Wooden Hive vs 3D Printed Hex Hive, You Decide ! !
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hey all,
In this video I compare two different Hive Kit set ups. First we look at the updated Vevor 20 Frame Hive Kit with Observation windows. The second kit we look at is the newly released 3D printed Hex Hives.
Vevor: s.vevor.com/bfQYv3
Hex Hives: www.hexhives.com/
Thanks for watching. Like & Subscribe to follow the Journey,
Brian
Website: castlehives.com
Queen Right Dial: queenrightdial.com
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Timeline:
0:00 - Intro
0:16 - What we are Reviewing
1:00 - Vevor Hive Kit
4:30 - Hex Hives
9:23 - Recap & Thoughts
Equipment Used to Film:
GoPro Hero 12 Black with DJI Mic
Edited with Final Cut Pro X
Tags:
#beekeeping #ohiobeekeeping #beekeeper #ohiobeekeeper #honeyBees #CastleHives #hiveinspection #apimaye #hivealive #lorobbees #beekeeping2024 #bees #backyardbeekeeping #apiary #honey #beethelighthouse #beethechange #savethebees #beekeepingvlog
#vevor #hexhive
@brucesbees @NaturesImageFarmGregBurns @628DirtRooster @YappyBeeman @FrederickDunn @MikeBarryBees @JeffHorchoff @aCanadianBeekeepersBlog @HexHives - บันเทิง
Thanks for the review Brian! Looking forward to seeing you place a colony 👏🐝
Brian, love ya man but... The Vevor is still slat boards. On the printed hive you should have gone into more detail on what printer(s) you used with the size and quality. Small and inexpensive printers will never print the parts and the print tolerance is low.
I have several Prusa and Bambu. You need a fairly large print bed.
Printers are getting better and cheaper every year, won’t be long until they are a common house hold item 🤷♂️
Looking forward to seeing more about the hex hive. Very interesting. Wish you would have shown the inside with 1/3 of the frames in a box. Will be interesting hw they do connected. Would be interesting if you had 2 towers connected and see if 2 queens coexist.
You could fit a small excluder in that connector and do that, I'm sure. I'll do some follow-up videos when I get the frames done and a colony into the unit.
Hi Brian, I'm playing catchup! Thanks for tagging me in this video. A 3-D Printed Hive? These are interesting times for sure. Wishing you all the best :)
In your video you showed an unenclosed printer, to print ASA filament for outdoor use you need an enclosed printer otherwise the parts will warp when printed..
Also parts printed on an FDM printer will not be 100% waterproof, eventually water will ingress!
The company suggested PETG, so that is what I used. I plan to seal the outer cover, so that will help.
Do we really need more plastic?
Unfortunately, we'll never get away from plastics. Appreciate you watching.
Is the filament a food grade rated plastic? Also, white plastic will typically become brittle after a summer of sun exposure.
PETG plastic is an FDA-compliant plastic for food, beverage, and medical packaging. That is from Google. I have had white PETG in the sun for 2.5 years now.
Great microplastics in honey. No thanks. Trying to use less plastics. Microplastics maybe what kills the planet.
The honey, when harvested, would not touch any of these plastics. Thank you for watching.
I ordered a few Hoover waxed hives and they lasted 1 or 2 seasons. I don’t think I would go with waxed hives again.
Wax coated is definitely not the same as wax dipped, that's for sure.
I have been wanting to print a hex hive but the amount of filament it takes keeps me from doing it.
It is a lot.
How much filnament did u use?
The holes in those windows will be propylized in no time. Andbin one seasoned you won't be able to see through them. Nice idea though. Just not practical. Same with those plastic frames. They will break in no time. Too thin. I've 3d printed lots of parts, and those just won't survive the stresses of a hive. Time will tell though.
I have a hive kit that I got 8 years ago with observation windows, they are still good believe it or not. The frames, we'll see. I printed the frames with a 25% infill, but we'll see. Appreciate the feedback.
These hold up. We have had test hives outside for over 2 years now. I’ve pried in frames with hive tools…everything hanging in there. You could always increase infill to 100% if you were having issues, but in our experience, that isn’t likely.
Vevor: How do you know it's wax painted vs dipped? I am thinking it IS dipped because it would take too long to paint wax on every inch of every board. Thoughts? Kinda of weird the boxes don't come with nails or screws don't you think? And I see your bottom board is made of 11 boards just like mine, not sure I like that.
