Automatic Uncapping machine for Langstroth/Dadant frames

01 · THE TWO VERSIONS

Forty-eight or forty-seven

And an answer that gets asked a lot: it takes Hoffman frames and straight-sided frames alike. What governs is the length of the top bar.

02 · THE KNIVES

Serrated, oscillating and set to the comb

The knives are serrated and swing sideways to follow the uneven line of the cappings, which is never straight.

They also adjust to the exact width of the comb on a guide system. That adjustment is what separates good uncapping from bad: it neither takes sound wax nor leaves cappings behind.

03 · DRY HEAT, AND LITTLE OF IT

The dial reaches 95 °C; the honey does not

It heats with direct electrical elements, not with steam or a hot-water circuit. The practical difference is twofold: it adds no moisture to the honey and there is no tank to top up halfway through the day.

The dial runs from 30 to 95 °C, but that describes the appliance. What the honey takes is another matter: above about 40 °C the heat is paid for in HMF. In high summer, with soft cappings, you often need not switch the heating on at all.

04 · THE PACE AND THE BENCH

Four frames a minute, thirty-six waiting

Frames go into the side guides and the feeder carries them under the knives at 9 rpm, at a rate of about 4 frames a minute — of the order of 240 an hour, some 24 supers of ten frames.

They fall onto the 1.5 m bench, which does two jobs: it drains the honey from the cappings through two perforated baskets and stacks up to 36 frames waiting for the extractor. If something jams, the PC-02 controller reverses the direction.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Measure your frame's top bar before choosing a version. It weighs 90 kg, runs on 230 V single phase and carries a 2-year warranty.