One of the best little extractors on the market is the Maxant 3/6 frame, I
think it's model 3100H.  I have had one for several years and here is some
info on it, in case anyone is looking and is comparing different models:
 
It is stainless steel, and holds 3 frames tangentially. It will hold 3
deeps, mediums, or shallows this way, but you can't double up 2 shallows in
each basket, tangentially.  It would have been nice if they had made the
baskets a little wider, to accomodate 2 shallows/mediums in each.
 
It operates with pulleys instead of gears; the ratio is 3 or 4 to one. The
gears are linked by a rubber belt which will last for years.
 
Maxant has marketed the machine as a 3/6 frame job.  You can arrange 6
medium/shallow frames in a radial fashion. What you end up with is 3 pairs
of frames equidistant about the reel, perpendicular to it. See below
Maxant supplies 3 stainless steel clips, which are used to secure the two
frames in each pair.
 
            \\     //
             \\   //
                O
               ||
               ||
 
(View from top with 6 frames arranged around reel.)
 
Tangentially, the extractor is great, and very quiet and smooth due to the
belt drive.  Radially, however it leaves much to be desired.  The inner
faces of each pair of combs are right up close to each other. If there are
very wide combs or burr comb the honey can't fly out from between them.  I
called Maxant about this, they said to make sure the surfaces are uncapped
right down flush with the frame.  Or warm the honey up.  This helped
somewhat, tho it's a pain to have to worry about such details.
 
There are 2 basic problems as I see it, first, the diameter of the
extractor is not very large, so the rpm's must be very high to get the
honey out radially.  There just isn't enough force.  Secondly, it is hand
power, so it's almost impossible to get the speed you need, especially for
the extended time required for radial operation.  This could be over 15
minutes!  If the honey is thin a/o warm it would work better, but you
really have to be an olympic athlete to keep the thing spinning long enough
to get most of the honey out.
 
Otherwise, I recommend it, for the small producer. The materials are
top-notch, and there's a strong angle-iron rim at top and bottom.  This
little machine is really solid.  Operated tangentially, three frames at a
time, it removes the honey rapidly and easily.  IT is a bit pricey but
given the long life of such a well-constructed machine, it's probably well
worth it.  There is a motor option, perhaps this would be better for radial
operation, but it would still take a long time to empty the frames. Seems
to me you could extract six frames tangentially in less time.  Maybe others
have used it with a motor, I'd be interested in any comments.   Later...
Joel