Really Good Value For Money Manual Extractor
This is a great piece of kit, well made, nicely finished and well engineered. It's a slightly unusual handle arrangement, being vertical rather than horizontal, but this, I feel, contributes to an overall stability of the device when you are whizzing the frames around in the basket. I don't have legs on mine, but this was not a drawback in the slightest. I feel that the stainless steel is a good enough grade to last, and the connector for the supplied honey gate seems to be low enough to allow the majority of honey to pour out before having to incline the extractor to get the last dregs out. I was a little disconcerted about the basket, as it didn't look big enough to hold four super frames at first, but on loading them up, it was quickly apparent that it certainly was big enough. It's slightly awkward getting the frames in past the handle, - I found that the best thing was to manoeuvre the basket round enough so that the handle was on the opposite side to the frames I was handling at the time. Having done that, it was a doddle, so it's only a minor issue that with a bit of thought means it's a non-issue to work around. The handle seems to be very sturdy and it connects directly to a large stainless steel cog which in turn directly drives the main spindle shaft. the basket seems to be sturdy enough, though the thinner basket wires seem a little on the thin side, and only time and using it will tell if they are going to manage to survive long term. In the grand scheme of things I didn't feel this was a big negative and none broke when I started extracting the first of this years crop, so I'll have to wait and see. I'm hopeful. :-) The only real thing that disconcerted me was that (in the absence of any instructions whatsoever to explain how to react to this) there was a blob of some sort of grease on the bottom of the spindle shaft. This could be expected, in terms of lubricating the device, but I had to wash it to use it for the first time, and so it was unnecessary in terms of lubrication, as it was gone when I actually spun it. Therefore, I am not sure why it was there in the first place. I would be very wary of not cleaning it off, and I was unsure if the manufacturers felt there should be something there to lube the workings. As I say, I washed it, and operated it without any other lubrication (so as not to taint the honey in any way), and again, there seemed to be no detriment at all. Overall, I'm a happy bunny, and very glad I bought it!
Verified purchase: YesCondition: New