Re: [ACBA BeeTalk] Wobbly electric extractor - coping with varying frame weights

[Gerald Przybylski]

 I have a (maxant) extractor like two of the rentals 
It can do 6 frames in "radial" slots, and three frames in "Tangential" spots at the outside of the triangular basket. 

I found that the "advantage" of spinning out 6 frames at a time is offset by the extended spinning time to get all the honey out. 

There's physics involved.  The relevant quantity is "centripetal acceleration" which is the product of "angular velocity squared" times "radius" 
Angular velocity is a vector quantity, so direction matters.  Mass is a scalar quantity. direction is irrelevant.  More about this later

Centripetal acceleration a_c = 𝝎²r
Radius is distance from the axis of rotation to where a_c is of interest (where the honey is) 
and Angular velocity is velocity_tangential divided by the radius.   𝝎 (in units of radians per unit time) 
Centripetal force (pulling honey out of the cells, and pushing the extractor around) is the mass times the centripetal acceleration. ma_c  
Higher RPM, more effective extraction (obviously) (since it's a quantity squared, you get twice acceleration by increasing the rpm by ~1.4 times)
Bigger radius, more effective extraction (maybe not so obvious)

With the basket design of my extractor the radial acceleration near the axis (where 'radial' frames get loaded) is really smaller. 
The radial acceleration when using tangential orientation is greater owing to the greater distance from the axis.   
So I use Tangential, mostly.
Insert frames: spin slow to get most of the honey out of one side: 
reverse the frames  to extract honey from the other side: 
spin slow, then fast for about 2 minutes: 
reverse frames again, and spin fast for about a minute and a half to get the rest of the honey out.  
An old timer pointed out that you don't have to get ALL the honey out of the frames because the bees will clean the frames and store that honey away where they want it. You'll get that honey next time you extract.
So frames can be pretty "wet" when you take them out, and its OK. 

Yup. I have to deal with a misbalanced basket almost every time I load frames.  
It's all because radial acceleration is a Vector quantity. It has a pointing direction.   
It "points" in the direction of the mass misbalance in the system comprised of 
• Frames vary in "thickness" of honey on them
• Frames that are foundationless weigh less than frames with plastic foundation. 
• Plastic frames don't weigh the same as wood frames. 
• Medium and deep frames have different weights. 
• Frames may be partly loaded with Pollen which Won't spin out (we don't want it to) 
• Frames may be partly loaded wiht Granulated honey which won't spin out either. 
We have Leibniz and Newton to thank for great advances in integral calculus which is simply the process of adding up all the contributions of elements of the system to get the answer.
The answer, the force rocking the extractor, is the contributions of all the rotating moving masses added up taking into account their position and speed. 
The extractor will lurch in the direction of the greatest mass misbalance.  
So it's essential, as much as possible, to balance the load in the basket. 
Another wrinkle is that as the extractor spins it can get out of balance because pollen doesn't extract, nor does granulated honey. 

First of all,  match the weight of frames when you put them into the basket, and put them in symmetrically. 
You can spin out-of-balance sets of frames slowly.  If you pick frames that, when spun out, will weigh the same, 
you can finish by spinning them fast.  
• Especially when using tangential orientation, you can move frames side-to-side in the basket to improve the balance. 
e.g. a heavier frame in the middle of one side of the basket balanced against two lighter frames biased to the edge of their spaces opposite the heavy frame. 
e.g. a lighter frame in the middle of one side of the basket balanced against two frames biased nearest the edge of their space nearest the light frame. 

• You can extract two frames in a three-frame basket if you get them placed across from each other with respect to the spin axis. 
It minimizes the shaking as you increase speed. 
IT MATTERS whether most of the honey is toward the top or bottom of the frame, and which edge of the frame goes to the corner of the basket. 
If the honey is on one end or the other of the frame, get the heavy ends of the frames all at the bottom of the basket. 
Likewise with honey close to the top-bar.  Get the mass distribution symmetrical about the axis of the basket.

You develop a sense for picking frames and how to load them, or how to start, assess, stop, reposition, restart, etc. 
As the honey spins out the misbalance can get worse.  (like when one frame has granulated honey in it and the others have liquid honey) 
Make adjustments if necessary.

An off-balance extractor not anchored to the floor can "walk" across the honey house, potentially scratching the flooring. 
A stand screwed down to plywood can try to walk too.  Weigh down the plywood with a couple of buckets of water, or full buckets of honey which are 40% heavier.
If you extract in the garage, perhaps install "anchors" in the floor to screw the leg kit down to.  Then you can tolerate a more unbalanced load.


I built a sturdy stand for our extractor from lengths of unistrut. Comparable cost to the leg kit, but a lot more work, (and more fun), but quite stiff. It's mounted on a 3 foot diameter plywood disk. 
Some times I have to grab the motor on top to cut down on wobblng when I ramp the speed up. 

Loading 6 frames in radial slots can better average out mass distribution differences in frames, plus, the radial acceleration close to the axis is smaller, so the shaking less noticeable
(and the extraction less effective). 

You get good extraction (higher radial acceleration) out of one of those giant 24 frame radial extractors, but they can lurch too with a poorly balanced load. 
Similar frames go on opposite sides.  Loading all the pollen filled frames or granulated frames on one side will exacerbate the lurching. 

Like everyone has mites, everyone has to cope with balance issues when using a rotary extractor.  
We think it's better than the crush-and-strain alternative. 

That's my 2¢



On 5/22/26 11:25 AM, Maryly Snow wrote:

Bee buddy Charlie Carlson and I bought an electric honey extractor.

Even when I try my best to balance the frames in it, it wobbles SO

much! Meaning its vibrations are so strong that I hang on it for 

dear life, hoping my weight will alleviate the wobbles. 

Charlie mounted it on a plywood board, and put some rubber shock

absorbers to put under the 4 corners, but I still hang on for dear life. 

He, being taller and heavier, does not complain about it wobbling/shaking. 

He’s thinking of buying larger shock absorbers, mostly at my request.

Will that solve the vibrating/wobbling? 

What do other people do with an upright 10 frame electric spinning and

vibrating extractor?

Maryly