Perry &/or Dadant 20 frame extractor owners

[rober]

get much wobble? did you bolt it down? I'm getting ready to fire mine up for the 1st time. I will sort frames by weight when I put them in the rack for better balance.

[Perry]

I have my stand lagged to a triangle made of 3 sheets of 1/2" plywood. You will always get a slight wobble with most any extractor when you first start. With my Dadant there is some deflection along the sides (as it runs it looks like the reel get closer to the sides in some areas but that is normal also. I balance mine as best as possible, keeping in mind the weights of each frame I as load it. I usually put really heavy frames next to one of the 4 "spokes" and then a lighter one next to it and alternate as I go around the reel.

[apisbees]

Speed is the biggest factor. with a radial and allowing the honey to be drawn out of both sides the frames become more balanced as the bulk of the honey is thrown out. So start off slow and let the lack of vibration in the extractor tell you when to speed it up. Also keeping in mind that warm honey flows much easier than cold Warm frames will become balanced quicker. Now any unbalancing at high speeds once most of the honey has been extracted will be because of crystallized honey stuck in the frames, Large patches of pollen Or a difference in weight of the frames. Is there much weight difference between a full plastic, wood with plastic, or a wood wax foundation frame. That if you put 10 together on one side and 10 of the other opposite that it would cause any unbalance. It may on start up as there is an extra row of cells on the full plastic frames.

[Riverrat]

No need to weight or sort frames.  Key is to start of slow as apis said and increase speed as they even out

[Dunkel]

What they said.  Also I have the stand and I mounted it to a pallet and added castors to the bottom. Probably not needed but I had such good luck with them on a ranger setup I keep it.

[rober]

I figured out the start slow & build speed as the frames even out while using my old hand cranker. kinda' like torqueing bolts in stages. I'm looking for feedback on this model extractor. I did spin 3 20 frame loads yesterday afternoon. I can see some side to side movement of the reel. the vertical shaft spins on fixed points so the reel must be out of round. i'm not sure whether or not that that is an issue but the controller has a scale of 1-100 in increments of 10 & on all 3 spins I could not get above 70 without it starting to hop. i'm working on a concrete floor so I will anchor it as it is walking around some.
 I started this spring with 11 hives & have built up to 21. I had 14 hives produce honey & I ended up with 20 medium supers & 1 shallow super of honey which would have required a whole lot of hand cranking. I am soooooooooooooooo glad I bought this extractor. I think today I double stack the medium frames & see how that works.

[Garden Hive]

Doesn't matter what brand. They all walk. I used a 4'X4' sheet of ply and rounded the corners. Used rounded head carriage bolts up from the bottom through the legs. That way with the bucket on the gate side and me on the other, it is held down as it equals out. Of course it helps with another person standing on the other side also. Just takes some patients to speed up. They are all about strong enough to tear it up if you don't respect them. Any frames that are wax foundation have to be handled with much more care as speed destroys them...QUICKLY ! Yes speaking from EXPERIENCE ! 

[rober]

i'm going to use insert type anchors in the concrete. i'll set the anchors below grade so I can put the bolts back in when the extractor is stowed away. that way I won't have trip hazards & the inserts won't get loaded up with debris. i'm aware of comb damage. I tore some frames up hand cranking. I did notice that some wax delaminated from some of the plastic foundation.

[apisbees]

"I can see some side to side movement of the reel. the vertical shaft spins on fixed points so the reel must be out of round. i'm not sure whether or not that that is an issue but the controller has a scale of 1-100 in increments of 10 & on all 3 spins I could not get above 70 without it starting to hop."

Does this happen if you run it with no frames in the extractor also? The reel should run true and not have a wobble in it. Is it the weight of the frames that is causing it or a defective bent reel. Did you buy it new or find a used one.
You have the newer electronic veritable speed control where Perry and many others have the old style friction slip clutch design and the top speed is controlled by the motor RPM and belt reduction to the reel with an electronic veritable speed control You may be able to run your extractor at a faster RPM that could be the cause of the high speed vibration. This being said In most Controllers there are built in max/min speeds built in that are factory set for the application and the 1 to 100 is just a setting scale between the max/min set points. so I would think that you should be able to hit and run it at the 100 mark.
The true test is with no frames in the extractor you should not get any wobble at any speed if the reel is round and balanced.

