The Buzz Newsletter

February 2005

 

 

Page 6

Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Convention

I had the opportunity to attend the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Convention in Marshalltown on January 27th and 28th as a representative of the Iowa Honey Producers. You may be wondering why this article is in “The Buzz” if the deadline is Jan 15th. The answer is that we have had a small problem getting material the last couple of months. We have been trying to preserve the six page format but we may return to four pages if we continue to have trouble.

The convention was well attended, especially the Friday session which focused on fruits and vegetables. The Thursday session was all about sweet corn. I set up a booth and talked to people about beekeeping and pollination. I thought I would be bored out of my skull but there was enough traffic that I usually had someone to talk to. The time passed quickly. There were several beekeepers in attendance and a few orchard owners expressed interest in the beekeeping classes. I passed out copies of “The Buzz” and also some pollination fact sheets. I had a pollen trap and a hive body set up with some sample frames. There was a lot of interest in the display.

Submitted by Phil Ebert

Extractor Re-powering

One of the many ideas I have borrowed from Allen Dick was how to re-power one of my extractors. It was a 20 frame Dadant with a belt drive. There were two belts and two idler pullies, with a friction plate between them, in the middle. It was made in the early 80’s and it never worked right. I couldn’t generate enough speed.

I removed the pulley on the extractor reel and the pulley that drove it and replaced them with chain sprockets.

I tried changing the pulley ratio and the belts but there was too much slippage. All I succeeded in doing was burning up the motor. I had trouble finding a new motor so I called the factory for help. When I described my problem to the lady who answered the phone, she said “Oh, yeah, I remember those”. I could tell from the way she said it that they weren’t any good when they were new.

The original re-power that Allen did was on the big Kelley extractors with the long shafts. I looked at the pictures and realized it would work on my smaller extractor. I removed the pulley on the extractor reel and the pulley that drove it and replaced them with chain sprockets.

The original motor was a furnace motor mounted on a shroud that covered the belts and pullies. There were no grease zerks on the pullies and the shroud had to be removed if you wanted to tighten the drive belt for the reel. I ditched the shroud and the furnace motor.

I had a capacitor start motor that was on another piece of equipment I wasn’t using. I made a mounting bracket out of angle iron and mounted the capacitor start motor on that. Then I installed grease zerks in the pulley and chain sprocket on the idler shaft. I had always had trouble with the friction in past years. This time I used a piece of masonite.

The re-powered extractor driven by the belt and chain proved to be the right combination.

It proved to be very durable and worked great. The drive system now has one belt and one chain. It has a distinct rumble to it but it works great. We have the necessary speed and there is almost no belt wear.

Submitted by Phil Ebert