# Sideline uncapper.



## swanson475 (Jul 14, 2012)

Does anyone have any experience with them i am thinking about getting one. I would like some reviews please thanks.


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## DC Bees (Sep 24, 2009)

I have never used one but I think they are over priced,plus you don't get any wax for candle making or to sell.


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## Proskene (Mar 15, 2013)

I have seen it demonstrated on here . . http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Resources/videowindow.asp?video=UiLQeSs-9Zg you can see Shane struggle with it a couple of times in the video.

I am not impressed with the "ease" of use. I agree with DC about 1200 is way too much for what you are getting.


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## Greg755 (Jan 29, 2012)

I just bought one but wont have a review untill july...


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

Greg who's did you get? When you do your reveiw
David


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## Greg755 (Jan 29, 2012)

I got the brushy mountian sideliner (roller)


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Looking forward to the review - un-capping fullsize frames - please


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## kbfarms (Jan 28, 2010)

I have an older Maxant flail decapper that I love. I didn't even know I needed one until it came bundled in a small bulk honey house equipment buy we did last year. We decapped and spun 20+ supers in one day last year. Couldn't have done that with a knife.


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## kbfarms (Jan 28, 2010)

Oh, you do get wax, on mine it falls down where I strain the honey from the capping.


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## Jon B (Apr 24, 2013)

Uncapping equipment can be one of the biggest investments you make in your beekeeping operation. Before you buy anything you'll want to determine how large of a business you eventually want to run. Having a more automated uncapper will only help speed up the harvest if you also have the right extractor. Three uncapping machines for sideline beekeepers are currently on the market. First is the sideliner uncapper from Brushy Mountain. I have seen the youtube video and it looks like a decent machine. It will leave more of the wax on the frame. Second is the Handy man Uncapper from Dadant. It is recommended to circulate hot water or steam through the knives. I have not personally used one of these. Third is the Maxant chain uncapper. I have a friend that uses one of these. He is able to keep two 20 frame extractors running constantly. Some beekeepers can get lucky and find used uncapping machines for a good price, but it is rare.


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## kbfarms (Jan 28, 2010)

I was lucky ......I didn't even know what it was when it was unloaded off the truck. Had bought the lot primarily for the extractor. Did a search on the Internet, fired it up and realized what I had been missing in my beekeeping life. I went from a 4 -shallow frame homemade extractor that you had to stop and flip the frames, knife and 5 gal buckets to a 33 shallow frame extractor, chain decapper, three storage tanks, wax melter, honey heater, decapping tank and a bunch of other odds and ends. It was like stepping off a horse buggy and onto the starship enterprise : ).


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

kbfarms said:


> We decapped and spun 20+ supers in one day last year. Couldn't have done that with a knife.


REALLY??? I use a Pierce knife, and I do everything myself, uncap, load the radial extractor, unload extractor, stack empty supers, and filter the honey. I average 7 supers per hour. I can easily do 20 supers before lunch.

cchoganjr


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## jbeshearse (Oct 7, 2009)

Running 8 frame supers that averages a little less than a frame a minute besides the loading, unloading, filtering, stacking, breaking the full frames out of the supers. 

You must have 8 hands..... all I can say is wow. I manage less than 1/2 that by hand, but I use a serrated knife which does slow you down. Also dont have a good enough uncapping tank to hold the 20 frames I need to uncap while my 20 frame extractor is spinning out.


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## kbfarms (Jan 28, 2010)

cchoganjr, you are obviously a much better beekeeper than I am.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

kbfarms...jbeshearse... No, I am not a better beekeeper than you are, and no, I don't have 8 hands. I was just telling it like it is.

Here is how I do it. Frames are already broken out, as I do that at the bee yard. I only bring to the honeyhouse the fully capped frames, and virtually, no bees. I have a Kelly 9 frame, electric, radial extractor. I run all 8 frame, in 10 frame shallow supers. The combs are well drawn out, and there is rarely any picking of the comb. I uncap 6 frames, hang in the extractor and start it spinning. Takes maybe 20 seconds per frame to uncap. All you do is go up one side, spin the frame on the nail, and go down the other side. The hot knife does it all. I then uncap frames and hang each frame in the uncapping tank until I have 6 frames uncapped, Then unload the 6 frames that had been spinning and load the six that are in the extractor. About each 2 supers I pour the honey from the extractor into the filter system. It collects as the extractor is running. The honey then runs into 5 gallon buckets. As each 5 gallon bucket is filled, I put a lid on it, put a new bucket under filter tank.

I doesn't take long to extract honey, if you have 8 frames in 10 frame equipment and a good hot knife, (I use a Pierce or a Kelly knife with variable temperature control.) The 9 frame radial, when only putting 6 frames in it, will have the 6 frames extracted by the time you uncap six more frames.

cchoganjr


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I would love to hear an unbiased review of this uncapper from someone who knows that it's like to uncap a lot of honey. I look forward to it...


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

jbeshearse...I read your response above and you stated your uncapping tank would not hold the 20 frames you uncap while you are spinning 20. 
Have you ever tried spinning just the number that your uncapping tank will hold. For instance, my uncapping tank will only hold 6 frames, and I found that uncapping 6 frames and spinning 6 frames is much, much, faster, than spinning 9 frames and uncapping 9 frames. It takes my 9 frame radial much longer to spin dry 9 frames than it does 6 frames. Just make sure the frames are balanced in the extractor.

cchoganjr


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The video looks good, but I wonder how it works for really thick comb (like when you have 9 or 8 frames in a ten frame box) or really skinny comb that got capped before it was fully drawn. Those are always the trickier ones...


