"My rotating 'cup scrapers' work great to keep mud from building up on the packer wheels on my Deere air seeder," says Gerard Devloo, Somerset, Man. Made from 1/8-in. thick sheet metal, the 7-in. dia., cup-shaped scraper bolts onto the packer wheel mounting arm at about a 45 degree angle. The scraper is offset 1 in. from the center of the packer wheel. A bearing in the center of the scraper allows it to rotate. As dirt accumulates on the rotating packer wheel, it's exposed to the scraper which causes the scraper to rotate.

The distance between the scraper and the wheel is adjusted by changing the position of the mounting bolt in a slot already on the packer wheel mounting arm.

"I used them on about 3,000 acres last spring with no problems," says Devloo. "I came up with the idea because my air seeder wasn't originally equipped with scrapers. I tried experimenting with different types of scrapers to solve the problem, but nothing worked as good as these.

"The contour of the cup is the key. It allows the scraper to clean mud off both the center of the packer wheel and its outside edges. I tried using a straight scraper blade, but a straight blade can't follow the contour of the packer wheel like a curved one can. Also, stationary blades wear out quicker and are more likely to plug up with mud. After 3,000 acres my cup scrapers show hardly any wear at all.

"The 7-in. dia. cup is ideal for the 4-in. wide packer wheels on my Deere air seeder, but I think the same idea could be adapted to any size packer wheel that needs a scraper on it."

Devloo pressed the scrapers out of flat 8-in. dia. metal discs in his shop. He presses the discs down into a metal bowl. "When the 8-in. dia. metal disc is pressed down into the bowl, it becomes a cup-shaped, 7-in. dia. disc," notes Devloo.

Devloo says he's willing to build cup scrapers for others provided they make their own mounting brackets.