My solar wax melter
First: How do i clean my wax before it's placed in the solar unit? i use cappings bags in my extractor that spins the honey out of them. then i place and throw them in a paint strainer bag. i fill a 5 gallon pail with water and slosh the strainer bag with the cappings in it around, and run more water through the bucket until the water is clear. i let the cappings air dry using a huge strainer or tub. (of course this is all done outside with a garden hose, and not in the kitchen.... <!-- s:lol: -->:lol:<!-- s:lol: -->
This is my solar wax melter, and the materials i use to melt my wax. it's lined with galvanized tin, no insulation and has an oven thermometer inside so that i can visually see the temp. the window was a throw away and is hinged on, and also the box is lined with weather seal where the frame of the window meets the box.
materials for melting and filtering:aluminum weber grill pans or turkery roaster pans
1/4” hardware cloth
black window screening
threadbare t-shirts or cheesecloth
milk cartons
binder clips large and small
this one i can melt deep frames and queen excluders in if need be, large and small amounts of cappings or scrapings. i clean the wax first as described earlier in my post # 8. i use ¼” hardware cloth clipped to an aluminum weber grill pan or turkey roaster pan. the hardware cloth I curl up at the bottom to catch any melting wax that might slide forward and fall into the milk carton. the clips are those black metal thingy’s to clip large amounts of paper together with. on top the hardware cloth i place a layer of black window screen ( clipped together on top the hardware cloth). the window screen is excellent to use as it catches most of the junk so it is not draining to the bottom of the weber pan, or into the milk carton. i shape the weber pan to pour the melting wax into a milk carton. on top of the milk carton, i clip a threadbare t-shirt or several layers of cheese cloth, this acts as an additional filter. when the melting wax drains through the window screen, the hardware cloth and the threadbare t-shirt material, the wax comes out very clean. depending on how clean it is, i will run it through again. the sun bleaches the wax. when the brick cools, i just cut the carton and peel the brick out. i store the wax bricks in ziplocs in a plastic tub, and in a cool dry place.
what’s nice is black or gray window screening is inexpensive and a very good initial filter, so i just remove it because it is full of junk, throw it out and start with a new piece for the next batch of cappings or wax i melt. i do the same with the threadbare t-shirt. When the hardware cloth gets a little gunky, i just hit it with a propane torch, cleans it right up and can re-use it.
also i stumbled across some great material for straining melting wax in home depot. in the paint and stain section,(home depot) look for WORKFORCE 10 pk Wiping Cloths. this stuff is white t shirt material and is perfect for straining. the size of the material, (10 x 15) is perfect to cut in 1/2 and use over a milk carton, so you will have 20 sheets of this to use. about 4 bucks. i do not like to use a sheet of paper towel across the milk carton because it soaks up too much wax and sometimes runs over the side of the carton.....i discovered in a final melting with bricks that might have some specs in it, if i use 2 layers of cheese cloth with a small 2 or 3" square cut out of the paper towel, placed on top the cheese cloth and directly under the pain the wax is melting this works great to collect the specs, and this little square doesn't soak up much wax.
i use 2 different sizes of weber pans, the largest one to pile on cappings or scrapings. once the wax is melted and in a brick, or for smaller amounts of wax, i will use a smaller aluminum pan. all with the window screen, hardware cloth, and threadbare material/cheesecloth. some beeks use bounty paper towel to filter the wax. my experience with this is, that it soaks up to much melting wax and can run over the side. an old threadbare t-shirt/cheesecloth works much better for filtering, and can be used as fire starters.
i like the smaller bricks of wax , they are easier to store, cut , break apart, or grate to melt down for various projects, candles, lip balm etc.
there is a simple method, though i have never tried but heard very good results with, and you can use an old cooler, or a styrofoam cooler to do it with a window on top sort of like perry’s cold frame:
Paul Magnuson Solar Wax Melterpix of my solar wax melter:
some really nice bricks of wax!
