Langstroth Frame Kit

Intro

Unless you have a massive 3D printer that can print 483 mm pieces, you're going to have to print this in several parts. I have provided both the original parts (preferred) and pre-cut parts which are split so they can be printed on a 250 mm printer. This means that some parts must stand up vertically if you use something like an Ender 3.

Do not scale this project unless building custom hive bodies.

While the frames could be assembled with 3D printed parts, also consider that these STLs could be used to generate templates for your own woodworking. Given the size of the top and bottom bars, and the relatively simple construction of these pieces, a mix-and-match of wooden tops and bottoms with 3D printed sides to create shallow (short), medium, and deep frames would be an excellent project.

A Note on Materials

PLA is generally considered food safe but you probably wouldn't seriously consider eating off your 3D printer bed or drinking out of the nozzle. Additionally the PLA manufacturers are not considering if things are "food safe" when choosing what to add to their PLA for color or effect. ABS, PETG, whatever else? Who knows. You must be responsible for your own safety, and the safety of the bees. Please don't just guess if a material is safe or not.

Additionally if you choose to glue (rather than mechanically fix) the joints of the frame, the glue must be food safe or encapsulated. Remember that there's precious, living organisms who are going to call this thing home. You're probably going to eat some of their honey. If you wouldn't want superglue in your honey, you need to encapsulate that somehow.

You can get food safe paint for crafting at your local craft store, which is designed for painting plates and similar. Read the instructions carefully, you cannot use a paint that you must bake for it to set. You must ensure that all surfaces are covered in this food safe paint.

File List and Print Instructions

Single Piece Parts

Langstroth Frame Top.stl - Print 1x, 100% infill The top of the frame, with little ears for supporting the frame at the proper width. This does not have a comb guide as it's expected that the user will want to provide foundation. Remix this appropriately.

Langstroth Frame Side Deep.stl - Print 2x This is the side of the deep frame. If you want to use frame wire, consider 100% infill here so you can use the hot wire to push through your printing material. It is not recommended to use deeps as the weight of the honey will be 7lbs (3kg) per frame and this puts considerable stress on the top bar.

Langstroth Frame Side Medium.stl - Print 2x This is the side of the medium frame. If you want to use frame wire, consider 100% infill here so you can use the hot wire to push through your printing material.

Langstroth Frame Side Shallow.stl - Print 2x This is the side of the medium frame. If you want to use frame wire, consider 100% infill here so you can use the hot wire to push through your printing material. This is the frame most likely to work.

Langstroth Frame Bottom.stl - Print 1x The bottom of the frame. Really nothing special, can be printed with minimal infill as almost no load will be experienced by this part.

Two Piece Parts

Two piece parts have to be cloned and mirrored along the X and Y axis to be properly used. In Cura, this can be accomplished by selecting the model, duplicating it, and then choosing mirror and selecting the red and green arrows.

Langstroth Frame Top 2 piece.stl - Print 1x, 100% infill, Duplicated per instructions This piece is keyed so that you can glue the two sides together, and then insert a nail or a dowel or a fixture of your choosing where the joint meets. This piece's joint cannot be enlarged without making the piece too big to print.

Langstroth Frame Bottom 2 part.stl - Print 1x, Duplicated per instructions This piece is keyed so that you can glue the two sides together, and then insert a nail or a dowel or a fixture of your choosing where the joint meets. This piece's joint should be able to accomodate a good fixture.

Fastening

There frames won't hold themselves together and unfortunately a beehive is built with wood as the material of choice. This means the frames are stapled or nailed together with very little clearance, so normal 3D printing rabbet and dado sort of assembly doesn't really have enough space to work well here without the frames being too large or otherwise out of spec. If you add material to the top of the frames, consider that it will touch the frames above it. Similarly, the bottom. You will need to glue the frame parts together, or print the parts at 100% infill so you can use nails, staples, and other woodworking fixtures to complete the frame.

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