[Lburou]

Rober, I was asking the same questions last year.  I wasn't happy with the off-center mounting of the spinner inside my extractor, but Perry assured me it was not unusual. 

I modified a pallet (made it shorter and fixed a piece of OSB on top) and bolted the extractor to that.  It isn't too heavy to move around for the off season that way.  One side of the pallet sticks out so I can stand on it while loading and while extracting if it wants to walk too much.  I stack 12" x 12" cement pavers under the extractor to weigh it down while extracting.

I find myself moving and mixing heavy and lite frames to keep things more balanced.

[Perry]

Even though my Dadant is older and has the Jones motor, it does not have the friction slip clutch design but is like the newer ones.
Balanced and out of round are two different things in my opinion. When my reel spins, it looks like it is out of round when judging the distances between it and the wall of the extractor, but it is perfectly balanced.
Just for your information, even though my dial only has 1/4 turn markings, I have never had to run it at full speed. 3/4 speed for a few minutes to finish off the load is plenty.
Apparently these extractors are capable of running 32 or 34 mediums, or 20 deeps, but I only ever run 20 mediums, one for each slot.
I love this extractor, and would buy another used one in a heartbeat (for the right price). I can tear it apart in minutes and carry parts easily so moving it around is about as simple as it gets.

[LazyBkpr]

Strange.. my 24 frame AI Root extractor doesnt hardly ever seem to wobble at all.  Unless purposefully unbalanced, and even then only at higher speeds.....  but then again, it was made in the early 1900's and weighs in at 150 lbs before being loaded
   

[neillsayers]

Strange.. my 24 frame AI Root extractor doesnt hardly ever seem to wobble at all.  Unless purposefully unbalanced, and even then only at higher speeds.....  but then again, it was made in the early 1900's and weighs in at 150 lbs before being loaded
 

That's back when we still used some metal in equipment. Bet its a tank.

[apisbees]

Reels are made of cast iron so not as likely to be out of round or to warp because of the speed and centrifugal force.

[LazyBkpr]

It is a beast, and will probably be around and functional LONG after i am gone.  No electronic control bexes etc... it has a "leather" friction wheel you use to adjust the speed, and it still works like new....    makes me wonder why these things are not still manufactured JUST like they used to be...    Giving it a stainless tank instead of the galvanized one would make it perfect, and last forever....  oh yeah, if it lasts forever you wont go buy a new one and spend more money....
   I wonder how many of these old extractors are left out there hidden away in barns and sheds....     Refurbishing them would be a worthwhile endeavor.     

[rober]

I fired up the dadant today while it was still empty. the speed control runs from 1-100 in increments of 10. even while empty when the speed got up to the 85 mark it started hopping.

[apisbees]

The reel is a little out of balance. It is kind of like a wheel on a car the faster the RPM the more the centrifugal force developed, and the more it will vibrate. Like a tire (Inside/Outside) it could be at the top, bottom, or a combination of both reels. It could also be the center shaft is warped. This could happen when the spokes for the reel was welded to the center shaft.

[vvand111]

I am sorry apisbees. What model do you have and how long have you had it. My neighbor and I are considering what we may buy this year for next year. We are both first year guys and want to winter our bees this year without harvest but would like to have an extractor for next year to share. I will go to 6 or 7 hives and he will go to 4 to 6 hives?  Thoughts?

[Perry]

Well, with a combined total of say 12 hives, and a possible harvest of say 2 supers per hive, take 24 supers, and that's 240 frames, I would quickly rule out anything hand crank.
I would look for something used myself, just to save money. A Maxant 10/20, or a Dadant or other equivalent radial that hold 10 to 20 frames.

[rober]

 a 24 frame model was just up near me for $600.00. it sold fast.