Kit Prevents Straw Buildup On Rotary Screen

1994 - Volume #18, Issue #4, Page #36

[ Sample Stories From This Issue | List of All Stories In This Issue | Print this story | Read this issue]

Here in Palouse hill country in Washington, we often get troublesome tailwinds when harvesting. They cause crop material to build up on radiators so we have to stop to clean them off and let the combines cool down. We noticed that the problem was usually worse in barley and we also noticed that when the problem was the worst, we also got a buildup of material on the ladder. Finally, my brother rode in the engine compartment on the combine to watch the buildup occur. Since the engine fan moves a tremendous amount of air, some of the chaff and straw being carried by in a tailwind would get drawn over to the ladder area. Some would go into the rotary screen and be swept away without bother but it would continue to build up around the latter. Then, if the wind switches, or the combine turns a corner (the same as a wind switch), this wad of material would get sucked all at once onto the rotary screen. This big wad of material would be too much for the rotary screen and would build up on the leading side of the vacuum duct, getting ground up by the screen into fine enough pieces to get through the screen. Or, in the case of barley beards, they get forced through the fine mesh screen. These pieces of beard and chaff plug off the air flow thorugh the radiator. Once the surface area is approximately 25 percent blocked off, the temperature starts to go up. We now know that whenever we're getting buildup on the combine ladder, we're likely to have a plug-up problem.
We came up with a kit that fits on the rotary screen that solves the problem. It re-routes the flow of air so it comes in through the side louvers and the top instead of through the bottom. It consists of a piece of molded foam rubber that's held on by magnets so you can easily take it off when needed.
The kit sells for $39.95 and can be shipped UPS. It fits Deere 9600, 9500 (straight and sidehill models), and 9400 combines. (Dennis Solbrack, Arrow Machinery, Inc., P.O. Box 70, Colfax, Wash. 99111 ph 800 473-3629 or 509 397-4377)

Click here to download page story appeared in.

Click here to read entire issue

Kit Prevents Straw Buildup On Rotary Screen COMBINES Accessories 18-4-36 Here in Palouse hill country in Washington, we often get troublesome tailwinds when harvesting. They cause crop material to build up on radiators so we have to stop to clean them off and let the combines cool down. We noticed that the problem was usually worse in barley and we also noticed that when the problem was the worst, we also got a buildup of material on the ladder. Finally, my brother rode in the engine compartment on the combine to watch the buildup occur. Since the engine fan moves a tremendous amount of air, some of the chaff and straw being carried by in a tailwind would get drawn over to the ladder area. Some would go into the rotary screen and be swept away without bother but it would continue to build up around the latter. Then, if the wind switches, or the combine turns a corner (the same as a wind switch), this wad of material would get sucked all at once onto the rotary screen. This big wad of material would be too much for the rotary screen and would build up on the leading side of the vacuum duct, getting ground up by the screen into fine enough pieces to get through the screen. Or, in the case of barley beards, they get forced through the fine mesh screen. These pieces of beard and chaff plug off the air flow thorugh the radiator. Once the surface area is approximately 25 percent blocked off, the temperature starts to go up. We now know that whenever we're getting buildup on the combine ladder, we're likely to have a plug-up problem. We came up with a kit that fits on the rotary screen that solves the problem. It re-routes the flow of air so it comes in through the side louvers and the top instead of through the bottom. It consists of a piece of molded foam rubber that's held on by magnets so you can easily take it off when needed. The kit sells for $39.95 and can be shipped UPS. It fits Deere 9600, 9500 (straight and sidehill models), and 9400 combines. (Dennis Solbrack, Arrow Machinery, Inc., P.O. Box 70, Colfax, Wash. 99111 ph 800 473-3629 or 509 397-4377)

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.

SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW NOW