Evaluation of the quality of artificial wax
An artificial wax is a wax sheet with the bases of cells squeezed out on it. When using an artificial honeycomb attached to frames, bees quickly build honeycombs with bee cells. At the same time, the quality of the honeycomb is of great importance. An artificial wax of good quality must have sufficient strength and plasticity, have appropriate cell dimensions, transparency and sheet thickness.
The mechanical strength of an artificial wax is determined by a tensile machine, also used to study the mechanical strength of threads, paper and other materials. The strength of the wax is expressed by a discontinuous length, by which is meant the length of a strip of an artificial honeycomb with a width of 5 cm, at which it, being suspended at one end, will break at this point under the weight of its own mass.
With a breaking length of more than 50 m, the quality of the wax is considered excellent, at 40 … 50 – good, at 30 … 40 – low and below 30 m, the wax is rejected. Artificial wax of low quality for strength is suitable only for nasushchivaniya store or sectional frames.
In the absence of a machine, the strength of the wax can roughly be determined in a simpler way. At room temperature (20 њ C) the honeycomb leaves are put on the palm across the arm and held for 1 … 2 minutes.
A good quality wax with this only slightly bends, retaining its shape. If the sheet heavily hangs on the palm, then the wax has a poor quality, mechanically unstable and is subject to culling.
The size of the cells is determined using a conventional ruler, measuring the distance between a pair of parallel sides of the hexagon. For greater accuracy, measure the size of just ten cells in three directions in the middle of the sheet of an artificial honeycomb. In this case, cells that extend in the direction of the leaf length of the honeycomb are more common.
A good
A wax with cells larger than 5.6 mm is estimated as a marriage. The exception is a wax with a larger cell, the size of which in all three directions is 5.65 mm, and in some cases even 5.85 mm.
The transparency of the honeycomb is determined by treating it to light. If the wool cloudy, illuminates, it means that it is made of wax containing emulsified water. Such a wax will be fragile and less durable.
The thickness of the wax is determined by the number of standard sheets of 410×260 mm, contained in 1 kg.
There are 3 types of wax:
Thick; (most often handicraft workings) – in 1 kg there are 12 … 14 sheets,
Medium – 15 … 16 sheets
Thin – 18 … 20 sheets.
The most convenient and economical average wax. A thin wax for nesting frames is not suitable, since in a hive it often warps and breaks. It can only be used to tighten store and sectional frames.
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