"No Plunger" Baler Just Keeps On Going

"No Plunger" Baler Just Keeps On Going BALERS Balers 25-1-20 "I don't know if there's anyone else left in the country still using this baler, but after 11 years with it I couldn't be happier," says Matt Fordyce, Alta, Iowa, about his unusual Agropack big square baler. Several years ago FARM SHOW reported on the Agropack, which was invented and manufactured by Joseph Molitorisz (Vol. 6, No. 1 and Vol. 8, No. 5). It produces a rectangular bale about the size of conventional big square bales, but has one rounded end. You can stack the bales flat for inside storage or leave them standing in the field with the rounded end up to shed moisture. In addition to the rounded end, Molitorisz invented a totally new baling mechanism that has no plunger. Instead, the bales are formed by a continuous folding method. In operation, the windrow is picked up by a conventional pickup and deposited on compactor rollers that compress the layers of hay and deposit them in the bale chamber, which swings back and forth 45 times a minute to fold and form the bale. The deposited layers force the bale upward against a density control. After reaching the desired length and density, the bale is tied with 5 twine strings and discharged out the back. Fordyce makes 4-ft. sq. bales that are 7 ft. long. Weight varies from about 1,100 to 1,200 lbs. "I've really been impressed with it. It lets me put hay up at a higher moisture content than I could with conventional big square balers so I get nice, leafy hay," says Fordyce. "There's no dust or mold û just clean hay. "Molitorisz sold about 28 balers between 1983 and 1987 before he stopped manufacturing them due to financial difficulties. The baler sold for about $25,000. I bought my baler used in 1989 for about $5,000 and also bought another one for parts. I've used it to make about 400 bales every year, which I feed to my 100 dairy cows. I had some problems during the first few years. Then three years ago I took it into my shop and rebuilt some of its parts. The main problem was that the pickup didn't do a good job of picking up hay and also the bales weren't always tied properly. Also, I had to weave back and forth all the time in order to fill the outside edges of the bale. I replaced the original 4-ft. wide pickup with a 5 1/2-ft. wide one off a Deere pull-type forage chopper. I cut it apart and welded a series of eccentric cam fingers onto it. It now does a better job of pushing hay up into the bale chamber. "I also improved the bale tieing system by installing an electronic box that controls an orbit motor used to swing the bale chamber back and forth. The electronic box automatically shuts off the motor to lock the bale chamber in the correct position for tieing the bale." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Matt Fordyce, 413 Peterson, Alta, Iowa 51002 (ph 712 284-1052; E-mail: g.miller@ncn.net)

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