Some time back, we brushed on the topic of BeeMax boxes and one opinion was that they are very much improved and better than Swienty's product.

I have run both for eight years now, and was influenced by those comments to buy more BeeMax becasue they are easier to get in North America in less-than-container lots.  A container of Swienty is 1540 boxes.  I only needed 100.

So, I bought 100 BeeMax boxes and assmbled and painted them over  the past few days. 

I have to say that the purchase started right off with problems.  They came late, then it turned out that galvanized steel frame rests were sent along instead of the plastic ones I had used and liked.  I put some in and they fell right back out.  "Ooops!",  said the supplier and promised to replace them with ones that fit.  That was a week ago.  Fortunately my friends happened to have enough of the original ones as spares and I was back in business.  

When I assembled the boxes, I used the glue that Betterbee recommends.  At least I thought  I did.  Turns out they recommend two different glues on two different pages.  The glue I used does not hold.  

Assembly with BeeMax is a big job.  Not with Swienty.  They come in one piece. 

Next, I painted them.  Two coats of latex is recommended, so that is what I used.  It is a job, since the dimples of the "No CFC" and "Recycle" brands on every piece are hard to paint and the corners have cracks.  

I got it done, but at the rate I was going, I'd never finish so I bought a sprayer for another $135.  That speeded things up by a factor of ten.

To spray them, I stacked them up, six high, and the job went fast.  I turned my back and a slight gust of wind knocked them all down, breaking two boxes at the weak corners.  

Swienty would never break IMO.  I also compared an eight-year-old Swienty box to a BeeMax of similar age and the pictuire tells a story.

So, this is my report.  my initial enthusiasm for beeMax had dimmed considerably, and if I buy more expanded polystyrene boxes, I sure hope they are Swienty.

There is much more detail and pictures, too, in my diary at www.honeybeeworld.com/diary .   If anyone wants to get together to order a container of Swienty sometime, contact me direct.

I notice that they also sell these in jumbo size and that they offer frames like Piercos which can hancle 100 degrees Celsius for steam cleaning!

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