Types of Extractor
Honey being flung off a frame by centrifugal force inside an extractor during operation.Extractors are either tangential or radial depending on how the frames are put into the basket.
Radial baskets have the top bar of the frame facing outwards while tangential baskets have one side of the comb facing outward. Large commercial extractors are radial and rely on the upward slope of the comb cells. This slope allows to extract honey by applying centrifugal force toward the upper edge of the comb (opposite to the direction of gravity while in the hive). The amount of work during extraction is reduced in the radial type because the frames do not have to be turned over to extract the honey from the other side of the comb (however some extractors are capable of turning combs automatically). Hobbyist extractors can be hand or electric motor powered. If the extractor is hand powered, it often has accelerating gear to spin with less effort.
The smallest size of extractor typically holds two frames. The largest commercial extractor holds more than a hundred frames.
During the extraction process the honey is forced out of the uncapped wax cells, runs down the walls of the extractor and pools at the bottom. A tap or honey pump allows for the removal of honey from the extractor. Honey must be removed in time and always stay below the rotating frames as otherwise it prevents extractor from spinning with sufficient speed.
Read more about this topic: Honey Extractor
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