Went to a box store and purchased around .00 worth of PVC pipe and parts for a prototype hivestand to get the hives up off the ground. It is 1″ PVC and strong enough to hold my entire weight so it looks like it will hold a hive with no problems. Concept is to get the hives up off the concrete pad for some air flow underneath and to get the hive up in the air about a foot to make it easier to inspect and move around. Less heavy lifting from lower heights.
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Glued the prototype together this weekend. Bit? tricky getting it all square and it has a little twist to it. I put 500 pounds on it to test it and it thankfully didn’t collapse. It sits flat on the ground once loaded and I rocked the weight around that I set on it and it was stable. I wanted to test it before I actually put hives on it. I’m going to be brave and take the next step some time this week. I’ll shoot a video once I have a chance to make the move.
It is an appropriate? comment and a concern so i’ll be careful before I claim it a success. If you’ve ever seen me, I’m a large guy 270+. I stood on the device with all my weight in its dry fit configuration and it hardly flexed. Straight out full on weight and it is not glued yet. I’ll try my hives on them and if something happens I’ll adjust or do something out of steel
. Honestly I’m actually more concerned about them toppling over then collapsing. They’re a prototype.
I? don’t mean to be overly negative because I do appreciate the effort and ingenuity that you put into this project but there is no way I would ever trust this to hold 200+ lbs. It could make a great rack to keep unused equipment up off the ground though.
I turned the stand upsidedown and put all of my weight on it. It held me with minimal to no flex so i’m positivie it will hold a standard hive with numerous honey supers on it. I looked on the web as to whether it would hold up in the sun or cold temps. The surface might chalk up if I don’t paint it but structurally it should stay well enough for years. Also, unless you hit it hard? with something, structurally it will be fine and not too brittle when it gets cold. We’ll see.
Clever idea. I might try it with? some black ABS pipe. ABS is less brittle than PVC — especially in cold temperatures and I think it withstands sunlight better, too.