The Hex hive is very cool! How long did it take to print it all?
Did you use PETG or abs? 14 spools ouch maybe I missed it thanks would like a deep dive into that hive box
They recommended PETG, so that's what I used. ABS, I'm sure, would be stronger.
The major problem with Flow hives is they are having trouble getting them 18% or below in moisture. Most are coming out 22% or higher.
The two times I've harvested from Flow supers, the moisture was below 17%.
What type of 3D printer plastic did you make the Hex Hive from. The cheapest material PLA doesn't cope with sun or weather and becomes brittle very quickly. The more expensive ASA plastic is UV tolerant and is supposed to last for years outside.
They recommended PETG, so that's what I used. I've had some prints using PETG outside for close to 2.5 years now.
I like wood, but lets see what the bees like and bait them both and see which they like! Maybee we can place bets?
Hah, if I was a betting man i'd take you up on that. But, my luck is horrible so I stay clear of bets.
Will be interesting to see how the bees do in the Hex Hive.
I'm curious how they'll perform.
@@CastleHives When are you putting them in?
@@Jdban As soon as I get foundation in the frames..
Looks great Brian!
Thanks Rodney. .
The video was so interesting Brian.
Glad you enjoyed it Sandi. .
Both are nice Brian but kind of lean towards the Vevor? The Hex Way looks like it would help out more by connecting 2 together like you said would help in not splitting up the hives??
I like having uniform equipment, so wood works best for me. The 3D printed, i'll try it as a novelty item. TIme will tell how it does. Thanks Chuck. .
What filament did you use?
I used PETG. That is the filament that was recommended by Hex Hives.
Jey Brain, thanks for sharing the hex hive. I'm interested in seeing how that goes in the long run. Question though, is there space between the 2 layers of frames or do the frames come together and touch when you put them together?
There is a small space. I am thinking it is proper bee space to be honest.
We spent a long time engineering and designing everything to have proper bee space. :)
How long did it take to print?
Do they have smaller super boxes too?
What's the plan for queen excluder? (I guess you could print one)
What's the plan to extract honey?
It took weeks, between 3-4 weeks. I only used 1 of my printers though, so That could have been sped up, I just didn't want to eat into print time for other projects. 1 Wall piece of the 4 for the upper ttook 15 hours, so 60 hours for 1 box, that is not including the frames or supports. Excluder, I'm going to make one to fit. For honey, I haven't quite thought that far ahead. Appreciate the questions.
I like that this hex has all the same frames... others I've seen have 3 different frame shapes. 😊
They are slick. And, you could increase the infill to make them even stronger.
So now you need to 3-D print an extractor for those special frames!! LIke the look of the wood on the vevor hive.
Hah, yes. A 3D printed extractor. I would probably do the old crush and strain technique on these.
It’s always fun to try new things? I would give it a shot
Thanks for bringing this new Hive build to your viewers
Happy to share. Now I just need to get foundation in the frames and a colony inside of it. Hopefully i can get that done in 2-3 weeks.
So So Cool
Thanks Sandi. . Me being a gadget person, I kinda like the Hex Hive.
The deep nody looks like theres a horizontal split about halfway down. Is that just the grain etc?
It is, yeah. They are solid. In the sun, the camera picked up every flaw.
I was watching a video from a channel called Fangflyer a few days ago about the hex hive. He was using the smaller sized hives. I am curious as to how the isolation from outside temps will be. I've gotten some interesting data from the printed hive I have bees in. I've also noticed propolis seals when I refill the internal feeder. I'm just curious like you if the bees will mass coat the inside with propolis. Best of luck with the new hives.
That is what I'm curious to see as well, do they layer it with propolis. Thanks for watching. .
Is the hex for production or more a resource hive?
Either. You could go as high as you want and connect as many towers.
Can you get a screened bottom board for the vevor hive
They only have solid bottom boards.
First! Hey Brian
Hey there!
what size are the frames in the Hex Hive
244mm x244mm, or 9.6 inch by 9.6 inch.
Does anyone know how long the 3D printer plastic stands up to sun and weather compared to wood? Some plastics become very brittle in a short time.
I've had a few 3D printed objects with PETF, same as this, and they've been in the sun for 2.5 years.
Very curious to see how the bees do in that hex hive. Seems it would be pretty expensive to make.
