18F Radial honey extractor FOCUS

01 · COMPATIBILITY

Which frames go in, measurements first

It is the first question we get about this model, so it comes first: the radial cage takes 39 Dadant supers or 18 Langstroth frames, with a limit of 300 mm in height. What will not go in is the tall brood frame — Dadant brood or Layens: beyond the size, a radial empties the upper part of a large frame poorly, so it is not merely a question of fitting. If your operation runs on supers, this is its ground.

02 · EXTRACTION

Radial: both faces in the same cycle

In a radial layout the frames sit like the spokes of a wheel and centrifugal force empties both faces at once. There is no taking frames out halfway or turning them, and that is the real productivity gain over a tangential of the same diameter: the time a tangential spends handling, this one spends spinning. In exchange, with thick honeys it pays to start slowly and build up in stages, especially on new wax.

03 · CONTROL

Time programmer, brake and clutch

The motor is a 150 W SAF unit, supplied at 220 V through a 30 V transformer, with an automatic time programmer, brake and clutch. The programmer is what turns extraction into a flow: you set the cycle and the machine repeats it identically, load after load, without depending on who is standing there. The safety system prevents working with the drum running and the lid open.

04 · CONSTRUCTION

Bright stainless, a 50 mm gate and iron legs

Body entirely in bright-finish stainless steel, with acrylic lids that let you watch the cycle and painted iron legs. The outlet is a 50 mm stainless honey gate: wide, which is what stops draining becoming the bottleneck of the day once you are running 39 frames a load. The drum measures 860 mm across and 410 mm tall.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Measure your space before deciding: 860 mm of drum plus room to move around it and for a container under the gate will not fit in every honey house. And keep the underlying rule in mind: a radial this size pays for itself on supers and free-flowing honeys. If most of your crop comes off brood frames, the machine that earns its keep is a reversible, not this one.