How to Keep bees on a Shoe string Buget.

divemaster1963 · November 11, 2011, 10:17:36 PM

Just thought people would like to see how I beekeep on a tight budget.

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I made this smoker from 2 large size bean cans and bellows from parts of a golfcart head rest. I lasts about 1hour with sawdust as fuel.

I made this Frame tool from a broken shaft of a string trimmer and a couple of old springs.

I made the hood from some netting that I had from when i would go camping.
Now I am making my own frames and boxes. I will put up photos of them tomorrow. Let me know what every one thinks of them.

John

divemaster1963 · November 11, 2011, 10:24:44 PM

some of the pics did not load. so let me try it again.

I made this with a piece of steel I had. I bent the end with a 1/2 in. bolt.

This is the frame tool.

I'll post some photos of the frames and boxes I am making from the wood I have plained from trees I took down this summer.

John

VolunteerK9 · November 11, 2011, 10:52:41 PM

Pretty darned cool. Just goes to show you what a little innovation and creative thinking will do for you. Check your PM

redhat · November 11, 2011, 11:08:47 PM

100% cool

Tommyt · November 11, 2011, 11:11:41 PM

Made in the USA :-D

Good job

Tommyt

divemaster1963 · November 11, 2011, 11:23:43 PM

I tried to get bud to sell me the recipe but we got caught :-D. so we had to show what else can be made from there products.

divemaster1963 · November 19, 2011, 07:53:00 PM

just to update. here are a few other things I have done to save money.

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this is wire rolls I got free from a supplier I used two to find enough good slats to make one barrel.

then I made the ends from solid wood tables I got free.

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I was given this old time tablesaw and a edge planer from a old farm. it was going to the dump.

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This is how I power my shop. I make the windmills from bad ECM motors that are used in AC units. I get them from local suppliers for scrap.. ( hey It runs my saws and lights great.)

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A friend that is in construction let s me use this planer to plane my wood from my Alaskan saw mill.

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This is how I am making My honey house

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Oh You all may get a kick out of this. My wife manted a greenhouse for her plants. so here was my 25.00 dollar solution.

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I got the storm windows from a dealer that was closing down. he gave then to me to get rid of. the wood came from the 16 foot pallets . took 1 weekend to build.

Vance G · November 19, 2011, 11:50:54 PM

Boy! I bet you knit contreceptives out of old worn out tires!

divemaster1963 · November 20, 2011, 12:33:33 AM

Quote from: Vance G on November 19, 2011, 11:50:54 PM
Boy! I bet you knit contreceptives out of old worn out tires!

Naw. to old for that :brian: :deadhorse:. But bias corded tires Thur a commercial tree limb shredder makes Great landscape mulch if cleaned very very good. :cindi:

BlueBee · November 20, 2011, 02:39:32 AM

Divemaster, you're a jack of all trades aren't you! Nice work.

So are your windmills generating AC power directly or are you feeding DC in the battery pack and then using an inverter?

divemaster1963 · November 20, 2011, 02:32:42 PM

They are producing DC power into a 60 amp charge controller that charges a set of 8 year old used Gem Electric car batteries then into a 5000 watt inverter that I traded a guy in Arizona 3 ECM motors for. that powers 90 percent of the stuff in my shop. I have a 15 year old 2000 watt generator that I saved from the scrap yard to power the tools that have to high of a initial draw to start up.

Necessity is the mother of invention. :-D

John