How To Make Bee Hive Frames How To Efficiently Make Bee Hive Frames From Scratch That Will Hold Standard Rite Cell & Or Plastic Foundation Measuring 5 5/8” For Mediums or 8 ½” For Deeps At A Very low Cost For A Langstroth Style Beehive With the few tools listed here you could make a couple hundred of these frames in one day. -Please Read all Instructions Carefully Before ProceedingI Assume No Responsibility For Injury *ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SAFETY GLASSES AND USE A PUSH STICK* Tools Required For This Project: : : : : : Safety Glasses Router Table With A ¾” Dado Bit Table Saw With Push Stick Nail Gun With 1” Brads or Small Nails & Hammer Lumber Materials List: : 1- 2”x4”x8’ Long Pine 2X4 Board Or Scrap 2X4 Pieces : 1- 1”x12”x12’ Long Pine Board Or Any 1X4 1X6 1X8 1X10 ECT. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 1 Steps 1-5 Making The Sides Of The Frame First, you will need to cut your 2”x4”x8’ long board into fourteen 5-7/8” long sections. All cuts herein need to be precise. You should end up with a total of 14 sections that are 5 7/8” long when you are done. 2”x 4”x 5-7/8” You should Get 14 of these pieces when you are done. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 2 Step 2 Next, we need to rip the 2”x 4”x 5-7/8” long boards into six pieces that are 3/8” thick 5-7/8” Long by 1-1/2” wide. Be sure to use a push stick and safety glasses to do it safely. Here is how we do it. Cut To 3/8” Thick (Figure 1) Below, is what your six pieces should look like. 5-7/8” Long 3/8” Thick & 1-1/2” Wide Figure 1 Figure 2 (Figure 2) Above, are the side pieces of the frame that we are aiming to make. *Note that it is still too wide in figure 1. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 3 Step 3 Now, we need to rip it down to the correct width of 1-3/8” Wide By 5-7/8” Long. Ripping To 1-3/8” Wide 5 7/8” 1 3/8” Now It Is The Correct Size Of 1 3/8” Wide & 5 7/8” Long & 3/8” Thick. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 4 Step 4 Making The Simple Jig For The Side Boards Of The Frame Now, using your router, you need to set your Dado bit to make a cut of 3/16”. You will also need to make a 3/16” guide with some scrap lumber to allow the piece to ride on as it crosses over the Dado bit. Below is how I made my jig. Stop 3/16” Guide Board Here Is The 3/16” Guide As I Have Mentioned Above This Allows Your Piece To Have Something To Rest On As It Passes Over The Dado Bit. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 5 3 ½” From Stop To Center Of Bit Stop 3/16” Cut We Will Also Need A Stop Located 3 ½ Inches To The Left From The Center Of The Dado Bit. 3/16” Deep Cut The Pictures above are just one of several ways to make this simple jig to cut in your recessed edges on the side boards of your frames. I have included this for a free visual aid in this frame construction plan for your convenience only. The long skinny board in the back is just a scrap board to nail the stop and the guide to, and it is just clamped to the router table. This jig will make quick work out of frame production. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 6 Step 5 Cutting In The Grooved Edges Now that our frame jig is made we are ready to cut in the 3/16” Grooves. A B Cutting The 3/16” Wide Groove 3/16” Groove Always use Push Sticks Always use Push Sticks C The 3/16” Groove Is Cut On Each Side Here Is What The 1 3/8” Finished Pieces Should Look Like D 5 5/8” 3/16” Groove 1” Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 7 Step 6 Cutting The Top & Bottom Rail Of The Frame to The Correct Length First, we need to cut our 1”x 12” X 12’ long board into pieces, measuring: : Four pieces that are 1” X 12” X 18 7/8” Long for the top rail. Second, we will also need to cut: Four pieces that are 1” X 12” X 16 7/8” Long for the bottom rail. • Note that the actual width of 1 X 12 board will actually be 11 ¼” Wide X ¾” Thick, they come like that from the lumber yard as dimensional lumber. But it is called a 1x12 so we will use that term because it will be of no problem in accordance to our cuts. 12” Wide 12” Wide 18 7/8” Long 16 7/8” Long Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 8 Step 7 Cutting The 1” Rabbet On Each End Of The 18 7/8” Long Board ONLY First you need to set up your router table to cut a 1” wide X 5/16” deep Rabbet joint in each (BOTH) ends (SAME SIDE) of the 18 7/8” board. This is what is going to rest on the frame rests in your hive. *Note you will need to adjust your router table again to reach the 1” Width. 