$239 per double stack. Now, if you got filament at a discount it'd be cheaper.
I wanna see you stand on the box lol
I might. . I'll post a picture on my community tab if I do.
Super cool. Looks like a gatorade jug!
I was shocked at how much filament it takes.
Hahaha. . You're the second person that said Gatorade. And yeah, it takes a lot.
@@CastleHives is there any anticipated problems with micro plastics? Was that a consideration when choosing the filament?
@@blacktalonbased I don't have any concerns. When I harvest, I'll use the crush and strain, so I'll scrap off of the foundation.
I'm new to beekeeping - in fact waiting for my first NUC any day now. I'm just curious regarding if the Vevor having those observation windows might be a problem in the winters here in NE Ohio. Would it be more difficult to keep warm in the cold winters?
Great question. I have a Hive Kit, my first one actually, that has the same style windows. The wood inserts that block them off are enough to keep them insulated. The Bees do not warm the entire box, just the cluster.
Great review. I have a BeeCastle hive with viewing windows that I reviewed. Impressed with their product also. However I am looking forward to see how long the viewing window stays viewable and if the bees leave it alone or put propolis all over it.
I have a kit that is 8 years old, from another company, and the windows are fine. They will get a little bit of wax and propolis on them, but not enough to block your viewing.
I wonder how the printed hive will weather. I use PETG for a lot of stuff for outside, but the sun and rain do take a toll on the plastic. Also with all the micro gaps in a 3d printed object I wonder how it will deal with freezing and thawing. Water in the gaps may cause them to split. How strong are the frames, after getting glued down in winter it may be tricky getting them loose in the spring. I have several 3d printer, but I am skeptical about this project, high cost relative to proven wooden ware. Looking forward to seeing how well the girls take to it.
Valid points, Rodney. Tme will tell. I'm going to get a colony into it and see. The only way is to test it out.
It's incredible !
As you know I am a huge 3d print guy but 14 spools per double stack? That would have taken a long time to print the parts as well. However, it should last far longer than wood and if you want more "boxes" it's just the cost of plastic and machine time. I assume it was petg and I have had great results with it in our Texas sun. Be interested to see how this works over time. Thanks Brian!
I do like that vevor but im poor & ill take my homemade rough sawn boxes that are made out of denser wood than pine, the bees coat all the saw marks in propolis & the bees over winter way better than a pine box.. I been using hard maple & cherry lately... but if I had the money I'd probly just buy boxes lol,... ALOT of work the way Im doing it
Time is the factor that gets me. I have a tablesaw and the tools to make boxes, no time to do it so i buy.
@@CastleHives yes bee equipment is super time consuming! I was making frames but I definitely buy those now, they take forever, to many intricate cuts, but boxes , lids & bottom boards I make, I have 2 table saws set up 1 is strictly for a dado blade so that helps save time of changing blades..I don't buy wood but I have to mill it on an old antique circular saw mill from trees I took down out of my woods.. it's fun but definitely a ton of work
Let’s put bees in it and see how it does. I bet the bees will fill the holes on the vevor hive.
I bet they do also. I think I'll have the hex hive with Bees in 2 or 3 weeks.
Interesting
Isn't it. .
LETS GOOOO!! #hexhives
Hahaahahaha
I made a 3d printed hive last year. The bees liked it, but I had a lot of issues with the pla warping in the summer heat. Come winter I was using caulking to seel the cracks where it separated. I had a lot of trouble pulling frames in the warped hive also. My design was not a hex do maybe that makes a difference. Had a moisture issue in spring that got the bees. Redesigns have a lot of design and material issues.
I wonder what PETG will do, that is what I used.
A good exparament. I used pla prataly because I was trying to get the cost down to closer to a wood hive. I might still try a 3d printed hive. (my 3d printed frames work great. Trying a new exparamen with them now. ) I might try ABS as a material but it costs more.
@@groundhogcow992 ABS would be great.
This has so much potential… This would be a great alternative for countries that make concrete hive to protect from termites and other wood prone pests.
Agreed. I can't wait to see how a colony performs in it..
Wondering why this didn't show up on my Notifications.
Odd DC. .
Build a hex box in wood, print the frames and save a bundle
Hah, that's an idea.
I just want to buy all the hives!
Haha. . Same.
If the Hex Hive fails, fill it with Gatorade!
Lmao