8 Frame Bee Vacuum

P. Michael Henderson
May 8,2018

Trish from Pasadena contacted me and asked me to build her a Bee Vacuum to fit 8 frame hives.  I'm going to try to document most of the build here.

Here's the beginning - a 1 by 12, 12 feet long, pine. A bee vacuum with some assembly required.

8 frame hives are not as wide as 10 frame hives, about 14 inches instead of 16 1/4 inches. Otherwise, the build is the same for the two.

Here are the four sides of the main box, cut to rough length.  The length will be 19 7/8", same as a 10 frame but Trish is going to give me the exact width of her hives.  Should be about 14 inches.

I

Once Trish gave me the width of her 8 frame hives (14") I cut the parts to length and began working on the dovetails.  Here I've sawn the tails and need to clean out the waste.

After sawing and chiseling out the waste, this is where I'm at.

I transfer the tails to the pins and saw out the waste.  I need to chisel out the remaining waste.

Here's the first set of dovetails dry fit together.  I didn't take any pictures of the others.

After doing the dovetails on all four sides, this is what the wood looks like.

Now, I need to cut the handles and the hole in the front for the vacuum port.  First, the handles.

After doing the handles and the vacuum port, this is what the wood looks like.

Now, to glue up.

After I took it out of clamps, I put the bottom on.

The next day I built the internal sliding mechanism and the top.  I didn't take any progress pictures but here's the finished unit.

And with the top on

Trish came by to pick it up and we got a chance to know each other and chatted about bees.