Honey Extractor KADETT® Hand-3F

01 · HOW A TANGENTIAL WORKS

One side, turn it, the other

The frames sit parallel to the drum wall, so the centrifugal force works on a single face of the comb. When that face is empty, you stop the baskets, turn the frame by hand and do the other. It sounds laborious and it is, but that geometry concentrates all the power on one side and it is what gets dense honeys out — heather, honeydew, honey already starting to crystallise — that stay stuck to the comb in a radial.

02 · WHICH FRAMES GO IN

Full depth, half depth and Layens

The baskets take 3 full-depth frames or 6 half-depth, two per basket. And they accept different formats with no accessories: Langstroth, Dadant and Layens — the Layens goes in upright, one per basket. The only rule is balance: load the three baskets evenly, or the drum shakes and the job turns awkward.

03 · THE SIDE CRANK

And the brake, which is what you appreciate

The crank is on the side rather than on top, which takes away the forced posture of winding above shoulder height for a whole afternoon. It has a braking system: turning the other way stops the baskets without waiting for the inertia to die. 50 to 100 turns per load is plenty.

04 · START SLOWLY

The basket is rod, not sheet

Here is the advice that will serve you longest: start gently and build the speed up. The baskets are steel rod and, with heavily loaded combs or an abrupt start, the support rods can give a little — it is the one criticism from people who use it daily. With well-wired frames and no sudden bursts, it does not happen. And uncap properly first: a half-uncapped comb makes you spin faster for nothing.

05 · AFTER THE HARVEST

Cleaning and future

The gate is food-grade nylon, 1½'' (DN40), the standard honey-house size, so it takes the usual hoses and spares. The polycarbonate lids let you watch without opening, the stainless cleans with hot water as soon as you finish, and the detachable legs give height to get a bucket under the gate. And if the apiary grows one day, it takes a bolt-on motor without changing machine.

06 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is manual, tangential and 3-frame: for harvests beyond 15-20 hives it falls short. Legs are included; the motor is not.