Hats off to the bees
Forget the birds for a while, and let’s just talk about 3D and the bees. First of all, bees deserve our utmost respect, yet they get none. As we sit there dipping our McNuggets in honey sauce and slurp our HoneyNut Cheerios, we scream and swat when our busy buzzy friends come to see us. We definitely take for granted our black and yellow buddies. They work hard and we reap the sweet benefit of their labor. Thanks guys. But now for the real beeswax. Thanks to some sappy innovation in 3D printing and 3D scanning services to keep their wings to the grind, honey harvesting just got a tad bit easier.
Easy beesy
Beekeepers have thought of a way to make collecting honey a bit smoother; a lot smoother, in fact. Before these guys got down to beeswax, collecting honey was a tough job. They had to suit up, open up the boxes, pull out the combs, and then go through the whole process of extracting the honey. That’s not all. They still had to put things back together and do all the cleanup work. But now things have gotten a whole lot easier with the Flow Hive that puts out honey from the box just like soft serve ice cream (maybe not quite as fast). Using 3D printing and 3D scanning services, some creative and ingenious beekeepers have come up with a beehive that allows you to collect honey straight out of the hive. You can check them out here. That means there is no need to go through that whole process of disrupting the bees in their work. They can keep going while you collect honey from a tap.
Here’s how it works, Honey
Sounds like a pretty sweet idea, huh? So how does this thing work? The beehive is made with artificial combs. These combs once placed in the hive are are not meant to be removed. They are designed in such a way that the honey comb can make the honey drip out through a tap. That’s genius! The bees can keep working while the honey flows out through a dispenser. How does it work? A lever connects to the honeycomb so that a twist breaks the comb allowing the honey to flow down into a reservoir. This thing didn’t just pop up over night. The guys who invented it took quite a few years to get it down to perfection. Now they are reaping the rewards of their hard work. I am sure it is incredibly satisfying to see that honey flow out of the hive when they turn that tap.
I am not sure what the bees think about. If I were them I would probably go on strike, but honestly, that is none of my beeswax. So the next time you grab for a Honey Bun or a honey Graham cracker, remember the bees, and remember that 3D printing and 3D scanning services are making life simpler and keeping the bees busy so they have less time to sting you in the honey buns.
