(pleasant music)
- Hi, everyone.
I'm Stewart,
and I'm just gonna take you through
modifying an existing Langstroth box,
so that you can put Flow frames in them,
and make your honey harvesting a lot easier.
This is a 10 frame Langstroth.
This one here.
But this also applies to an eight frame Langstroth.
It's the same thing, just slightly different measurements.
I'm using the Flow manual here
that comes with the Flow frames,
and you can also access this
as a PDF on our website, honeyflow.com.
I have measured the center point here,
and I'm gonna measure out from that point
half of 336 mil or 736 and seven inch.
The millimeters are much easier,
even if you are in America.
So, half of that is 196 mil each way.
You can use a square if you like,
or make other points, but basically,
you're drawing those lines,
and then you have to decide
where do I want this top line?
Now, in the instructions, it says,
about 150 mil, or six inches up, which is there,
is the height for your top line, which is fine.
If you're keen, and this recess for the handle
isn't in the way or anything,
you can make it a little higher.
The important thing is that there is some strength
in what eventually becomes the strut across the top,
to hold the frames.
You can have a square cut if you like.
We've chosen to make it look a little bit nicer,
and made it rounded, and a CD seems to be
about the right size.
We're using the CD to give us the curve that we want.
What we're doing is cutting away the piece
that to allow for the slightly deeper Flow frame.
So, that did fair, that one inch, or 25 mil,
is a critical depth.
There it is, there.
357 mil.
Now, if your box is like this, finger jointed,
and I'll have the screws poking through,
you're gonna need to back the screws out
to cut through them,
or you use a metal cutting blade,
which is actually what we do have on this jigsaw,
so that you can cut straight through the screws
or nails that hold the box together.
A metal cutting blade's good anyway.
That gives you a nice fine cut on the wood.
They're not very long,
but still too long.
So, we cut this out,
and you can sand the edge of it to make
it all lovely and smooth.
But it forms your cover.
So, now we're going to cut away
the piece that becomes the Flow case access cover.
Depending on your skills and the tools you have,
you might prefer to cut this
with a thin blade circular saw
that you can just drop in.
It will give you a straighter cut than a jigsaw,
or you might want to nail or guide along,
so the jigsaw cuts straight,
or you might just want to do it freehand,
and take a risk, won't matter too much.
I'm going to let this blade dive in,
which is another jigsaw technique,
because we're starting without an edge to start on.
Here we go.
So, if you're going to do that diving the blade
in like that, you might want to practice on something else
other than your hive, if you haven't done it before.
It's very important to have the base
with the front of the base really steady and locked on,
so it doesn't jump around,
and ease the reciprocating blade
down very, very slowly,
so you get the feel of it,
and then as it starts to bite in the wood,
keep moving the base forward.
Don't leave it in one spot.
That's the main bits to that,
but have a practice, you might bust a few blades.
Just be careful.
Haven't finished yet.
I'm coming back to finish the rest of that cut.
It is important that this is fairly flat,
and so it's more important that the surface
that remains behind the powder,
the box is flat.
If you put some wobbles in the cover,
what becomes the cover, that doesn't really matter.
Okay.
So now, we've got what can become your cover
for the Flow case, and the rear window cover.
And this side.
Here, where we've cut
this edge, still this part
of what in Australia is called a rebate,
or what in America is called a rabbit.
Soft wood.
You hit the chisel with a hammer, if you like.
Or a mallet.
It's just getting that little part
out of the way.
Slide right across to there.
You have to do the same on this side.
There we are. Lovely.
Want to point out
that if you set this
on a brood box now,
you'll have a large gap here
formed by the rebate, or rabbit,
that holds the frames below,
so, of course, that creates a bee gap
down the bottom here,
which is unsatisfactory,
so what we use is a metal strip,
and that's gonna screw up
underneath here to close that gap off,
and also,
and also to just reinforce this wall.
We're going to notch it in,
and this is about an eighth of an inch thick,
or a little bit thinner, two mil.
It's actually exactly two mil.
Same here.
Beautiful.
Means that sits nice and flush,
so I just need to drill some holes in that.
And that means
that the bees
can't get out there.
So, this little gap in here
needs to be less than around two mil,
or an eighth of an inch,
less than a bee gap,
and the same for the other end, of course,
and that is when they are all pushed close together.
