Episode 4

Hello again

I haven't posted for a few days because I've been building more cartridges, not much new content involved for that.  However, I completed the exit housing yesterday - this is the piece which will fit in the window.  I cut all the parts before putting this together, below you can see the top and bottom, along with the much smaller side pieces.  I also cut the plexiglass to fit.  When I was designing this part, I decided I wanted to see the bees exiting the traversal tube and leaving the hive.  Therefore, this piece will have a window through which the exit pipe mounts.

After gluing and clamping the end pieces to the bottom piece, I test fit the plexiglass windows.  Because this piece will be mounted in my windowsill, I decided to include two panes of plexiglass, so there is a layer of air between for insulation.  I also decided to seal these panes of plexiglass with glue.

Next I measured the halfway point in the plexiglass and drilled a 1.5 inch hole through both layers.

After some tweaking of the housing, I mounted the 1.5 inch sink flange through both layers of plexiglass.

Then I glued and clamped the top bar, and rested some random tools on top to make sure the whole assembly stayed tight while the glue dried.

Lastly, I attached the 90 degree elbow to the sink flange.  I will be adding some strips of wood and weather stripping to the outside of this housing so it locks into the window and seals tightly, but functionally this piece is complete!

In the next episode I'll be building the queen excluder and possibly beginning assembly of the cabinet which will hold the hive.

-Tim