Claydon SR - max seed rate for spring beans

[T C]

TBH, it was not my idea, it was suggested to me on one of the claydon open days last year by another user, consequently this mod was my first job the next morning, best thing I did, as easier on the drill with loads of scope for high rates if needed without any clutter or problems!

Looks like a job for me tomorrow !! Do you still get OSR rates low enough ?

 

[JD6920s]

Yep no problem with OSR, as you can just close one of a pair of the rollers off with the slides on the hopper so your back down to the same openings as counters if you know what I mean!
As suggested before, make sure you pair off the tramlining ones together on each end!
Then try to do them as evenly spaced across the width as you can for even emptying of the hopper.
Best way to get the drawer out is stand at the front of the drill, remove the big air pipe and pull the drawer forward on the right hand side and persuade with a screwdriver then it will come away easily. Some of the small tennons of the dividers are tack welded to hold it together, just use a 4in grinder with a thin cutting disc to remove the welds on the flat side with the knobs on then gently pull apart, bend the dividers required in the vice, replace and tack up again. You will have to grind off the top tennon on the sloping side of the bent ones to refit.
Just eye up which ones your going to pair up according to the pipes on the bottom of the manifold, it makes it easier, you'll see I numbered mine.

 

[T C]

Yep no problem with OSR, as you can just close one of a pair of the rollers off with the slides on the hopper so your back down to the same openings as counters if you know what I mean!
As suggested before, make sure you pair off the tramlining ones together on each end!
Then try to do them as evenly spaced across the width as you can for even emptying of the hopper.
Best way to get the drawer out is stand at the front of the drill, remove the big air pipe and pull the drawer forward on the right hand side and persuade with a screwdriver then it will come away easily. Some of the small tennons of the dividers are tack welded to hold it together, just use a 4in grinder with a thin cutting disc to remove the welds on the flat side with the knobs on then gently pull apart, bend the dividers required in the vice, replace and tack up again. You will have to grind off the top tennon on the sloping side of the bent ones to refit.
Just eye up which ones your going to pair up according to the pipes on the bottom of the manifold, it makes it easier, you'll see I numbered mine. View attachment 32380View attachment 32381

Cheers - obvious solution for OSR!

 

[Rob Holmes]

Those black Sulky anti block fittings will get rid of the back pressure, it was the recommendation from Claydons that i fit them

I would be uncomfortable butchering it up, these anti block fitting have only been available a couple of years and as i said earlier, Claydons say to use them when using Y fittings, i did and they worked fine, and now i've sold the drill it can be put back to original configuration

 

[JD6920s]

Those black Sulky anti block fittings will get rid of the back pressure, it was the recommendation from Claydons that i fit them

I would be uncomfortable butchering it up, these anti block fitting have only been available a couple of years and as i said earlier, Claydons say to use them when using Y fittings, i did and they worked fine, and now i've sold the drill it can be put back to original configuration

I had those on too, but still too much back pressure!
Anyway, it's hardly butchering, more like modifying, and definitely an improvement, as it does seem extreme to expect 9 feed rollers to deliver enough seed over 3 meters when the drill was designed to use 24, it was practically running flat out making the gearbox run very lumpy and rough. It's a much neater and a more reliable mod than the extra pipes, and if you really wanted it could be altered back, not that it ever would be necessary.

 

[Andrew K]

Think the air bleed off valves would benefit any drill attempting to place lots of seed deep into the soil, the use of bigger diameter seed hose would help as well probably.

 

[Feldspar]

When i had an SR, i got another set of seed pipes and had them running off another set of metering wheels (so there are 18 running on a 3m), and then 'T'ed these using Y pieces into the seed boot, all bits are available from Claydons, only took about half a day to do

View attachment 32222
...and you'll want a set of these black anti blockage fittings

View attachment 32224

So how fast were you travelling for beans then after the extra pipes were fitted?

 

[Rob Holmes]

Never drilled beans with that setup, did if for high wheat/barley seedrates

 

[Feldspar]

Just to say thanks for all the help on this topic. We ended up modifying the drill putting in the dual pipe system, but adding two pressure release valves per coulter rather than one. I think it's fair to say that changes did improve things considerably (although @DaveM will confirm) and we were able to drill the beans at between 270-310ish kg/ha at about 8kph.

 

[warksfarmer]

With the latest PGRO advice for spring bean populations (50-55 established plants IIRC) the seed rate is going to be pretty high.

Normally we drill Wizards at around 180 kg/ha, and even then we were told by Sulky that 9kph was too fast. On another thread someone had calculated a rough seed rate approaching or even exceeding 300 kg/ha.

What I would like to know is whether this kind of seed rate is actually going to be possible through the SR's Sulky metering mechanism without going at some ridiculously slow forward speed?

My plan was to drill the beans with the Claydon and the spring barley / wheat with the Mzuri because of the fert placement. May have to scrub that plan though.

The sulky seed metering unit is the worst we've ever used. Its a pain to calibrate compared to horsch/vaderstad and blockages are common. Then you have the restrictions of rate vs forward speed.

 

[No Worries]

I was drilling beans yesterday with the claydon. 11-12kph 300 kg/ha with the sulky metering and dual pipe conversion fitted with 1 air release per coulter.

No blockages

 

[Tractor Boy]

I don't understand people's problems with not being able to get the rate high enough. Last week I drilled 310 kg/ ha Fuego with the sulky unit using 13 outlets out of 32 on a 4 m V drill with NO dual piping at 10 kph. The only thing I did do was have the handle that opens the bottoms of the metering wheels as open as it would go without letting the beans fall through!!

 

[average farmer]

I don't understand people's problems with not being able to get the rate high enough. Last week I drilled 310 kg/ ha Fuego with the sulky unit using 13 outlets out of 32 on a 4 m V drill with NO dual piping at 10 kph. The only thing I did do was have the handle that opens the bottoms of the metering wheels as open as it would go without letting the beans fall through!!

Yes drilled some to other day with a 4.8 vdill setting 50 something and not a problem at around 10-12k but the flap was well open

 

[farmerfred86]

As above, why not simply open the flap further? I suppose if too wide seed will fall?

 

[Shutesy]

As above, why not simply open the flap further? I suppose if too wide seed will fall?

That last post was 5 1/2 years ago...

 

[DaveM]

As above, why not simply open the flap further? I suppose if too wide seed will fall?

spot on!!

 

[farmerfred86]

spot on!!

Looking into this further I think if you open the flap too wide the silky unit will allow seed to spill behind all outlets (even the unused ones) which is obviously necessary to open the flap an empty the drill.
Our old free flow that had the same metering unit had a high/low gear setting but the silky unit doesn’t seem to have one that I can see?