# General beekeeping > Everything and anything >  Sealing Correx flutes

## fatshark

Has anyone tried sealing the 'holes' at the cut end of a Correx sheet? Perhaps with glue from a glue gun? Sheets left out in the rain seem to wick water along the flutes and I'd like to try and avoid this if possible. Correx is a beast to try and get anything to stick to because of the finish they apply during production. 

Loads of snowdrops out on my travels this morning ... not a bee to be seen though. Less than 5oC and raining  :Frown: 

_Thanks_

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## Mellifera Crofter

No, they house the hive's local earwigs.  I've thought about trying decorator's caulk, but that's still on the 'perhaps one day ...' to-do list.
Kitta

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## The Drone Ranger

> No, they house the hive's local earwigs.  I've thought about trying decorator's caulk, but that's still on the 'perhaps one day ...' to-do list.
> Kitta


can you melt/soften the end with a heat gun and squash it flat ?

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## Calluna4u

> Has anyone tried sealing the 'holes' at the cut end of a Correx sheet? Perhaps with glue from a glue gun? Sheets left out in the rain seem to wick water along the flutes and I'd like to try and avoid this if possible. Correx is a beast to try and get anything to stick to because of the finish they apply during production. 
> 
> Loads of snowdrops out on my travels this morning ... not a bee to be seen though. Less than 5oC and raining 
> 
> _Thanks_


The extremely adhesive silver coloured sealing tape (with the fabric content) is the stuff. Lie the TAPE down flat on a smooth surface like a table, sticky side up. Leave an inch or more spare at both ends. Lie your correx edge down on it half way across the tape and press the board down firmly. Trim about half the over lap of tape off the half width only that is the side not under the board the board.

In ONE go lift the part up that is above the board and fold it tightly down onto the top of the correx. This will leave an inch or two of a tail at either end, which has a sticky face, which you then double back over onto the taped section and it sticks really well back onto the tape. This holds pretty well.

Sticks well to correx, and even is a good process for extending zinc queen excluders if need on a larger dimensions hive. Converted a lot of Smith excluders to do Langstroths this way.

The better quality the tape the better.

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## fatshark

Thanks Calluna4u ... the other tape that works well is UNIbond waterproof power tape (no idea why this stuff is so poorly reviewed on Amazon ... it works a treat). I use this making Correx roofs and have had them out in the sun and rain - mainly the rain recently - for about 18 months with no degradation. I'd hoped I'd be able to do it by running a bead of bathroom sealant or similar along the edge as there are reasons I'd rather avoid tape for what I have in mind. However, if needs must ...

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## alclosier

Exterior grade silicon sealant?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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## fatshark

I considered that alclosier but have previously struggled to get some glues to permanently attach to Correx ... so hoped one of the Correx-aficionados on here might have got a working solution. I'm going to use tape if I can (unless I've got a tube of opened sealant lurking ... which I doubt).

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## Jon

I use 50mm gaffer tape/duct tape for sealing the edges

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## busybeephilip

I find that duck take often looses its adhesive properties.   Maybe the flutes could be sealed using sort sort of large "bag type" heat sealer  - Ha....  yet another DIY bee project being born !

Maybe a soldering iron type of device run along the edges  - heat crimper ?

Gorrilla tape?

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## The Drone Ranger

https://www.gluegunsdirect.com/2013/...ypropylene-pp/
Might be useful for the correx constructor

http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/sg_...ing-System.htm
Thats developed for polypropylene and polyethylene but basically superglue

Could be a clue in there though because plastic water pipes(white not blue) are polyethylene and plumbers glue those
I expect that stuff wont be as dear to try 
If it was me I would go for the hot glue sticks, because I have got the gun, I use it all the time, and have the burns to prove it

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## madasafish

What you need is the clear adhesive tape used to mend cracked panes in greenhouses. Lasts for years..(a decade on my greenhouse)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/WEATHER-PROO.../dp/B0046ZCMQ0

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## fatshark

DR ... hot glue gun stuff, at least that routinely available, does not stick to Correx. 
Been there, done that, failed.


