Our rabbits are many things, and one of them is tenacious when it comes to food and treats. We got them an automatic feeder to make sure they get pellets at the same time every morning. Honey found she could chew, claw, dig, and ram the feeder to get more. Screwing it all down to a wooden base made tipping harder, but didn’t stop the chewing.
I needed to remove their access to the device. Listening to Honey claw and dig at the bowl for hours on end is getting old. I ditched the old bowl and used a 4″ to 2″ PVC coupling as a funnel.
I mounted it with some small screws run in through the side. I can remove it and make repairs or changes if need be. The dispenser sits over it nicely and is held in place with a few low cleats. They keep it from shifting, but you can pick it right up if adjustments are needed.
Next a length of pipe acted as a down spout. I start with only this downspout, but the pellets came out too quickly from the drop. They would hit the bowl and go everywhere. The bunnies didn’t mind the game of 52 pellet pickup, but some pellets would escape the fence.
A few elbows helped slow everything down. They have enough velocity coming down the chute to not get stuck in the first one, but aren’t going so fast to scatter all over when they hit the bowl.
The whole contraption sits nicely on the bun-servation tower, and a few screws ensures they can’t knock it down on themselves. It has been a week and the silence is golden. The furry raptors don’t seem to mind the change, they get food all the same. Now they just don’t short tomorrow’s meal by shaking it out early.
My first ever all video project. They are a lot more work than the picture/text projects, but a good challenge. They often do a better job of conveying fine detail and procedure. Now for tonight’s featured video:
My name is Chase and I have a flashlight problem. OK, not really, but I love flashlights. The modern surface mount LEDs can be really efficient and have gorgeous color rendering. Gone are the days of blueish sterile white light. I have a small fleet of flashlights that run on 18650 lithium ion batteries. The lights run a long time, are rechargeable, and have a variety of light settings from stun to kill.
Most of them come in some form of all black tactical form factor. That is great for clipping to a belt, or holding in the backyard. What they aren’t always the best for is home projects. They tail stand ok, but are easy to tip over. I need something that will give me a stable base and let me point the flashlight where I want. Enter loc-line.
Pointing up
Pointing down
I started with a finished shot because it is a little convoluted if you aren’t familiar with some of the components. I had left over loc-line from a CNC mill vacuum project. This is 3/4″ line, and can be found in kits for reasonable prices from amazon and elsewhere. I started by prepping a base from some 3/4″ plywood, painting it a zazzy orange, and attaching a screw down base.
The loc-line will snap onto that orange base, and provide flexibility to point the flashlight. To hold the flashlight I found this snap on 1/2″ PVC fitting. It came with the cutout, and a threaded female fitting. Most of my flashlights fit nicely in the opening and their clips help keep everything in place.
A threaded 1/2″ PVC fitting went on some 1/2″ pipe. This will all fit inside the open end of the loc-line. I thought about using epoxy to bond the two together, but I don’t know how well glue sticks to the blue plastic and there is a huge gap to fill. Small screws in pre-drilled holes did a really good job of fixing both halves together.
Once fixed I spray painted the PVC holder section to match the blue loc-line as much as possible. In retrospect it would have been easier to paint before I attached. Live and learn. Now I can have blinding light pointed in any direction when I am under the sink, changing outlets, or anywhere else.
I have gotten a lot of activity related to my Drill Powered Honey Spinner. In fact probably 90% of all the traffic I have ever received has been to that post. I guess it was a good idea! My explanation was pretty good, but could really be supplemented with a nice video. I finally found the time to shoot and edit one, so enjoy and thank you for watching.
There comes a time in every beekeeper’s life where he or she will want to harvest some honey. This is usually done with a centrifuge extractor. These start at a few hundred dollars for a very cheap unit, and the price goes astronomical from there. I spent quite a bit of time and money building test articles and doing mini test extractions, but ended up with a really good design that can be had for 50 dollars and a minimal set of tools.
VIDEO UPDATE
Due to the attention on this post I felt a video was needed to help with some of the questions. Enjoy and thank you for watching.
This spinner is specifically designed to hold medium super frames. Slight adjustments will be needed to make this work for shallow super frames. Does NOT work for large frames. The 5 gallon buckets are too small. Maybe find a larger trash can if that is your preferred frame size.
The above images show what a loaded out spinner looks like. The spinner now needs a container to catch all the honey. I really wanted to use 5 gallon buckets for their price and size. One bucket isn’t deep enough, so I cut the bottoms out to use them as height extenders.
