Anyone have experience with one of these?

[Perry]

Has anyone got anything pro or con to say about one of these?
A wax melter, and I can get it for a decent price.

[Papakeith]

got any pics of the interior?
It looks a bit like the unit I bought this past winter but a bit larger and mine doesn't have the orange hood.

[apisbees]

Hi Perry the process is similar to this system. Just not as large. but his system produces great looking wax and if you stay on top of the melting process the honey is salvageable. I do not have the top inferred heater but I do run the honey off as the wax melts and Then pour off all the wax I have poured my wax out of a valve 2" off the bottom of the tank directly into molds, but I am going to switch and pour into a bucket and them into the molds. Uncle Leo had a wax melter like the one you are looking at. It used a hot water coil for keeping the wax liquid in the bottom until poured off.

How much is a decent price.

[lazy shooter]

I don't know squat about wax melters, but I do know the name Maxant means quality materials and workmanship.

[apisbees]

Perry sent a PM asking if I know who the manufacturer is. It is a home made, the tank is about a 1000 gallon dairy tank fitted with a hot water coil in the bottom to keep the wax liquid at 150 deg. He had the top cover made with electric elements that are thermostat controlled at 200 Deg to melt the wax from the top down. He has a screen tray (Expanded metal with 1/8" openings) tp put the wax in so the slum-gum is held back and the wax is given time to drip thru.
the Maxent you are looking at I think was designed to sit under the uncapper and the cappings and honey both go thru the wax melter. The honey flowed out the bottom into the sump and the wax drawn off higher up the tank. Good idea in theory But you don't want to expose that much honey to that high of heat. A friend had a Cowen melter, and used as they intended it was not that good of system, but to have a tray or 2 made to put the wax in, from out of the wax spinner and heat and draw the honey as it starts to heat and run out of the melting wax and then draw off the wax and pour it the way he does in his system. His wax was so clean, only heated once, other then the 1/8" expanded to hold back the slum-gum no filtering. The honey you salvage comes out dark but if you keep it drawn off as it melts off, it is not burnt and can be used for cooking. I use to have an old timer that would buy all my dark capping honey off of me.

[Perry]

Great information Apis.
As you describe, I use a wax spinner to get almost all the honey out of my cappings. Once the weather changes (now) it is hard to get all the wax I have into my solar melter, and after having dumped a gallon of wax onto the kitchen floor (once), doing it on the kitchen stove is an unappreciated option now.
I was looking into getting one of those outside turkey fryers, but by the time you buy it, and then the propane, etc. and it always looked a little dangerous to me.
I can get this Maxant unit for $200 and use it to melt all my cappings and yearly collection of burr comb (done separately).

[apisbees]

For that price I would grab it and use it the way the guy in the video does.
Turn the water temp down to 95 deg and put some water in the tank and it will work as a great water bath for melting pails of honey also.

[Perry]

I brought it home today after the market. It is well made and in great condition. The bottom is sloped to one end, is water jacketed, even the heating element works in the bonnet. About the only rusty part is the hinges for the bonnet, they are riveted on there but the hinges were cheap (I'm guessing). Some elbow grease and it should clean up nice. There is a sliding screen that can be shifted anywhere in the tank.
I'm trying to figure out how I may use this thing, there are so many options.
- I could remove the bonnet and turn it into a sump (although I already have one).
- Turn it into an uncapping tank where all my cappings would fall and honey could just run out. My vibrating jiggle knife mounted over the upper end? The resulting wax left could then be popped into my spinner.
- I could also use it to heat pails to liquefy them.
- Or maybe just use it as is, a wax melter.

[apisbees]

Here is a video of an extracting line and when you get to about 7 minute he shows his Maxant wax melter. He uses it as it was designed with the wax floating and melting on top of the honey but for it to work this way you need to allow more  honey into the wax melter.
The original instruction would have you put the cappings with honey into the melter the pipe on the bottom right is raised up to create the honey level so the wax can be drawn off the top above the honey thru one of the higher outlets. The screen is movable I presume so should be close to the discharge end to hold back any of the slum-gum.
This wax handling system was popular before the wide spread use of capping spinners and presses to remove the honey from the wax. Also at the time there popular wax was worth $5.00 a pound and the wholesale price of honey was between $0.47 to .$0.62 cents a pound so they didn't care so much about wrecking a bit of honey by having it become darkened by over heating.

[apisbees]

Because you are using a capping spinner to extract most of the wax from the honey, you will not accumulate honey fast enough to float the wax on the honey with out cooking and destroying the honey.
I would use the system and techniques that the guy in the first video I posted uses.
To get baskets made may cost more than what you paid for the melter. To make up a screen cheap and easy with out welding. I would make up a 2X2 frame that fits into the melter Leave a little room for the wood to swell so don't make it to tight. I would also put a support across the center. Cut a piece of expanded metal to fit and screw on the top side of the frame On the bottom side I would predrill and screw in 4 lag-blots on each side as stand off legs I would think the screen should be no more 1/2 way the depth of the tank. So 6 or 8 inch long lag-blots.
I"ll shoot you a PM also.

[Perry]

Hey Keith:
I actually have changed my mind in regards to how I may use the melter.
I have been trying to figure out how and where to mount my jiggle knife, and what I want the cappings to fall into. I know Bill Stagg uncaps directly into a Jr. spinner, but I can't help but think it must get overwhelmed by the volume coming off the uncapper. I know my wax spinner works great for how I uncap presently, but if I start using a more "productive" uncapper I am sure I'll be cleaning it out constantly. I looked and measured the wax melter and it looks like the jiggle knife was almost made to mount to it.

The melter is 19" wide, and the mounting holes for the uncapper are 20" apart. I can uncap right into the "melter", allow heat and gravity to do their thing, leaving behind wax that has been allowed to drain to some degree and that won't overload the wax spinner (I would just remove the bonnet altogether).
Make sense?

[apisbees]

Kind of  I doubt  you could uncap enough frames to over whelm the junior spinner in a day. I know when uncapping into the wax spinner at your uncles you would get better results when the frames were uncapped into it while it was spinning , than to load it or dump in a hole bunch all at once.
When the frames are uncapped in to the spinner. the wax\ honey get thrown to the sides by the cutter bars in the bottom, the wax sticks to the previous wax and the honey migrates to the top of the wax till it finds open screen to escape thru. when large quantity's are dumped the volume of honey floats the wax up along with the honey closing off the openings in the screen quicker. Hop it makes sense to you.
It just creates one more time you need to handle the wax cappings.

[Perry]

Interesting. I thought the wax got thrown to the sides and the honey fell down to the bottom and would drain out, I didn't realize it would rise up to open screen.

[apisbees]

Which ever way centrifugal force takes it but the wax gets built up on the bottom and then the honey flows on top as you extract during the day the wax slowly creeps up, when it is dumped in at one time the wax flows up.

[Perry]

Then I have probably been cleaning out the spinner more often than was necessary! Good to know.