Thanks madasafish ... while checking that stuff on Amazon I also found this:

41DJ2eupuSL._SX307_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Oxalic Acid God's Natural Chemotherapy

 ... irrelevant as far as this thread is concerned, but it's a nice afternoon, the sun is out, the book title made me smile and since I'm the OP I can go off topic if I want  :Smile:

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## busybeephilip

> DR ... hot glue gun stuff, at least that routinely available, does not stick to Correx. 
> Been there, done that, failed.


Just wondering what happens if you were to sandpaper the surface of correx before hot gluing, that might give a surface that glue will stick too

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## Jon

Ordinary gaffer tape stays in place for years as long as it is put onto a dry clean surface in the first place.

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## busybeephilip

When checking my hives and tidying up after the storms my little used correx nuc box which was bought from somewhere in England as a travel /swarm box and template for future project work crumbled into dust when I lifted it  -  it must have been biodegradable not like them Norn Iron election posters of Jon's.  Maybe there is different grades and associated glue resistance properties for different cortexes  :Confused:

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## madasafish

> When checking my hives and tidying up after the storms my little used correx nuc box which was bought from somewhere in England as a travel /swarm box and template for future project work crumbled into dust when I lifted it  -  it must have been biodegradable not like them Norn Iron election posters of Jon's.  Maybe there is different grades and associated glue resistance properties fo*r different cortexes*


My cerebral *cortex* does not allow anything to stick to it....

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## madasafish

> DR ... hot glue gun stuff, at least that routinely available, does not stick to Correx. 
> Been there, done that, failed.
> 
> 
> Thanks madasafish ... while checking that stuff on Amazon I also found this:
> 
> 41DJ2eupuSL._SX307_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
> 
> Oxalic Acid God's Natural Chemotherapy
> ...


From the Amazon review:
"When my body was saturated with oxalyc acid, it felt very blissful, as if, to let me know that this is a healthy and good state to be in right now. It felt like my body wanted this cancer-cure for a long time. The only other time I recall my body producing that feeling was when I did rife-work combined w/ eating many habanero peppers to cleanse my liver, and subsequently lost a few pounds of parasites (liver-flukes). Experience has taught me to trust my body's intuitions and gut-feelings, but this blissful feeling I got while on the Hart diet was nothing subtle. It was a strong feeling of deep bliss, so, I have to recommend it. The sores in my mouth actually went away while in this state of oxalyc acid saturation, also. I don't know of anything else that makes those white-sores go away."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cancer-Cure-.../dp/0972645705

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## busybeephilip

> My cerebral *cortex* does not allow anything to stick to it....


spellcheckers just don't work the way U want

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## The Drone Ranger

> Just wondering what happens if you were to sandpaper the surface of correx before hot gluing, that might give a surface that glue will stick too


The hot glue I linked to claims it is designed for the job 

Bandits I'm off to advertising standards now

It is true though that a lot of general use glue sticks wont glue anything together unless its rough and bone dry

By the way its easy to poke fun at the book but David Looney's review gave it 5 stars and you cant ignore that  :Smile:

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## GRIZZLY

We used to build cheap model aeroplanes out  of correx. The adhesive we used was any quality contact adhesive eg EVOSTICK or similar.  No surface preparation needed and never came unstuck.

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## greengumbo

> The hot glue I linked to claims it is designed for the job 
> 
> Bandits I'm off to advertising standards now
> 
> It is true though that a lot of general use glue sticks wont glue anything together unless its rough and bone dry
> 
> By the way its easy to poke fun at the book but David Looney's review gave it 5 stars and you cant ignore that


and at £77.54 new how could you NOT afford to have one ! Bargain.

Now where are my hive crystals.

