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  • Cleaning Used frames.

  • Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
 #11857  by Steve 1972
 29 Aug 2021, 22:21
We where talking about this today and the only option for cleaning frames in my heed is the owld Burco boiler..this is after the lot of them have gone through a steam wax melter to render the wax...in these current times prices of wood and lots of other things have gone through the roof..so it only seems sensible to me to try and reclaim as much wood as possible..
How do others clear their frames of old wax ready for new foundation..
 #11858  by Patrick
 30 Aug 2021, 01:40
Use a wallpaper stripper with stack of normal hive components to steam a box of old combs to render the wax and heat the frames then scrape clean the frames, before partial disassembly and rewaxing.
 #11859  by Alfred
 30 Aug 2021, 07:35
Strip out wax prise away the snap out,tap out the bottom bars.
Wire goes into scrap metal tin
Decorators scraper over the flat surfaces to reclaim four grades- light ,dark ,propolis mix and mostly propolis.
Old 2 mm electrical screwdriver bent at 30 degrees in the grooves.
Frames and parts then laid into industrial storage tray and submerged in soda and boiling water mix with another tray filled with bricks to keep them underwater.
Agitate until cleared.
Repeat process with cold water with 2 percent bleach mix.
Soak for one hour
Rinse and dry.
They almost look new.
Seconds are still cheap but I can't remember ever binning a frame outright .If I break a snapout or bottom bar I can usually make a replacement from what I find under the table saw.
Top bars can be machined down to make kingspan and dummy frames.
I've cut the bottom ends off old side bars and used lolly sticks and wood glue to convert super frames to brood frames.
Really knackered ones go to the smoker.
 #11860  by NigelP
 30 Aug 2021, 08:38
As above, b ut no bleaching......gave up with steaming frames as still had to remove bars and wedges and still scrape wax out. So figured why waste electricity steaming just scrape. I'll have approx 30 supers of "empty frames" after I've cut everything out for the heather press. Now try and save frames for colder months when wax is brittle and comes out more easier.

Steve's idea with a burco boiler sounds good . If you can totally submerge the frames under boiling water all the wax will be forced to the surface and no further work or scraping should be needed.....I think :D.
 #11869  by Patrick
 31 Aug 2021, 01:38
It may make a difference if you are mainly recycling unwired supers or wired brood combs.

My boxes of wired brood frames will be from a variety of reasons including dead outs and giving them a good blast of boiling steam is my concession to sterilising for unsuspected nasties. Very old brood combs are probably not worth steaming out but younger ones can be. I tried boiling up brood combs once but the resultant wax cake contained too many floating bits of papery brood cells. Unwired supers are a different story.

Amused to see you also spotted an alternative use for an electricians screwdriver Alfred - its just the job to clean out those side bar grooves but hadn’t thought to crank the tip. Still use it as a screwdriver mind!

It’s not my favourite job, but I have recycled frames still going strong after many years in almost constant use.
 #11870  by JoJo36
 31 Aug 2021, 05:03
I've shamefully dumped old brood frames as the effort you have to go to clean them for how many I have is not worth the time?! I buy the frames in bulk (seconds) so they aren't too expensive!
Did think about cutting out old comb completely and using as foundation less frames but never tried!
 #11879  by AdamD
 01 Sep 2021, 10:09
I tend to re-use frames. It's IS a faff and not enjoyable - sometimes new parts are needed which can be salvaged from others. Once they are scraped clean, I don't often boil them or clean them in any other way. Maybe I should?
 #11880  by Alfred
 01 Sep 2021, 11:08
The wax exchange is a small mitigation for the labour I suppose - its surprising how much you can accumulate even just from saving odd crumbs and omf floor debris.
Ive got a bit more twitchy on disease precaution of late so have lumbered myself with a never-ending cleaning programme.
Intact comb is put in a dead chest freezer with acetic acid .