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. A shallower frame works too: the manufacturer confirms that a 48 × 15 frame goes into the 48 × 17 model without any problem.

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 for carriage.

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 two needle knives work like an uncapping fork and adjust themselves: a spring presses them against the comb and lets them open to its thickness. There is nothing to set by hand, they take at most 3 mm of wax per face, even below the level of the frame wood, and the cells stay nearly intact.

The plastic side guides lift out and turn round: one way they take straight frames, 25 mm wide, and the other way frames with Hoffman spacers, 36 mm wide.

The frame has to go in centred: that way it moves down and drops out on its own. If it sticks, it is usually because it was empty, with no honey weight to pull it down, or off-centre; then first remove the guides, with their metal part, so you do not get hurt, and open the knives a little by hand. To clean them you do not need to separate them.

03 · FITTING IT TO THE BENCH

The bench isn't included; the fixings are

The uncapping bench is not included. The box holds the crank, which fits on the left or the right, the pusher that moves the frames along the bench and two fixing brackets with their bolts.

The brackets go on the edge of the bench: the M6 × 50 bolts adjust them in height and width, and an M6 × 16 keeps the machine still. Each bracket has four holes 6 cm apart; it fits our one-metre bench well.

04 · WHAT OUTPUT TO EXPECT

Up to 60 frames an hour

The manufacturer quotes up to 60 frames an hour: one a minute, once you get into the rhythm. 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 is purely mechanical: no motor, no heating element, no electricity or steam. The manufacturer specifies combs above 25 °C, with the honey not crystallised. The body is glass-fibre-reinforced polyamide, which the plastic's maker declares suitable for food contact, and the metal parts are AISI 304 stainless steel: at the end of the season a good clean is all it needs.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

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

▶ HOW TO FIT IT TO THE BENCH