Foundation wiring (commercially)

[busybeephilip]

Calling all foundation wiring experts:

There are two ways of wiring foundation used by the DIYers,

1) wire the frame then add the wax sheet or

2) wire the foundation

both methods are slow and tedious SO what I am looking for is a way of wiring foundation much quicker - WHY cos I have a lots of foundation of different sizes to wire and each year the number of sheets is growing beyond traditional DIY wiring methods

If you look at the thornes cataolg you will see their fancy all blinking light automated wiring machine but in another photo there is a line of workers sitting in front of traditional slanted tables busy wiring wax foundation in a semi manual method. From what I know, these tables are adjustible for any size of foundation and are semi automatic

Of course such a device is a commercial secret and thornes wont give out any information regarding their construction ( I did ask them last year or so)

So... does anyone know of plans/drawings/schematics/photographs to make one of those sort of wiring boards capable of high output - Phil

[Pete L]

We wire all our own foundation, exactly the same wiring pattern as the commercially bought foundation, done on a slanting kind of table, with hinged back section and different line and pin locations for different sizes of foundation, switch is foot operated, takes 20 seconds per sheet from start to finish, don't have any pictures though.

[mbc]

An eyelet punch speeds up and improves the end result when wiring frames.

[gavin]

So... does anyone know of plans/drawings/schematics/photographs to make one of those sort of wiring boards capable of high output - Phil

I've never wired a frame (or a sheet) but have watched a man who has. However there are drawings in this 1977 US patent:

http://www.google.com/patents/US4021639

G.

[busybeephilip]

We wire all our own foundation, exactly the same wiring pattern as the commercially bought foundation, done on a slanting kind of table, with hinged back section and different line and pin locations for different sizes of foundation, switch is foot operated, takes 20 seconds per sheet from start to finish, don't have any pictures though.

Hi Pete, yes, this is the type of design I'm looking for. I want to build in a grip for holding the wire rather than a wrap around post and some sort of device that will cut the wire automatically just after the embedding process. The aim is to have the only manaul action involved being threading the wire, placing the foundation,pressing a timed switch followed by automatic solenoid powered wire cutting. I have some ideas in my mind simmering but just need to get them to fit together.

I assume your hinged back acts to tension the wire by pulling the pegs away from the foundation - 20 second is good thats about 100 sheets/hour which would be good enough for me. I was thinking along the lines of using a handle to induce the tension, the handle would turn on the power and when released would cut the wire ready for the next sheet - just need to keep it simple