12” 1” Width 5/16” 18 7/8” Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 9 5/16” ¾” Thick Original Thickness 1” 18 7/8” Close Up View *Note That The 5/16” X 1” Rabbet On Each End & Same Side Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 10 Step 8 Now we will need to rip all 1x12 boards down to a width of 1” wide, as seen in the diagram below. ALL of the 1X12X16 7/8” Boards & ALL of the 1X12X18 7/8” Rabbeted Boards. You will have 9 of each in Figure 3 when finished. Figure 3 18 7/8” Top Frame Rail Bottom Frame Rail 1” 18 7/8” Long 1” Wide By ¾” Original Thickness 16 7/8” Long 1”Wide By ¾” Original Thickness 16 7/8 Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 1” 11 Step 9 Ripping The 16 7/8 Long Bottom Rail Board Down To Size First we need to adjust the table saw to make a 7/16” cut. Then rip each 16 7/8” board to a size of 16 7/8” Long 1” Wide & 7/16” Thick. *Note: Be sure that the 1” cut that you previously made on this board is vertical on the table saw. 7/16” Cut Push Stick 16 7/8” Long Boards Only 3/4” 1” Push Stick Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 12 Step 10 Cutting In The Foundation Sleeves Now that all boards are down to size it is time to cut in the foundation sleeves into the 16 7/8” & 18 7/8” long boards. Using a regular 1/8” wide table saw Blade. Start by adjusting the saw depth so that it is 5/16” Deep. *(Just Barely Grazing The Top Underside Of The Frame Rest)* 5/16” Adjust The Saw To Make No More Than A 5/16” Deep Cut Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 13 Note That The Blade Is Just Barely Touching The Underside & Cutting A Nice Thin Sleeve. If The Sleeve Is To Tight You May Want To Run Two Saw Blades Instead Of One. Setting the saw for a 7/16” Wide X 5/16” or 3/8” Deep cut Should Put You On Center, If Not Adjust Accordingly. We will use this width of 7/16” and depth of 5/16” to cut our sleeves in both the top and the bottom frame rail. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 14 Cutting The Sleeve In The Top Rail “ALWAYS USE A PUSH STICK!!!” Cutting The Sleeve In The Bottom Rail “ALWAYS USE A PUSH STICK!!!” Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 15 Finished Top Rail Finished Bottom Rail Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 16 Step 11 Assembly Of Your Frame Here are the four pieces that we have made for one frame. Side Side Bottom Rail Top Rail Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 17 First, we will start by affixing our sides to the top rail with a 1” Brad nailer as shown below. Second, we will insert our foundation into the frame grooves below. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 18 Third, we will insert the bottom rail and align the foundation into the groove and nail accordingly as in the picture below. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 19 Going Foundationless Doesn’t Have To Be Hard !!! Just Rip The Rite Cell Foundation into 1” wide strips as seen below then nail the strips into the frames. Insert the foundationless frame in between two drawn frames and let the bees do the rest. A natural hive is a happier hive. Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 20 For Medium Frames If you are going to make medium frames for honey supers follow all of the steps above with precise cuts. For Deep Frames If you are going to make deep frames for hive bodies, Everything stays the same except for step 1 & step 4. Step 1 page 2: cut the 2x4 into 8 ¾” long sections instead of 5 7/8”. & Step 4 page 6: Just extend the stop on the router table out to 5” from center of the dado bit instead of 3 ½” from center. Thank You Happy Woodworking I Assume No Responsibility For Injury Of Any Kind And As Always Follow Your Manufacturer’s Recommended Safety Guidelines. Ryansapiculture.com Copyright – Ryan Bekke 2013 beehiveblueprints.com 21
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