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## fatshark

Sorry DR ... that Tecbond stuff might well work. I think it's the stuff estate agents use to glue together the two sides of the 'For Sale' signs. It's not the stuff I've tried (which was bog-standard from Screwfix or similar) which doesn't work. Mine is £3 for 20 sticks or something ... that Tecbond stuff is £107 for 5kg. Bulk production of mini-nucs or nucs might justify this expenditure ... what I have in mind definitely won't.

Lots of 5* reviews for that book on the US Amazon website ... though about half of them are for saving dogs, not humans. However, I can certainly vouch that the colony I vaporised a dozen times last season had no bees disfigured with huge non-aerodynamic tumours ... so perhaps there's something in it.

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## The Drone Ranger

Maybe a new cocktail   

Whisky _extra_ Sour
Contains the usual Whisky, Lemon, Lime, Golden syrup but with magic Oxalic acid twist

Shocking price on the glue sticks 
Polycarbonate roofing sheets have the end taped before the end plastic drip strip slides on
Thats a breathable tape which seems to stay put

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/38-mm-Anti...Qu7p63H7OzLmBQ

Might not work on polypropylene though and again its dearer than Duct tape
There must be a solvent that will key into polypropylene with a bit of googling

You get a plastic welding gun and rods on Amazon but its over £100 again so no go


Just realised Grizzly may well have solved the puzzle with his very concise post must try to keep up

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## nemphlar

Where are you guys getting all this correx I paid £7 for 2 bits to cover my sublimation ekes, we need more political activist in this area

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## fatshark

I bought a job-lot on eBay as I needed some larger sheets for things. You can make nice roofs for about £1.50 each. However some of the nicest _i.e._ thickest and strongest, comes from 'For Sale' signs. I built an excellent Cloake board from a sign I foraged from Newcastle when taking my son back to Uni ... my family are used to me stopping the car and putting abandoned signs into the boot. I even took to driving around with a saw at one point to cut the posts down.

Please ... No more politics  :Wink:

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## Calluna4u

I know the thread is gone, but have just ordered up a whole stack of 6MM correx (heavy gauge) cut to size for making flight boards (we don't go in for complex systems), and there is going to be a lot of offcuts coming up with the finished panels, I reckon in strips 150 mm and 200mm wide. *Available free to local amateurs to make beetle traps or whatever in amounts for own use.*

Sourcing the stuff carefully we are making the boards, which involves 2inch wide wood all round and swivelling flight holes (2 per board) on a 450 x 540 correx panel, for only £2.75.

After some experimentation the glue that works on it and bonds the wood very well to the correx is Evo Stick 528....available over the counter at Screwfix. 16 20mm bright annular nails and 2 15mm wood screws also used. 

Correx  1.12  Wood 0.98  Glue est 0.04 Nails and screws 0.11 Labour about 5 mins each (Did a trial, might get faster) 0.70.      total £ 2.75    Happy at that.

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## GRIZZLY

I told you EVOSTICK was the glue to use.

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## busybeephilip

Calluna4u, any chance of seeing photo's of your handy work

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## Mellifera Crofter

I was going to ask the same, but because I don't understand C4U's flight boards with swivelling flight holes. I can't visualise them or understand their use! Sorry, I'm a bit clueless now.
Kitta

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## fatshark

> Calluna4u, any chance of seeing photo's of your handy work


I too want to see what a flight board is (sounds like a split board to me perhaps?) ... I've built floors for my bait hives from Correx and lots of roofs. The latter can be turned out for ~£1.50 each and anyone who uses top insulation and a strap (_de rigeur_ with some of the breezes we've had) needs nothing more.

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## The Drone Ranger

> I told you EVOSTICK was the glue to use.


Yep and I told them you had told them Grizzly  :Smile: 

I thought Snelgrove board but with a touch of correx for the flight boards 
Then I realised it might have been Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with a hammer

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## Calluna4u

Surprised at the interest.......................

