Operational safety, transport and maintenance

by GJ Stoltz (Reg Eng Tech)

The safety of equipment and staff on any farm is extremely important. Keeping a good maintenance schedule will help ensure the safety of operators as well as the machines. Damages can be costly and injuries even more so.

In this edition of the series we shall elaborate on how to safely operate, transport and maintain your baler. There are two options when it comes to transporting the baler. First, it can simply be drawn behind a tractor. In this case the pick-up must be raised to the highest position to prevent it from hitting high posts. The baler’s drawbar should also be moved to the transport position so that the baler trails directly behind the tractor.

The second option, for longer travel distances, is loading the baler onto a truck for quicker transport on the roads. If this is the chosen transport option, you should ensure that the baler can safely be lifted onto the truck and that the loading bin of the truck is big enough to accommodate the baler without parts of it extending over the sides.

The safety of the operator should be a priority. Following these simple steps will help to ensure the safety of the people operating the baler. Balers should only be operated by responsible people. Before adjusting a baler, disengage all power, shut the tractor’s engine off, take the key out and wait until the baler’s flywheel has stopped. All the rotating shields on the PTO driveshaft must be rotating freely. Stand clear of the baler when it is in operation. Do not attempt to pull hay from the pick-up when the machine is running. Do not move the flywheel when somebody is working on the plunger knifes. Be very cautious when tripping the knotters by hand and only attempt this when the baler is not running. Do not touch the knotter and stand clear of the needle frame. Do not try to remove twine, or wire from the bale case, or knotter when the machine is running because one’s hand can be crushed by the plunger. Never kick hay into the pick-up or stand close to the pick-up and feed hay into the baler by hand, because one can be pulled into the machine by the moving teeth.

The proper maintenance of your baler will help keep the operator safe, and also minimise the loss of production due to breakages.

The maintenance of a pick-up baler falls into three main categories.

•Pick-up

•Plunger assembly

•Tying mechanism

Each of these components has parts that wear and break. Inspect these components often to reduce delays during field operation and perform routine maintenance and lubrication on all baler components.

For maintenance purposes it is therefore also advisable to consult the comoperator’s manual. The pick-up operates near the ground where abrasion by dust and dirt shortens service life. The most frequent problem with a pick-up is replacing broken or bent pick-up teeth. Proper adjustments and clean fields reduce damaged pickup teeth.

The plunger assembly wears and becomes misaligned. Check and adjust the plunger head frequently to ensure free movement. Inspect the plunger assembly for damaged parts on a regular basis. Plunger maintenance involves keeping the knives sharp and adjusted. To ensure clean cutting, the correct knife tolerance can only be maintained with frequent adjustments. Inspect the plunger after the first 1 000 bales have been produced and, if necessary, do adjustments according to the operating instructions. The tying mechanism has many moving parts which must be properly adjusted and timed. Operating problems are often caused by wear, poor adjustment and poor quality twine or wire.

With a twine-tie baler the following adjustments are very important:

•The needle lift link for allowing the needle frame to clear the main frame when the needles are fully raised.

•The baler timing to prevent the plunger from breaking the needles or feeder teeth.

•The bill hook to allow the bill hook jaws to tie the knot properly.

•The twine disc to ensure that it catches two strands of twine.

•The wiper arm to ensure that the knot is stripped clear from the bill hook.

• The twine holder to maintain the correct pressure to hold the twine in the twine disk.

• The alignment of the needles to allow the needles to pass through the knotting mechanism.

• The tucker fingers to ensure that the twine is caught from the needle in time.

• The knotter drive brake to eliminate loose, erratic action of the knotter mechanism.

• The plunger safety stops to protect the needles from breakage if the baler goes out of timing. With a wire-tie baler the following adjustments are very important:

• The needle link to allow the needle frame to clear the main frame when the needles are fully raised.

• The baler timing to prevent the plunger from breaking the needles or feeder teeth.

• Twister level gear and position to ensure proper rotation of the twister.

• The intermittent-drive-gear clearance to prevent gear-tooth breakage.

• The wire grippers to provide positive shearing action of the wire.

• The wire twister hooks to ensure proper twisting of the wire.

• The alignment of the needles to allow the needles to pass through the knotting mechanism properly.

• The wire guides to allow each wire pulley to turn freely.

• The knotter drive brake to eliminate loose, erratic action of the knotting mechanism.

• The plunger safety stops to protect the needles from breakage if the baler goes out of timing.

Good maintenance reduces the need for a large stockpile of replacement parts, but the following list of spare parts can be very useful to reduce repair time in the field:

• Belts, chains and shear bolts.

• Several replacement pick-up teeth.

• Tying mechanism replacement parts.

• Twine balls or wire rolls.

• An extra set of plunger knifes.

Give the baler a complete service inspection at the end of each season to prepare for off-season repair work. Do all the repairs during the off-season. Store the baler inside after cleaning it thoroughly. Lubricate the baler thoroughly. Clean the knotter mechanism and apply a coating of grease. Clean all chains by washing them with diesel fuel. Dry the chains well and coat them with oil. Repaint surfaces where paint has worn off. Do not paint the inside of the bale chamber but coat it with a thin layer of grease.

Following this simple advice of the safe transport, maintenance and storage of your baler will help you to get higher production rates with less mechanical problems and no risk of injury.

We thank the ARC Agricultural Engineering in South Africa who made the information on square balers available to the readers of ProAgri Zambia. Next month we shall provide a detailed look at big square balers.