Manual Vertical Uncapper GoldenUnwrapper®

01 · COMPATIBILITY

Half-supers yes; brood frames, no

The two models cover the two half-super sizes on the market: 48 × 17 cm for Dadant US and Langstroth, and 47 × 16 cm for Dadant Blatt. Within that size it makes no difference whether the frame is straight or Hoffman: both go in.

What does not go in is the full-depth frame. Not the 48 × 23 Langstroth brood frame, not the 48 × 30 Dadant US, and not Layens. It is not a matter of forcing it: the machine is built around the height of a half-super and there is no adapting it.

If you work with full-depth supers, this is not your machine — and it is worth knowing before paying carriage on ten kilos.

02 · HOW IT WORKS

Put the frame in and turn the crank

The frame goes in upright and comes out uncapped on both faces at once, with the cappings dropping straight into the bench. The rollers adjust themselves to the thickness of the comb and can take up to 3 mm per face.

The side guides swivel to work with frames 25 or 37 mm wide, and it takes comb thicknesses from 22 to 36 mm. That adjustment is what saves the comb: the cells stay nearly intact and the bees rebuild them far faster than a comb cut with a knife.

03 · THE BENCH IS NOT INCLUDED

It is an accessory, not a complete machine

This is the second most repeated question: the uncapping bench is not included. The uncapper bolts onto the bench with two screws, and it sits well on our one-metre bench.

Without a bench underneath there is nowhere for the cappings to fall or for the honey to drain, so count that purchase in before you decide.

04 · WHAT OUTPUT TO EXPECT

Two or three frames a minute

With a little practice it does 2 to 3 frames a minute, which over a session is about 40 supers in three hours. It is not an automatic uncapping line and does not pretend to be: it is what stops a mid-sized apiary uncapping by knife.

It weighs 10 kg and is all stainless steel: no motor, no heating element, and nothing to fail at the end of the season beyond the cleaning you give it.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is a bench accessory for half-supers, and those two things govern: