Channel Subscribers FIX Problems With A 3D Printer!

Today I'm going to show you 2 really simple hacks that means that you can use the JZBZ cups with the Nico hair roller cages. So this is crazy, 2 independent people who watch my channel, they've both used 3D printers in their own way to give me compatibility between the JZBZ cup and the Nico hair roller cage. So this is the kind of frame that I like to use. I much prefer using the JZBZ cup system. I find it so much better than the Nico. It's just a single moulded unit, push fit into the groove in this frame, and it means that I don't have to have 3 bits for just the cup section here. However, what I hate about the JZBeezy cup is that there's no hair roller cage that fits it, and it just seems bonkers to me because I like to have hair roller cages. I like to get them into the incubators, and I like to let the virgins come out in the incubator into a hair roller cage. Now, the incubator that I've got has got a tray that means I can put the hair roller cages on it, and I can balance the JZB cups on the top. But I don't think that's a very good solution. So I was speaking to these 2 people who watch the channel, Damien and Aaron, and they've both come up with really good simple methods for making these 2 systems work. They've both used 3D printers and they've both done it in completely different ways. In this video, I'm going to show you both of these hacks, tell you why I like them, tell you why I think 3D printers are such a good thing for making stuff like this Simpler, and I'm also going to tell you which one I prefer. So first off, this is the one that Damien produced. I'll give you a close-up of that now. This is a fully 3D-printed copy of a JZBZ cup, and it gives you the correct dimensions around the outside for the Nico roller cage to fit on. So this here, this is what the JZBZ cup looks like. On the top, you've got the cell insert. On the back, you've got your little plunger bit. That's just a push fit, and that goes into the groove. However, when you try and put a Neewer hair roller cage on, they're not compatible at all and it just falls off. No connection whatsoever. This is what Damien came up with. As you can see, it's 3D printed and it's pretty much a replica of the JZBeezy cup. You've got your push fit on the back side there. You can see the detail of that 3D printer. I think 3D printers are amazing. I have absolutely no idea how they work though, or how you're supposed to develop and design those files. But I love it. I think it's so cool. So this one is a complete replica of the JZBZ cup, and it's got an integrated ring that means that it's now compatible with the Nico Hair Roller Cage. So if I take a line of JZBZ cups that I've got here, and I take Damien's one, that just fits straight in. And as you can see, it doesn't fall out. Shake it all over the place. Good push fit. So it passes that test. And then if you go and put a Nico Hair Roller Cage on it, Almost impossible to do this one-handed, but as you can see, it completely clamps on, and it means that I could quite happily go and take that away, put that into an incubator, balance this whole bar full of cages on there. That's it, the problem is solved. Really nice neat work, and that definitely solves the problem. So it solves the problem, but is it a perfect solution? Not sure on that one. I'm going to talk to you about Aaron's one now. Aaron's gone a different way around this one. So what he's done is he uses the JZBZ cup. You still need to go and buy your JZBZ cup, which costs about like 5p or something. And what he's developed is a ring that just attaches to the JZBZ cup that gives you the correct dimension to go and clip on the Nico hair roller cage. This is what it looks like. It's just a really simple 3D-printed plastic washer, and I'll show you how this all connects together now. So whereas Damien's version was a completely 3D-printed single unit where you didn't need to go and buy the JZBZ cup, Aaron's one is a retrofit for the JZBZ cup, and as you can see, it just clips over the top like that. Really nice solid clip over, and that's not going anywhere. You can shake it all over the place, tap it, that's a really good solid fit. And then again, if you take your Nico hair roller cage, I'll get that, and you can just clip that over the top. Again, impossible to do that one-handed. And there we go, works exactly the same, completely same result. 2 different ways of doing it. And again, you shake that, that's not going anywhere, and I think that's going to work nicely. So there you go, 2 completely different ways to solve the exact same problem, both using a 3D printer. One that is effectively a completely new product that fixes the problem, and one that is a retrofit on an already very good product. Which one do I prefer, and which one do I think is best? I hate doing this because obviously both of the guys have put a lot of effort into that. And I think that it does solve the problem whichever way you look at it. But I think I'm gonna go with Aaron's version. And Damien, I know you'll be able to take this feedback. I know you can take it well. But I think the problem that I'm gonna have with your one is that the finish inside that cup isn't pristine. And I think you're really gonna struggle to achieve that using a 3D printer. Now by all means, feel free to prove me wrong. I would love to kind of have a completely different option with that smooth base. But I know 2 things with the JZBZ cup. One, that if I put a lava in there, the smoothness inside the base of that cup the correct smoothness and the bees will work it. And I also know the little insert that sticks up from the back, the push fitting, I know that sticks into the groove very well. With Damien's version, I think the push-up fitting will fit in. I don't see a problem with that. But if you look inside it, and I'll give you a little close-up now, there's little ridges, there's little grooves, and I don't think the bees will like that. I'm definitely going to test it without a shadow of a doubt. This is just my first view. I'm going to run both of these and give them both a go. And I might be completely wrong, and then Damien, I'll just have to retract that back completely. But looking at both of those products, I do think that the bees would prefer to have that completely smooth base that you get with the proprietary JZBeezy cup, which means that Aaron's retrofit around the side to connect the Nico hair roller cage, I think is going to work really, really well. So here you go, you can see both of them together here. Now, if you look inside Damien's one, and I reckon you could get this fixed, but if you look inside, there's all of those ridges I don't think the bees are going to like those ridges, and for that reason I'm going to give the winner here to Aaron, because I like the simplicity, I like the fact that it's a retrofit, and there's really nothing that can go wrong with this design. So there you go, 2 completely different designs to fix the same problem. I've told you why I think they're both really good designs, I've told you which one I prefer. If you want to see my queen rearing, how I set up my colonies to rear my queens, check out this video here which gives you all of the details as to how I rear my queens.