Layens V-Shaped Uncapping Machine

01 · THE V UNCAPS BOTH FACES

One movement a frame, not two

The frame rests on the holder and slides down between the two blades. The heat is not there to warm anything: it is there so the wax cuts clean instead of tearing, and tearing is what wrecks the comb and gets paid for later in the extraction.

The blade is adjustable, so the depth of cut suits the comb that comes — more or less swollen depending on the flow — and it carries a hand guard. On a tool handled wet and with both hands busy, that is not an accessory.

02 · LAYENS ONLY, BY GEOMETRY

It is not a commercial limitation, it is the size of the V

The vertex and the holder are cut to the size of the Layens frame. A Dadant or a Langstroth will not go in, and no adjustment fixes it: it is the geometry of the machine.

For a Layens apiary that is the opposite of a drawback. Most honey-house equipment is designed around Dadant and Langstroth, and Layens gets left out on height time after time; here the tool is its own.

03 · 12 V: 140 W IN TWO ELEMENTS

Low voltage where hands are wet

Each blade carries a 70 W element, 140 W in total at 12 V. Working at low voltage on a table with honey, water and wet hands is a safety decision, not a saving.

It can be fed from 220 V through a transformer, which is not included: it has to be counted in with the order. And running at 12 V, it can also go on a battery if the uncapping happens away from the workshop.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The tool a Layens apiary does not usually get.