REFERENCES TO SOLAR BEESWAX EXTRACTORS
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Goodman, R.D.  A solar beeswax extractor. The Australian Beekeeper.
Nove 1980, page 113-115.  Refers to drawings that I don't have, so
may have more pages?  Double glazed.  Black outside, white inside.
 
Lesher, Charles and Morse, Roger A.  The efficiency of solar wax
extractors.  Amer Bee Journal.  Dec 1982, page 820-821.  Concludes
only moderate efficiency; suggests using to reduce volume of old
combs prior to further rendering methods.
 
Pennsylvania State University Agric Ext Service plan.  Solar beeswa
extractor.  1 p.  Reference to Order No 790-301.  Double glazed.
Construction plan only.
 
Anon.  Using the sun to melt beeswax.  Description for building wax
melter based on New Zealand Beekeeper article November 1970 and (NZ)
Journal of Agriculture August 1970.
 
Jaycox, E.R.  Making and using a solar wax melter.  Wellington Bkprs
Assn Inc monthly newsletter, May 1987, 2 pp.  Reprinted with
permission of author.  Non-sloping sides.
 
Briscoe, D.A. Putting old sol to work.  NZ Journal of Agric
121(2):80,81.  1971.  Double glazed, sloped sides.
 
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I couldn't readily locate the article that I know I've seen from
Clark (?) at University of Pennsylvania.  My memory of that was a
detailled comparison of construction details to determine which was
more efficient:
 
Black or white painted outside (black was better).
 
Black or white painted outside (white was better, aluminium foil
even better, but impractical)
 
Single or double glazed (double was better).
 
Sides that slope out or sides perpendicular to base (sloping was
better).
 
Insulation below tray or not (insulation best).
 
It also had a mesh tray supported slightly above the tin tray that
the wax runs down to the collection tin.  This I found a bit messy,
but very effective.  For most places I've been, its pretty important
to make the device truly bee tight, as it puts off an incredibly
attractive smell of honey and can cause serious robbing...
 
The aspects that my gut feeling seemed to support were double glazed
(near essential) and insulation sheet below the tray the melted wax
runs down.
 
The design they arrived at appears to be the one most copied by the
authors above.  While slightly fiddly to construct (well, for me
anyway!) with the angled sides, etc, it makes an excellent melter
indeed.  The last one I made using these principles I made somewhat
larger (since I had the glass...) so it would fit two queen
excluders side by side.  It also had a weight counterbalanced so I
could lift the lid (hinged at the back/top) easily.  I also had a set
of wheels on the front/bottom, so I could readily swivel it a few
times in the day to aim directly at sun.
 
Best to have some sort of cover for the glass for seasons when not
in use to reduce glass breakage.  And build solid, with the intent
that you'll be scraping the tray, mesh, etc, pretty roughly with hive
tools, etc.  From a wax discolouration point of view, stainless steel
would be best, but I've always used galvanised iron.
 
All that for what its worth.  I've always been keen on solar melters
- I love the smell as much as the bees.
  (\      Nick Wallingford
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