Monitor "Automates" Older Round Baler

Monitor "Automates" Older Round Baler BALERS Balers 23-4-25 For less than $100 Dale Spoerl, Elizabeth, Ill., made a bale monitor that helps make uniform bales with his Vermeer 605F round baler. Spoerl mounted a pair of 12-in. wheels on back of the baler, pressing up against the baler belts. The wheels pivot freely on spring-loaded steel arms. An electric switch on each arm wires to a control box on the tractor. When one side of the baler fills up, the belts on the opposite side of the baler become loose. That allows the wheel to move forward and triggers a switch that activates a pair of flashing red lights on the control box, one for each side of the baler. Spoerl also made an indicator that lets him know when the baler is full. The indicator is hooked up to the original bale size indicator with a length of chain. When the chain gets tight it closes a switch and turns a yellow light at the center of the control box, letting Spoerl know that the baler is full. "I made it because I got tired of having to look back all the time," says Spoerl. "I made the control box by mounting truck running lights inside a plastic toolbox with arrows cut into it. I used the 14-in. dia. wheels because that's what I had, but they wouldn't have to be so big." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dale Spoerl, 6505 S. Schnitzler Rd., Elizabeth, Ill. 61028 (ph 815 598-3277).

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