As it happens with this box,
that is an okay gap to leave.
If there is that bee gap there,
then you make up a piece of wood,
or core float, or something,
that goes in there and can get nailed in
or glued in
to make sure the bees can't come around the edge
of the frames.
If the gap isn't too big here, and here,
but you still want to make these even,
as it turns out, that's a small gap,
I'm gonna put a screw in
right here,
because then the Flow frame will sit up against there.
This could be a round headed screw.
And just enough to set the Flow frame
out a little way.
If you want, you can put a screw down in here,
to make sure that this frame just sits,
doesn't wobble too much down the bottom.
Let's do that just to show you how it's done.
And you can decide on the amount.
Let's have a look at that.
I reckon this one comes out a little way.
And that one sits out, and that one sits too.
So, that's firm now.
And we'll do the same on this other side.
If you really can,
you can do that for the other end as well.
And,
just to make sure
that that is an even been gap along here, and along here,
so that involves a little bitty screw,
and that can be (unrecognizable)
while the frames in place,
'cause it's gonna hold that frame,
and the same at this end.
There.
Course these'll drive in by hand.
You don't need a fancy screwdriver.
Just remembering that this gap here,
at the front of the hive,
on this side here, needs to be
no bigger than about two mil, an eighth of an inch,
a little bit larger,
so a bee can't get out, is the critical thing.
The bees can't get out there,
they can't get out here,
and, of course, these faces, the windows,
are pushed up against this wall,
so they can't get out all the way around here.
So, I'm adjusting the screw at the top front
of the frame.
This is the front of the hive,
'cause it's where the bees will be coming out,
this way,
and this makes sure that the back end of the frame,
or the window,
is pushed up
against the structural member that runs across,
and therefore, the window is,
there are no bee gaps, these frames
can't move back and forth.
Here we go.
Now remember,
we've made the depth
of this lisp by putting in this strip,
so this won't fit in anymore,
so you're going to have to cut this off,
all the way along there.
Then, I forgot to bring my planar,
and so I pay the price of cutting this by hand,
which is a bit of a mission.
These little butterfly sort of things,
so it's up to you,
to what you use for a catch,
but let's say,
it can just spin around and lock it.
You can do it up so that it's a little bit stiffer.
So, this can either stick out like that.
And, once again, you do some little catches,
or, if you wish,
you could cut all of this right off,
so you just have a thin strip,
and not one with an (unrecognizable)
You just cut all that off,
and it sits in.
So, there it is.
After all of the sawing's done,
you can use a fancy handle,
whatever you like,
or you can just
put in a screw, like that,
to hold it,
and you can have it a lovely strap handle.
You can have a bee as a handle.
Doesn't really matter.
And then you also need a catch on the other side,
so if you really want it even,
then you got to put it in the same spot.
Of course, you never measure this.
You just do it by eye,
and then realize later, it's.
It's out of whack, but there it is.
So, there it is, there.
Put is back on.
Beautiful.
So, hopefully, your brood box is ready.
You can place this on top.
And, a lid and roof, of course,
and you're off and running.
So, so far in the manual,
we've been focusing on finger jointed hives,
the ones where the joints are like fingers
locking together on the edge,
but plenty of boxes are made with what in Australia
we call the rebate joint.
As you can see,
looking from it above,
it's just cut like that and like that.
It's very, very common,
and you might want to alter one of these rebate hives,
boxes to insert the Flow frames,
which you can do easily, so here,
we have one method of doing it.
I'm sorry, it's just started raining.
We're out on a veranda with a tin roof.
It's noisy.
I don't know whether you can hear me or not.
This is a rebated box, just like this one.
We've taken the face off.
And this, in this one,
the face has been cut,
so there's been a cut taken down here,
and a curved cut taken here,
and that's been screwed back on,
and then what you've cut away
can still remain being the cover,
and, the important measurement
is that that should be 25 mil,
or one each.
That's the Flow frames.
Here's one here, can drop in,
and sit snugly.
However, with this method, there's an important thing
to notice, and that is,
that it's really likely
you'll need to put a thin strip of timber,
or core float, or whatever,
here, because there'll be a gap all the way down there,
and all the way down on this side.
So, with this method,
because the hive doesn't come around the corner,
the box doesn't come around the corner,
you need to create a thin strip
to block out this gap that runs all the way down.
(pleasant music)