Dadant Blatt Uncapping machine steam

01 · COMPATIBILITY

French measure: frames with a 47 cm top bar

This frame is Dadant Blatt, the standard in France and Italy: it is built for frames with a 47 cm top bar. Dadant US and Langstroth frames, at 48 cm, do not seat properly on the guides. If you are adding to equipment you already own, measure the top bar before ordering: the same machine comes in a 48 cm version, sold separately.

02 · HEATING

The blade does not cool down on the second frame

That is the difference from an electric resistance knife: it heats up, cuts one frame, and has already lost temperature by the time you start the next. Steam circulates inside the blade and holds it hot for as long as the generator runs, so the capping is sliced without dragging and the wax falls clean instead of sticking to the blade. The generator is a separate unit with its own tank: fill it with water, plug it into the mains and connect it to the blade with its hose.

03 · HANDLING

You set the pace, and on an uneven comb that matters

With the blade hot, you rest the frame on the carriage and draw it towards you, past the blade. You control the feed, not a motor: you can slow down where the comb is bulging or uneven and take only the capping, something an automatic machine cannot judge. For an operation of up to a couple of hundred hives it is the balance point between a loose knife and a full extraction line.

04 · INSTALLATION

It sits on what you already own, and washes in two minutes

It comes without bench or legs: it mounts on top of a standard 1000 or 1500 mm uncapping tub, or straight onto an empty drum, which is where the cappings fall. Out of season it takes little room, and you choose where the wax lands. Everything that touches honey is stainless steel, which on a steam machine is no ornament: damp, heat and sugar together are what corrodes any other metal within two seasons. When you finish, hot water and dry.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

In the box you get the stainless steel frame with its blade, and the 1800 W steam generator with its hose. The whole thing weighs 10 kg.

⚠ PRECAUTIONS

The blade works hot and does not look any different when it is: do not touch it by hand or adjust it with the steam connected. Unplug the generator from the mains before cleaning or moving the unit. Do not let the tank run dry while the generator is running. And when washing, protect the generator body and its connection: the frame goes in the water, the electrics do not.