Propose, Collaborate, Develop

The following thread exists to help coordinate collaboration on developing an Open Source Langstroth beehive design.

We have a community-started version here feel free to iterate on it, but introduce yourself and share you skills below first so we can build a team!

Langstroth Beehives are a popular hive style not currently offered by the Open Source Beehives project. There is an obvious demand for this, due to the number of requests we have received!

We are a small, busy team, so this thread aims to bring together collaborators interesting in designing a Langstroth beehive. We encourage collaborators to build off of the work of our project, using similar connectors and design aesthetic developed in our Colorado Top Bar and Barcelona Warré designs. We will support these efforts in any way we can, by promoting and advising on the process.

Any designs developed within this community must be openly licensed - meaning that the designs can be downloaded, improved, and shared by anybody without limitation. They should ultimately be in digital form so they can be downloaded and fabricated easily.

Please introduce yourselves below to get the ball rolling!

We have a community-started version here - feel free to iterate on it:
https://github.com/opensourcebeehives/Community_Projects

Thanks Aaron, i will take it from there.

While I have no wood working or design experience I'm grateful to have found this forum. I applaud everyone's efforts. I tend to agree that are popular that needs an open source design. I'll contribute what I can to design ideas. Thanks.

Thanks @newmiesbees! Welcome to the forum - glad to have you here

Hi,

We're setting up our first two hives, both Langstroth, in March. The local beeks with experience keep a TBH or two in their collection of dozens of hives, but all suggest we start dual Langstroth while we learn to be beeks in this climate. In PGH it can take 2-4 years before the hives are strong enough to produce good honey, it's a challenge to keep them alive at first.

We're building our hives from kits and will have extra frames and weak honey at first, so we might be able to frame up a Langstroth exclusion frame to protect the electronics at one end of the hive.

Sounds great @jet (splendid to have you in the forum btw).

We're big fans of standardisation - not 100% sure how standardised Langstroth hive dimensions / frames etc are (I imagine they probably are) but if you'd be willing to develop a sensor container that could fit into the typical dimensions of a Langstroth frame, that would be really helpful!

Heres another thread on our TBH sensor container for some criteria and inspiration.

I'm not familiar with the file extensions. What is the cad program you are using?

I have a CNC Router and Epilog Laser, I am currently building the Top Bar and Warre hives. I'd like to try this one but don't have a way to import the files. I can work with just about anything (dxf, svg, dwg, Rhino, Solidworks). Can someone post a conversion?

This is an Inventor file that isn't complete, so I wouldn't try making one just yet. Another file is being developed and will be posted here when its done.

Is the scale model complete? We are doing presentations and it would make a nice hands on. I'm thinking of scaling the other designs as well, to be bale to show the differences between designs.

@micdasilva can you give an update on the Langstroth design? Have you had a chance to get started on it yet, and if so could you share some screenshots? @marcob8890 is keen to get involved.

Perhaps @jet would like to help review this as well?

Sure, I use Rhino5 and can import most files.

New Langstroth hives have a general set of rules, to the point that (in the US) we can buy different parts from different vendors and have them work. I was at a BBQ last year where they had an "exchange table" of used and new parts and I didn't see anyone pull out a ruler to check the specs.

That being said, there is a lot of variation by year, region, and dimensions. Being a metric-minded person who lives in the US it's often more annoying than trivia:

http://dave-cushman.net/bee/lang.html

Hello guys, I'm new here. But not new to beekeeping, electronics, Arduino, etc. I have built a home made CNC but it's a bit small for this project. I intend to build a larger one next winter. I also have a 3D printer.

I have 40 hives currently, going for 100+ this year. I am using Langstroth hives, all 8 frame boxes, medium size frames (16.5 mm). I'm in Canada, 150 km east of Toronto.

I am interested in producing and selling nucs and kits similar with the Warre design, but with Langstroth dimensions. A stand, s bottom board, 6 boxes, inner cover and gabled roof. I'm not sure about the frames yet, either use existing models, or create a new model for natural comb. So this is my interest in the hive design.

I also have an interest in the hive monitoring devices. I need to monitor hives placed in outyards. That means instead of WiFi I need to use a GSM/GPRS shiled. I will have 4 outyards, so all will need at least one hive monitored for weight gain and other obtainable data, including a webcam. Perhaps more hives at each location that can be chain linked to the same monitoring computer. Perhaps a Raspberry Pi would work better (?) set up as a webserver?

Thanks.

Hi @GabrielP,

Our alpha kits are made from a MCU called the Spark Core, and the company just released a chip with GSM onboard. We should be able to integrate with that in the mid-term - I believe its very affordable. Do you have an interest in looking into this and possibly porting our code to that system?

Unfortunately I do not have much time at the moment. I had to postpone my attempts at the electronics stuff because I have major work to do building boxes to multiply my hives this year. I want to live off of beekeeping so I'm building up. That's where a Langstroth CNC cut might have helped speed things up. But my setup is not completely standard either, so I will have to customize a bit. Also, not at this moment. I guess I just wanted to let you guys know I'm interested and I might be of assistance in the (near) future. I still have a lot to learn, for example the CAD-ing part and to completely understand the CNC stuff. Also, my level of programming is not too advanced. I can do Arduino, medium level, but other systems, including the Ras-Pi or the Spark Core I still need to familiarize myself with them. I'm better at electronics, but still a self taught, not an engineer. I have one more month working full time in the city, then I move out on the farm to do the beekeeping. Here and there I'll have some time and I'll try to get familiarized with your projects and see how I can contribute. Thanks!

I went to the Kickstarter page and pledged for 3 2G Spark Electrons. I guess I should also buy a Spark Core, to use it in my backyard. Then some shields... But I will wait for the Electron to arrive. In October I will start to have more and more free time to play with gadgets again. But I'll keep monitoring your progress, I'm learning in the process. Thanks!

Intro:
My Name is Jake Pehrson. I am a beekeeper. I have design electronics and pcbs on a hobby basis. I have built my own hives and have limited access to a CNC. I am willing to help out where I can.

Hi, I am Tobey (German, but PhD student in the UK at the moment).
I am also interested in building a Langstroth bee hive similar to the Warre design of the OSBH, including frames. I don't have a lot of time for this, so existing and tested files would help a lot. The goal is to finish the build by the end of this year. The Langstroth hive design is similar to a dozen other designs (German "Normalmass" or British Standard), differing only in their dimensions, to suit different weather and development conditions. I am willing to redraw the design in OpenSCAD to make the design adjustable with parameters to all different kinds of hive types.
The last update was a quarter of a year ago. Where is the design at, now?
Cheers,
Tobey

Hi @TobeyEU!

Great to have you in the forum. The Warré design hasn't been updated in a while--we've been working on the CTB mostly, since we're using this hive for a sponsorship program in Denver (it's simpler to fabricate and assemble).

The latest Barclenoa Warré files are all here: https://github.com/opensourcebeehives/Barcelona_Warre_Hive

I can put out the word and help you assemble a small team if you're willing to take the lead on this Langstroth development. Let me know.

cc @micdasilva @jet @GabrielP