I used a mix of firehouse pickle buckets and white food grade buckets I bought at the hardware store. I cut the bottoms off of two buckets to stack them inside each other to increase the height and allow for a good spin without messing up your kitchen.
The bucket with all the holes in the bottom holds the bottom shaft from the spinner and keeps it stable during a spin. The center hole is just big enough for the 3/4″ PVC pipe. The others are there to help the honey drip down into the white bucket with the honey gate.
The stack up is: White bucket with honey gate, red bucket with holes, and two bottomless buckets for height. It is a very small setup that will quickly process two frames at a time. I just did 20 frames with this tool and had a really good time with it. Best of all it doesn’t take up much space in the house.
The Spinner Build
You will need the following items for the spinner. I included the prices I paid for everything, though your prices may vary. Not included in the list below is the buckets and the honey gate. The white food buckets can be had for 4-5 dollars each at lowes. The firehouse pickle buckets can be had for 2 bucks each! They do require a bit of soaking to get rid of the vinegar smell though. Honey gates can be had for 5-10 dollars.
In total you will spend about 50 dollars on the whole setup. Filters, a capping knife, honey bears, and others will cost you more, but a whole extraction and bottling setup for under 100 dollars is very attainable.
From a tools standpoint you will need PVC pipe cement, a saw or PVC pipe cutter, tape measure, and a marker. The pipe parts should look like those shown below.
UPDATE: Fresh PVC cement can be helpful. Fresh glue allows longer open working time than old glue. You only have a few seconds to get it right, so if your glue is old, get a new one.
While assembling the sections be mindful of how much cement you use. Too much will drip on your work surface, and will drip down inside to the sections you want to glue in the future. Work slowly and purposefully. Once you put two segments together, they are permanent in just a few seconds. Dry fit everything beforehand to make sure it all fits with your frame hardware.
UPDATE: Dry fitting is really important! Some stores may sell fittings with different sizes and depths. Dry fit every stage and check it often with your frames and bucket. Use multiple frames, as there can be variation in their construction as well.
Bottom Hooks
These features are the depth stops for the frames. Gather a cross, two elbows, two plugs, and cut 2x 1.75″, 1x 1.5″, and 1x 3″ sections of pipe.
The 1.5″ section of pipe will connect to the bottom guide, the two 1.75″ pieces will hold in the bottom hooks that keep the frames from sliding down any further. I used plugs to keep honey out of the lower section of the spinner. This is what the finished part should look like
Bottom Guide
Next comes a bottom guide to keep the frames from sliding left and right. This step requires a cross, two tees, and two 2.75″ pipe sections. Be careful with this step. Too narrow and your frame will not fit, too wide and it will not fit in the bucket.
Assemble the sections and attach it to the bottom hook as shown below. Now the frame will come down into the hook and be held from sliding left and right.
Top Guide
The top guide will hold the top end of the frame and prevent it from going out during the spin, and from going left or right. Gather a cross, two tees, four elbows, 2x 2.75″ pipes and 4x 1.5″ pipes.
It is probably best to assemble the two outer arms first, then attach them to the central cross.
Drill Post
A short 3 inch section of pipe and the threaded pipe fitting goes on top to allow for the drill to be attached. I chose 3inches for that length, but it could honestly be longer or shorter.
Central Post
A single 14.5″ piece of PVC attaches the top and bottom half. Dry fit this piece to make sure it holds your frames correctly. The two sets of guides should line up so that a frame can be slid down through the top guides into the bottom hook.
Drill Barb
A threaded coupling was installed at the top of the spinner earlier. Now comes the final piece of the puzzle. An iron pipe threaded adapter takes the size from 3/4″ to, I think, a 3/8″ female thread. That allows a brass barbed fitting to thread in. The brass fitting is small enough to fit into my drill. Most drills can chuck onto anything smaller than 3/8″ in outer diameter. I used a hose clamp around the PVC threaded fitting to help reinforce it. My dewalt drill runs it pretty well on the lower speed setting. Just accelerate slowly, and stop slowly and everything will be ok!
Update: A good alternative is to cut the barb off and use the remaining brass hex portion as a nut. Get an adapter for your drill and put the appropriate socket on there. Now you don’t have to tighten your chuck every time, just slip on the socket and drive!
Next a length of pipe acted as a down spout. I start with only this downspout, but the pellets came out too quickly from the drop. They would hit the bowl and go everywhere. The bunnies didn’t mind the game of 52 pellet pickup, but some pellets would escape the fence.
Kilted Craft Works 