Bee Vac

I saw a bee vacuum on Youtube on the 628Dirtrooster channel. I decided to build one using his design. This is just the way I made mine with the buckets, hoses and fittings that I had to work with. The numbers that are critical are the height of the basket. Because when you release them into a new hive you can use a couple of empty deeps to hold the basket allowing them to crawl up into the frames. If you use mediums then you might want a different size basket. My baskets are 18 3/4” tall. 2 deeps are 19 1/4” so with a bottom board and the lid open you don’t have much extra room. I started out with 4 - 5 gallon buckets. I cut 2 5 1/2” from the top and one 13.25” from the top. I started with a whole bucket and did all of the fitting to it then stacked the 2 5.25” into the top of it. Then the 13.25” bucket is fitted upside down to form the base. The over height is 32.25”. I took a 1.5” x 1.25” plumbing fitting and epoxied a 5” length of pipe into it. I used 1/2” BB and made a 6” circle with 2” hole cut in the center. I used adhesive to glue the plywood to the bucket then used a conduit locknut to tighten it down. I then secured it with bolts. I slipped the bottom bucket into place. I attached the buckets together with pop rivets using the tiny edge of wall under the main bucket. I drilled a 2 inch hole to let the 1 1/2 90 electrical conduit go through. My vac hose needed customizing with some weather strip on the inside rim. I marked it with red tape so when I get another length of hose I can put the right end on my vac. The lid started with a piece of 1/2 BB with 2- 2” holes. one for the suction control valve and the other for the suction from the shop vac. I drilled the holes with a 2” hole saw and drilled them in reverse to drill the plastic top. You can see the fittings I used. the bottom side of the lid I cut the fitting off to give clearance for vacuum. I used adhesive between the lid and the plywood. And there is the vacuum set up. I also made the extension wand out of 1 1/4 pipe melted with a heat gun and a piece of 1/2” plywood. Now for the basket. I used 1/2 ply wood and 3/4” hardwood strips to make a frame. The bottom was just smaller than my bucket. The top was 9 3/4 with a 7 1/4” door. The top is 2 plys one for the door and one a little smaller for the lip of the door. I notched out the top and bottom for the 3/4 strips. I then drilled a 2” hole in the bottom and put vinyl with a cross cut to fit over the bee inlet tube. Next was the hinge paracord handles and scrap metal latch. Then I stapled on the mesh. I had this from an old hot tub top it is easy to work with. It is fiber/plastic and free. I would have used hardware cloth had I not had it. While I was building I built some extra baskets. This is the hose that works with my shop vac and the fittings I used.