These are ONLY a solid correx board....thick 6mm strong stuff.....with a raised edge all round for the bee space. Two swivel doors (one each) on adjacent sides of the board. They double as crown boards when used in the correct size for wooden hives....but the 450mm x 540mm ones in this case are for poly langstroths where we do not use crown boards. (the width of the wood matches the thickness of the sidewalls. It has to. Too wide and you risk fouling on bottom bars of the frames, too small and it gives a hidden running channel where queens might go, slowing down examinations where that might be a factor).

Bees in the poly are looking so good this winter that we realised we were hopelessly short of these boards for the season ahead's swarm control/splitting/requeening work, as there will be very few vacancies (maybe 4%?).

I appreciate that at 2.75 they might seem expensive, but we buy new materials all precut at the dealer to the sizes we need, and HAVE to cost in the labour.

The reason for the two holes on adjacent sides is a very simple and relevant to operating hives both free standing and on pallets, with no complex beekeeping reasons. When doing a split it is best (though not utterly essential so long as the hole is high enough up from the main entrance), to fly the split from the rear of the hive. Hence the door on a short side. On pallets the back of the hive is in the gap between two hives and is not ideal. Hence in that situation we fly them from the side of the hive, thus the door on the long side.

In all other hive types they double as crown boards.

All our crown boards are solid...no holes or ventilation except in historic ones acquired over the years from other places, and those have been sealed up long since, so these boards double as crown boards. All crown boards we have made are thus dual purpose.

We keep everything very simple and as gadget free as possible.

I see sourcing questions popping up on various threads. Hope this does not infringe forum rules (Gavin?)

Correx:-   The Plastic shop, Coventry (Their product is not trade marked Correx, but is 15% stronger due to more plastic)
Wood:- Direct Line Timber, Dundee
Screws and Glue:-  Screwfix

Note...its not just ANY old Evo Stik that works well....its a specific version that bonds plastic to wood and I gave the number. It IS however not cheap (28 quid) and not in small containers, but it IS a  simple brush on adhesive. Do the gluing and leave overnight (under weights, but it can be the whole stack in one go, so long as you have not been messy with the glue lol) and nails and screws go on the next day.

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## The Drone Ranger

Thanks for that C4u 
I dont have any correx yet but if I did I would take your advice on the stronger version
Especially as free election posters might be in even shorter supply now fatshark has moved to Scotland  :Smile:

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## Mellifera Crofter

Thanks C4U.  I think the words 'flight boards' and 'swivelling holes' had me quite confused.  I now understand what you mean.  Actually, Fatshark's post already cleared my head of weird images.  So far I've been using plywood for my flight boards/crown boards - but I think I'll follow your example and use correx.
Kitta

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## fatshark

Better quality estate agents often use 6mm Correx ... not the sort that sell houses in the areas I frequent, so you've still got a chance  :Wink:  

Alternatively, you could consider eBay and sharing an order. The 6mm stuff is listed at about £30/sheet (2.4 x 1.2m), enough for about 10 of the boards c4u describes (which makes the prices he's quoting @ £1.12/board very competitive ... so I'll be braving a trip over the Tay to check things out). Alternatively, 4mm is about a third the price of the 6mm stuff. 

With luck there will be a flurry of advertising from both the xenophobes and european federalists before the 23rd of June which will allow us all to reap a bonanza harvest ... think of this as filling-in the June gap  :Smile:

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## Calluna4u

The place I am buying it....the Plastic shop, has the 6mm, at 1200gsm (normal is 1050gsm but still good) available online for 13.20 a sheet (2440mm x 1220mm). There is also a further 15% discount for online purchase right now, and cutting it is free, so long as its not too many pieces and the cuts are straight lines.

Carriage is 12.50 flat rate, but as I am getting 50 sheets cut, for making 500 boards, it vanishes into the price.

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## gavin

> Hope this does not infringe forum rules (Gavin?)
> 
> Correx:-   The Plastic shop, Coventry (Their product is not trade marked Correx, but is 15% stronger due to more plastic)
> Wood:- Direct Line Timber, Dundee
> Screws and Glue:-  Screwfix


No, delighted that you are posting this level of detail.  We have no hang-ups about posting information on commercial sources of supplies.  You can even post www.thorne/paynes/swienty without it converting to asterisks.  

