Claas Rollant problem

[Foz682]

We've been baling with a Rollant 46 roto cut for 17 years, and this year we struck the problem of the bales not turning in the chamber, we were making silage bales at around 45% moisture as always and the chamber would begin to fill then you could see that the bale was no longer turning but all the rollers and everything else still was.
The forage jams up right at the back of the throat of the baler after it passes through the knives, some still gets past but it puts enough pressure on the bale to stop it from spinning.
Any ideas as to what causes this? I can't say we did anything different this year.
The problem seems to be intermittent, I made 75 bales one day with no problem, started out the next day to finish the field off and it wouldn't make even one bale. We tinkered around but didn't really accomplish much but all of a sudden it started working fine and made another 50 bales trouble free. Next day, same problem, bales jamming up, the strange things is that they'll stop spinning even if there's only a quarter of a bale's worth of forage in there, so it's not the pressure gauge or anything to do with the tying system. I kind of figure that something is badly worn, maybe the fingers that drag the hay through the knives?

Our service guys here have absolutely no idea. Any help at all would be much appreciated.

 

[multi power]

i have had bales not turning in a welgar baler once, early ones had smoth rollers, you could then buy special textured paint to put on them to help with grip, after 4 hours n not one bale done i went back to yard found some old paint, chucked it over rollers n then chucked some sand on, had lunch while paint dried n went back baling, 100 bales no problem at all

 

[grumpy]

i have had bales not turning in a welgar baler once, early ones had smoth rollers, you could then buy special textured paint to put on them to help with grip, after 4 hours n not one bale done i went back to yard found some old paint, chucked it over rollers n then chucked some sand on, had lunch while paint dried n went back baling, 100 bales no problem at all

the problem with the welger was lack of a packer you are effectively chucking a wedge in the front of it,but all roller balers are prone to bale stopping spinning in dry conditions.

 

[indigenous]

Could be 1st and 2nd rollers on the floor are worn. Round here we'd weld bits of ribbon iron on

 

[gone up the hill]

I would concentrate on the knives/ finger section of the baler, you say all the rollers etc are turning okay but what about the shaft that drives the fingers?? does that stop and then it blocks up or does it keep turning even after the grass has got stuck?? poss could be that the shaft is worn and it is just turning but without the strength to push the grass into the chamber.. ( hope that makes sense ).

 

[Foz682]

Thanks for the replies,
Well, the paint on the bottom 2 rollers is definitely worn off, but I'm certain that was gone 10 years ago or more.
We've thought about the little bumps on the roller being worn, if they are it's not very much but I was thinking of either welding something on or even just running short beads of weld in rows, ribbon iron would be ideal if that's the problem.

I'm confident it has to do with the knives/ finger section, it does keep spinning the whole time, except for occasionally it kicks out the clutch and everything stops. It's hard to tell if the finger roller slowing down but it doesn't appear to, and we did have the sprocket off that shaft and the splines are in good condition. It seems like the fingers are not letting go of the grass and tries to pull some back over the top, that's when it builds up under that bar that goes across (in the pic).

Something I forgot to mention: We pulled all the knives out (they don't drop anymore), and it baled perfectly, I then put half of them back in and it worked good, but every 20 bales or so I cleaned out grass from behind the bar since it seemed to build up slowly.

 

[balerman]

Your problem almost certainly connected to the dry weather,most roller balers suffer from this occasionally,especially if they have a blanking plate where the net goes in,instead of another roller.Anything that blocks the grass as it is joining the bale will make the problem worse,Claas balers are by no means the worst for this,that honour goes to JD 575/578.

 

[Foz682]

So the problem is most likely the crop itself this year? I suppose that's quite possible since the weather this year has been very unusual.
Strange that it baled 75 one day well into the evening without a problem but then not bale a single one of the exact same crop at a very close moisture content the next day, but then again, any of the few problems we've ever had with this baler have been strange.
Thanks for the help.

 

[gone up the hill]

Thanks for the replies,
Well, the paint on the bottom 2 rollers is definitely worn off, but I'm certain that was gone 10 years ago or more.
We've thought about the little bumps on the roller being worn, if they are it's not very much but I was thinking of either welding something on or even just running short beads of weld in rows, ribbon iron would be ideal if that's the problem.

I'm confident it has to do with the knives/ finger section, it does keep spinning the whole time, except for occasionally it kicks out the clutch and everything stops. It's hard to tell if the finger roller slowing down but it doesn't appear to, and we did have the sprocket off that shaft and the splines are in good condition. It seems like the fingers are not letting go of the grass and tries to pull some back over the top, that's when it builds up under that bar that goes across (in the pic).

Something I forgot to mention: We pulled all the knives out (they don't drop anymore), and it baled perfectly, I then put half of them back in and it worked good, but every 20 bales or so I cleaned out grass from behind the bar since it seemed to build up slowly.

What weather conditions have you got out there?? the bumps on the rollers look fine, personally I don't think its the weather/ type of grass as this baler will from experience bale anything thrown at it in any conditions!! would be intresting to see a clear pic of the fingers, as for the knifes if they get loaded against a blockage they should spring back and fall out, are they doing this?? are you getting any probs with feeding the net in?? and have you checked that the roller on the left hand side ( as you are stood behind the baler looking at it ) at the top which drives the right hand side chain isn't slipping under load?? ( common for it too be slipping a tad, hence still turning but not enough grip to turn the bale ( esp if a tad wet material ) let us know how you get on.

 

[Foz682]

Weather has been all over the place this year, it was 2 weeks late warming up in the spring then loads of high wind and rain in June, early July...it's been more like September/October weather here.
I have a pic of measuring the gap between the fingers and the floor of the baler near the knives.
The knives don't move much anymore, we've been using them on all crops the last 5-6 years and they seem to be stuck up, and have been for at least the last 3 years. We use twine, not net, the only problems with the twine not feeding is when we're doing dry hay and I have to push the button to tie again or else the bales are only wrapped with twine in spots, it seems the hay doesn't grip the twine well, but tying it again works great.

I've got all the shields pulled off and had guys watching the chains at each roller, they say nothing is obviously slipping at all, but I'll tell you, when the bale begins to slow/stop the baler is shaking and bouncing like you wouldn't believe, but everything keeps going.
I've pretty finished up our dry hay for the year with no more problems, so it will be late August when we make oatlage bales before I can really see what it's up to.

 

[Foz682]

So, it's almost a year later.
I changed out some bad bearings, managed to get the knives moving up and down, and done some welding on the rollers to add traction.
First day of baling went great, second day started out not so good. Same problem as last year, chamber would fill up about half way, then jam.
I noticed that the hay seemed to be riding up the knives towards the center of the roller with the fingers. I dropped the knives about 2cm and locked them there(We installed a shut off valve on the hydraulic line going to the knives years ago because they weren't staying up) and problem was solved, forage is getting cut perfectly and not a bit of it is plugging up. . I figure that somehow they got a bit too far up last year and that caused the hay to be directed straight at the roller instead of under it.
Thanks for the help guys.