no very positive argument to advance in favor of their method. But the 11-2 inch spacing gives 1-8 of an inch additional between all the combs for the bees to cluster or move about during the breeding season. This multiplied by the height and length of the hive and by the number of frames gives an addition of 162 cubic inches of clustering space or ventilation, as the case maybe. Think of the large number of bees which may be accommodated in such a space.
The standard hives of the present day are nearly all of the narrow kind. Nevertheless, the broader spacing is much the better, for the above named reason and also because it gives easier manipulation and more clustering space for the colony in winter. As we have said,we used the wider spacing for years, but did not realize that our success in swarm prevention was in part due to this spacing. It is undoubtedly of great advantage in the prevention of swarming._"

What do you think?


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Hmm well certainly very interesting. The 9 framers I used to work with were mostly pretty old wooden frames with 1 3/8 end bars plus quite a propolis buildup. We did centralise frames after working the hives but all the same spacing could easily have been 1 1/2 inch. Swarm control has never been easier since I worked there, I'll set some hives up this way and see what happens. Swarming season here has not long finished so it will be a while before I can test the idea.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

Dadant supered with comb, used no excluder, and claimed 5% swarming. When I used Br. Adams square boxes with 1 1/2 inch spacing I still had a few swarm, but they were later than the colonies in double deep Langstroths.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Why stopped using the Dadant hive in US? I am thinking of converting my apiaries with Langstroth to Dadant hives. All information in this regard interest me much.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

The large Dadants are a pain to operate due to size and weight, but they sure do raise a ton of bees. I still use 2 of them just for donating bees to weak colonies and making nuc's. 

If my apiary ramps up to a commercial operation after I finish school, I'll run more of them just for bee production and keeping colony strengths up. When I run them empty (making nuc's in the late summer), the combs make good "public feed" sources during the nectar dearth that follows.

By the way, on the topic of metric conversion, always double check math. Get a ruler with English fractional inch on one side and centimeter / millimeter on the other before you cut those 1,000 frames wrong. *Measure twice, cut once.* It works out better than, "Blast! I cut it 3 times and it's still too short." 

Also, keep a master part for comparison. The sooner you notice an error, the less wood / time / money you'll waste, not to mention potential injuries you'll avoid.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

1 1/4" = 32mm
1 3/8" = 35mm
1 1/2" = 38mm


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Thanks kilocharlie and Michael. 

How many frames can I put in a conventional Langstroth 10 frames hive if the spacing is 1 1/2 inches ? I think it will be 9. Am I right?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>How many frames can I put in a conventional Langstroth 10 frames hive if the spacing is 1 1/2 inches ? I think it will be 9. Am I right?

Yes. Inside measurements of a Langstroth hive is 14 3/4". 10-1 1/2" frames would make 15", so only 9 will fit. 10-1 3/8" and 11-1 1/4" frames.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Thank you Michael. :thumbsup: A good Sunday to you.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

At 9 x's 1 1/2 they can still be centralised before closing the hive to leave a gap down the outside of each outside frame, to allow the frames to be prized apart and a gap created for pulling the first frame next time the hive is worked.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Ok Oldtimer. 

What have been the reason for the mass of the space 1 3/8"? What was the rationale?


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

When I worked for that place was more than 40 years ago, the boss was old, and he inherited the business from his Dad. So for all I know the 9 frame brood nest may have been the wisdom from 100 years ago passed down unchanged.

However 1 3/8 end bars (here we call it 35 mm's) is still common, probably the majority, although most people run 10 frames in a brood box. I changed to 33 mm end bars because it's closer to what we see in wild hives. But nature, for us beekeepers, is not always best. Swarming is natural, but the beekeeper can do better if he can prevent it, and that means interfering with nature. So if a wider spacing can reduce swarming, all good, far as I'm concerned, long as it doesn't hurt the bees in any other way.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

As usual I easily agree with you. 

The huge size of the swarms that we can keep in our hives with 60,000 or more bees is not a natural thing. And this is not a natural dimension to reconcile with a natural spacing between the combs. Why not set this huge swarm, spacing a little more distance between combs?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>What have been the reason for the mass of the space 1 3/8"? What was the rationale?

Hoffman was the one who standardized it and here is what he said when he did:

"If we space the combs from center to center 1 1/2 (38mm) inches, instead of 1 3/8 (32mm), then we have an empty space of 5/8 inch (16mm) between two combs of brood instead of 1/2 (13mm), as it ought to be; and it will certainly require more bees to fill and keep warm a 5/8 (16mm) than a 1/2 inch (13mm) space. In a 1/2 inch (13mm) space, the breeding bees from two combs facing each other will join with their backs, and so close up the space between the two brood combs. If this space is widened to 5/8 (16mm) the bees cannot do this, and more bees will be required to keep up the needed brood-rearing temperature. What a drawback this would be in a cool spring, when our colonies are still weak in numbers, yet breeding most desirable, can readily be understood."--Julius Hoffman


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Michael Bush said:


> If this space is widened to 5/8 (16mm) the bees cannot do this, and more bees will be required to keep up the needed brood-rearing temperature. What a drawback this would be in a cool spring, when our colonies are still weak in numbers, yet breeding most desirable, can readily be understood."--Julius Hoffman


Thank you Michael .
This time with hives in polystyrene, with a much higher thermal quality of the wooden hive, still make that much sense this concern raised by Hoffman? 

Not to mention the cost in terms of swarming, as stated by C.P. Dadant.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I don't think styrofoam makes it that easy to keep brood warm. I find it works better at 1 1/4" than 1 3/8" and much better than 1 1/2". How much brood the bees can cover early makes a huge difference in their build up.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

Michael Bush said:


> I don't think styrofoam makes it that easy to keep brood warm.


Thank you Michael for your opinion.
But I will give a chance to this combination: polystyrene hive with Dadant nest with 9 frames.

I think these data about the insulation coefficient very promising. 

"What is the R-Value (insulation value) of the hives compared to timber hives?
A. Timber (softwood) = R1.4 per inch vs Polystyrene = R5.0 per inch.
A Typical timber hive wall thickness is 22mm therefore would have an R-Value of R1.21 when dry (decreases if becomes waterlogged).
The Paradise Honey High Density EPS hives have a wall thickness of 40mm for the full hive and 33mm for the nucleus hive, Therefore the full hive has an R-Value of R7.9 and the Nucleus is R6.5 and is not affected by moisture." source http://www.australianhoneybee.com.au/faq


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