3D printed parts for beekeeping
I am attempting to take a small colony of bees through the winter in an Apidea (normally just used as a queen mating hive during the summer). I've come across a couple of problems, one is ventilation, the second is missing parts form the apidea.
|
Firstly I need to describe the apidea, it contains a bottom box contains 5 small frames (around 10 cm square), with built in entrance, ventilation (rather small), and removable floor. The box above simply contains 5 more frames. Stacked on top of these two, is another box (super) with lid, but this time, containing over 1 kg of fondant (food). Each box is made from polystyrene and is around 1 cm thick. I have added an extra 2.5 cm of polystyrene insulation.The picture shows the polystyrene bottom box containing 3 frames with lid. |
 |
||
|
Having purchased the super for the apidea, I realised that the queen excluder (qx) was missing. This is a small piece of plastic that restricts the queens access to the fondant (she is fed by the workers, and should be kept on the frames). So, a few minutes measuring and drawing on the computer, turning on the printing, and patiently waiting for my replacement qx to be printed, the qx is shown in the picture. |
|
| The remaining issue of condensation has been dealt with by designing a replacement floor incorporating a metal mesh. The floor once printed slides into replace the original floor. The new floor not only adds ventilation but also lift the whole apidea around 1 cm off the piece of wood it's sitting on. |
 |