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## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

FYI, for those who are interested an uncapping tank is not vital, it is easy to make an uncapping frame. Skip to post #5 for a photo.
http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...e-an-uncapping-frame&highlight=uncapping+rack


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## swanson475 (Jul 14, 2012)

Thanks for the info looking foward for a review. I have looked around and still have not found one.


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## Greg755 (Jan 29, 2012)

@max2 - Sorry for the delay, been really busy. Unfortunately I only used medium frames, both plastic and wood. I leave all the deeps for the bees. In any event the bees here in NY are about a month behind schedule because of the longer winter/crappy weather.. Will have a review and a video sometime in July. I got the older model from brushy mountain, the newer ones are the same except they come with sturdy legs on it instead of being mounted on the tray. I have mounted mine on a table so it should be a lot more stable than when the guy in the video was using it sitting on top of two supers, which was very wobbly...


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## Flewster (Nov 3, 2003)

I have a chance to buy an older Maxant uncapper at a good price..........I am running about 50 hives now and plan on 500..........I am hoping that this will be suitable.


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## kbfarms (Jan 28, 2010)

I really like my older Maxant. The only thing I wish is that the chains were adjustable. The newer ones are. It does take off a bit more wax than a knife, but I can live with it.


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Greg755 - thanks for the info. Would love to see it working with Full Size frames if somebody is using it.

thanks
max


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

Any update on the reveiw
David


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## Brandy (Dec 3, 2005)

I'll just throw this out while you're waiting on the other reviews. I think this has also been reviewed in the past. First a couple disclaimers: I've had it 5-6 years and got it for much less then it's listed now.. Two of us share it so we were able to split the cost! 

It works great with basically new wax added to previously drawn frames. Frames where foundation was used and not drawn out past the top bar are a little difficult to uncap, but need a couple passes through the roller. Not too big of a deal. Those spaces also can be hit quickly with uncapping fork etc... Really deep frames kind of "squish" through the roller, again not a big deal since all the honey ends up in the tub. But 9 frames from a 10 frame super, or 7 frames in a 8 frame super are easy to run through the uncapper. There are a couple adjustments so you can raise and lower the rollers based on your frames. But I pretty much just leave it from year to year since getting it set up for most of the frames. 

The biggest downfall for me, is older comb that may have been used for brood is just dang tough to get through the rollers and pierced. Even with an uncapping knife you all know how tough it is. Same in the rollers. 

I didn't want a large uncapping machine and I like that it doesn't need power. I didn't really have the space for anything larger and if it was able to be bolted down, so much the better. Mine just sits on a slab above a sink to bring it to counter height. 

I also used to have quite a bit of honey from the electric uncapping knife that was a little darker, hotter, not burnt, but you all know the honey that's been "by" the hot knife. Well, allllll the honey through this process is still as good as coming out of the extractor. We put a honey gate on the tub so we could empty the tub without having to lift it to pour it. I leave it set up for a week or so and then strain what wax cappings are left. It just drains overnight. 

All in all, if you know ahead of time the size and shape of the frames that work the best, and can get that setup in your supers you'll like it. Otherwise you just spend a little time with the uncapping fork and move on, not a big deal.. Just my two cents...

P.S. I admit to "hating" uncapping with a hot knife and wanted something that could make the job easier. With 40-60 hives and a mountain of supers each year, this made it at least bearable.


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## Fernhill (Dec 30, 2004)

I had the great fortune to borrow a Sideliner Uncapper from a friend to uncap my frames this year. I'd actually visited the Brushy Mtn location in PA earlier in the day and bought a new 18 frame radial extractor with the new German Motor. 

First the uncapper. I have to say that it's a good PROTOTYPE unit but nothing I'd pay $1,300 for. I ran almost 9 frame supers almost exclusively this year so the comb was drawn out well beyond the face of the frame. When I ran the frames through I found that it works best if you run them through very fast. I'd have thought that it'd be the opposite but faster worked better. The rollers did a better job sometimes rather than others. Most of the time I was left to scratch the frames to uncap them fully. Almost every time when the frames popped out on the other side, they were dinged severely by the rails that are intended to support them. 

When I watched the Brushy video I was expecting to have myself on one side of the machine loading frames and my wife on the other taking them out. That's what you see in the video on the website. That is nothing close to what I experienced. Honestly, after too many frames getting badly dinged, I switched to scratching all of them open with my capping scratcher. It too opened all of the cells, removing less wax than a hot knife would. 

The Extractor. Previously I had used a 9 frame radial extractor with a crank handle. I did it that way for a couple of years (getting a severe case of extractor-elbow each time) until we went in on a Baldor motor with a friend. The Baldor motor worked beautifully but this year we decided to upgrade to a larger extractor. I opted for the 18 frame radial with the German motor. This motor is reversible which allows you to extract both sides of the frame evenly without removing them from the extractor. The thing I noticed most was the noise made by the motor. It makes a very LOUD grinding noise when you start it up. We had no problems whatsoever with the motor and I don't care if it's noisy as long as it works. I was happy with the extractor. It worked the way it should, seems to be well made. When I unpacked the box though, it did not contain the baskets mentioned to spin your cappings. I'll have to call Brushy to ask about that.


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## Jed (Feb 23, 2013)

kbfarms said:


> We decapped and spun 20+ supers in one day last year. Couldn't have done that with a knife.


well me and a friend did over 100 boxes in one day useing a hand knife :lookout:


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