Winter is the time for a beekeeper to prepare for spring! Now is the perfect time to get a jump start on spring time preparations by building equipment like frames. Using a frame jig is an excellent way to build lots of frames and cut your work time down considerably. With all the time you save, you might be able to build another project. If you only have about 50 frames, plus or minus, perhaps a frame jig would be overkill, but if you have to build anything more than a hundred or so, this might be just what you need.
I found plans for my frame jig on beesource.com so check them out.
Building frames is pretty straight forward, but be mindful of just a couple things that will make your beekeeping experience even more enjoyable:
1. Use glue. I like Tightbond III because it is safe for use around your bees and it will add considerable strength and stability to your frames and help them last longer.
2. Keep your frames square. Check them with a builders square when you assemble them. Square frames = less squished bees when you remove frames for inspections.
3. If you have an air nailer or stapler, this can also be a big time saver for you. I like to use a 1” inch 18g staple straight into the top and bottom of each frame.
4. If you have read up on Housel positioning (bees like to use a left & right system when drawing comb) mark the top of your frames on one end with a pencil. Just place an “X” with dark pencil and always keep your frames going in the same direction. Often times beekeepers will pull frames out of a hive during inspections and put them back any which way. The bees HATE that.
Enjoy the video that goes along with this blog too!
Enjoy Beekeeping!
7 Comments
Gene,
Great jig! And yes, I would love to see the drawings/dimensions, if you can send them via email. Appreciate it lots, thanks for sharing, and good luck with your hives! Jim
Where do you buy frames that have that wedge on the top for the bees to start drawing the comb naturally?
For foundationless frames I separate the wedge, turn it through 90 degrees so it protrudes downwards and use 3 nails to secure it in the same direction as I would secure foundation. Sometimes smearing cold wax along the low edge or paint melted wax on the low edge to encourage the bees to start work there. As for plastic foundation the best place is the waste bin, although I have sometimes used 1 piece bottom bars in foundationless frames which were designed for use with snap in plastic foundation as they are a little stronger than 2 piece bottom bars.
Unable to get sound with the video using a samsung phone.
The jig setup is very useful looking, especially for a newbe.
Nailing frames in a jig like this leads to extremely weak frames. Vertical nailing only allows a heavy brood or honey frame to come apart when you pull the frame out. You can easily just pull the Topbar out leaving a mess in the brood box or super, of comb, brood and stores or honey alone if it is a frame from a super. For the strongest nailing DO NOT USE ANY GLUE AT ALL. 2 nails horizontally through each sidebar into the meat of the top bar is best, if a hoffmann self-spacing sidebar one nail each should be perpendicular to the V face of the spacer i.e. at 45 degrees to the topbars longest dimension preferably inwards. The nails in the bottom bar should be vertical so that the 2 bottom bar pieces can be easily removed to replace the foundation as is best done at least every 2 years or after a dead out. Diagonal wire reinforcement in the foundation works well for brood frames and super frames that are going to be used in extractors. The W diagonal embedded wire should be nailed so that 3 horizontal nails into the wedge support and reinforce the wire and prevent the foundation slipping in the frame. This means a total of 11 nails per frame, 4 horizontally through the sidebars into the topbar, 3 through the wedge, 4 vertically through the 2 bottom bar pieces.
Wow! I love this time saving tool and would like the dimentions to build my own! Looks like it will keep the frames nice and square while you build the too. Thank you for sharing this Jim!
Yes I would like the dimensions.