Welger AP Baler Problem

[Westside]

With all this talk of how great Welger balers are on here I thought I'd try and work out why my AP 530 was under performing over the summer. I soon realised that the gap between the fixed and ram knives seemed to be somewhat excessive at about 1.5"! Further, I noticed that the fixed knife seemed to be angled towards the pick up side of the baler.

So, this afternoon I decided to start stripping down to see what had happened and have found that the metal holding the fixed knife has been badly bent and broken the bottom weld off the chamber. I think I may have baled something that was not meant to be baled! Hopefully this can all be repaired and re-welded, but my question is: anyone ever known this happen? Is it a known weakness in them? Can the bits be bought or is it a case of making the bits?

Thanks in advance John

 

[mushnt grummmble]

With all this talk of how great Welger balers are on here I thought I'd try and work out why my AP 530 was under performing over the summer. I soon realised that the gap between the fixed and ram knives seemed to be somewhat excessive at about 1.5"! Further, I noticed that the fixed knife seemed to be angled towards the pick up side of the baler.

So, this afternoon I decided to start stripping down to see what had happened and have found that the metal holding the fixed knife has been badly bent and broken the bottom weld off the chamber. I think I may have baled something that was not meant to be baled! Hopefully this can all be repaired and re-welded, but my question is: anyone ever known this happen? Is it a known weakness in them? Can the bits be bought or is it a case of making the bits?

Thanks in advance John

also check your shearbolt then as you shouldnt do that much damage

 

[Mursal]

And the trouble it was giving, could you put it down to a bad knife, or have you two problems?

Just before you adjust knife clearance, check for slap in the plunger, timbers I think?

 

[Westside]

The trouble was it wasn't cutting between bales so i was getting bales joined together as they came out. Not so good when you've got a Cooks sledge on the back! Also, whilst baling straw, it was giving a rough finish to the side of the bale and seemed to be labouring for what i was baling.
I can't adjust knife clearance until the metal holding the fixed knife is bent back so it's parallel with the chamber.
I noticed Plunger has got some slap in it.
Cheers

 

[Mursal]

Think ours had adjusters for the slap in the plunger, good you got the cause of the problem

 

[Dry Rot]

Get yourself a copy of the manual and go through all the clearances and adjustments before you do anything.

It is surely to the baler's credit that it baled at all in that condition, whether the bales were joined or not!

 

[z.man]

joined bales are a complete nightmare our jd baler has a bad habit of joining bales when working in hard clean timothy no bother in rygrass but it can be really frustrating

 

[Westside]

Yep Timothy was what it was in!

 

[Simon Chiles]

The trouble was it wasn't cutting between bales so i was getting bales joined together as they came out. Not so good when you've got a Cooks sledge on the back! Also, whilst baling straw, it was giving a rough finish to the side of the bale and seemed to be labouring for what i was baling.
I can't adjust knife clearance until the metal holding the fixed knife is bent back so it's parallel with the chamber.
I noticed Plunger has got some slap in it.
Cheers

Whilst you're at it I'd take the plunger out completely and check it's bearings and the adjustment of the rails it runs on. Not uncommon for the bearing to go on balers that have a high bale count and I would investigate any play in the ram.