I sat opposite C4U at an all-day meeting yesterday.  The only time he expressed any irritation was when he was told his subscription to a bee-related organisation was going to go *down* by a few hundred pounds.  That's the kind of guy he is  :Smile: .

Hope you caught up on your sleep  :Wink: .  I had a long nap this afternoon instead.

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## fatshark

Alert for DR ... there's a good-sized 'For Sale' sign lying on the side of the A913 junction at Glenfoot. 
Google_Maps.png
I didn't have a saw with me so couldn't collect it ... it's attached to a 6' length of 2x2.

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## The Drone Ranger

> Alert for DR ... there's a good-sized 'For Sale' sign lying on the side of the A913 junction at Glenfoot. 
> Google_Maps.png
> I didn't have a saw with me so couldn't collect it ... it's attached to a 6' length of 2x2.


I nearly got to it but was diverted by a dead deer which the lorries had turned into a pile of mince
Mmmmm.....  you cant miss out on tasty free mince if you get the chance 

Actually come to think of it that deer had a hat on ......

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## GRIZZLY

> Alert for DR ... there's a good-sized 'For Sale' sign lying on the side of the A913 junction at Glenfoot. 
> Google_Maps.png
> I didn't have a saw with me so couldn't collect it ... it's attached to a 6' length of 2x2.


MORAL Always carry a saw in the car.

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## The Drone Ranger

Or an estate car  :Smile:

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## EK.Bee

I have developed the habit of re-homing roadside abandoned sand bags in an attempt to keep things in place this winter
I need to look into branching out into correx reclaimation now too

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## The Drone Ranger

Having spotted one dead dear on the road ( turned to mince) which appeared to have been wearing at hat? I'm not convinced collecting correx on the motorway is for me 
I was tempted to nab the hat though it looked like one of those pith helmets people wear under a veil
Sand bags is definitely a bridge too far

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## Calluna4u

> Calluna4u, any chance of seeing photo's of your handy work


March16 089.jpg

Finally got one of my guys onto the assembling of the flight boards, here is a completed one.  Note as stated the openings on two adjacent sides. The need for this being as previously mentioned, to allow for operation of the hives as free standing or on pallets of four. Its as fancy as any of our gear gets. Glued all round apart from the doors. Nailing from the underside with annular nails, and the swivelling doors by wood screws.

March16 088.jpg

The stack of finished and partially finished thus far. He did about 160 in one day, so will be four man days to do the full 500 including set up and finish off. Glue cost hopelessly underestimated..........truth working out at about 30p.....but labour cost lower by a little more than that, so actually managing them a sliver cheaper than budget. Glue cost higher because we opted to get the wood 'finished' on three sides only, leaving one wide side 'hairy' to ensure better adhesion. This uses a lot more glue than a smooth face would need but the adhesion is way better.

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## busybeephilip

Calluna4u - yes looks like you planning to do a lot of splits,  i use something similar only in ply and edged top and bottom but yours look like a lot lighter and easier to transport,  time to start bodgering.

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## Calluna4u

> Calluna4u - yes looks like you planning to do a lot of splits,  i use something similar only in ply and edged top and bottom but yours look like a lot lighter and easier to transport,  time to start bodgering.


All our older ones are plywood. Bees so good this spring thus far that we realised there were not enough flight boards to do the job and needed extra for the poly Langstroths. Have plenty for both types of wooden hives.

That's why the sides are so wide. Its the same as the wall thickness of the boxes, necessary so queens cannot be hiding in the little channel that would be there if the wood were skinnier and the outer dimensions stayed the same. We don't need to edge them on both sides as would be needed with a National as the Langstroth is top bee space. Bottom bee space and yes...best with the raised edges on both sides.

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