Make sure to have uncapped the honey-bearing beehive frames you are extracting from. The number of frames you extract honey from at a time should be even in most cases. It allows you to balance the load in the extractor. You may uncap a frame and load it into the extractor before proceeding to uncap the next frame.
Place one beehive frame in each basket of the honey extractor. The baskets of honey extractors are made so they can easily take the different sizes of beehive frames used in popular types of beehives. The frame should fit well and be held in a position where it will not be flung out when the extractor is powered up.
All honey extractors have the same basic design consisting of a hollow round drum with a rotating mechanism in the middle. Beehive frames are loaded onto the central rotating apparatus in the extractor. Power is then applied to the honey extractor and extraction commences. A honey extractor may use electric power for rotation or be manually cranked. Beekeepers buying electric extractors should go for one that has a durable electric motor. Manually cranked honey extractors have gearing mechanism that makes the extractor rotate fast with little use of energy by the beekeeper.