Home made machines

[sleepy]

DS was New Hollands own invention, not mine. They came to me in 2013 and asked if I would like to be involved with testing one of 4 prototypes. My 25ft on a CX6080 mid range, two 30ft headers fitted on CR machines working in Germany and another 30ft working on a Case AFX in Kent.

Because the project was nearly scrapped in 2014, due to the invention of the 41 ft (12 metre) header which could only be used with tracked combines, the project designer and leader modified our prototype by removing the central Rollers to see if the system would still work. It did. But ours was the only prototype working in 2014.

In 2015 New Holland started to build production models and offered me our prototype for scrap value. There were several problems with our prototype, because it was originally designed to have full width frame and rollers. So I had to modify our model to make it properly lift into transport position and lower into work correctly. Production model lifting systems are quite different from my prototype, because they were specifically designed for a DS with no central Rollers.

At the same time, I also showed NH that DS would fit on a slightly modified conventional Header trailer.

Wouldn't it just be easier to buy a normal header and an 8m batwing topper for about 10 grand?
Wouldn't cost half as much in depreciation and you could do 1500 acres in a couple of days.

 

[Two Tone]

Wouldn't it just be easier to buy a normal header and an 8m batwing topper for about 10 grand?
Wouldn't cost half as much in depreciation and you could do 1500 acres in a couple of days.

No!

It won't pick up driven on stubble and it is an extra task to do during an already busy time of the year.

Plus How many HP and how much fuel does it take to drive the topper?
DS only uses 4 HP.

A topper will leave the straw on top of the remaining stubble so it won't rot and will cause a potential nightmare for subsequent cultivations.

 

[Flat 10]

I remember going to lamma l think several years ago and there was a header on show there with an integrated flail to do much the same job as dual stream. As l remember it wasn't made by a mainstream manufacturer. Anybody else remember it? Grey and orange l think it was. Did it inspire NH @Two Tone ?

 

[Two Tone]

It could have been a Company called BSC from France. They use a system of discs instead of reciprocating knives. Takes 30 HP/metre to drive it and there is a hell of a lot of dust!

No it didn't inspire NH. The idea was 1st thought of in the 60's. They couldn't get it to work then because they tried the wrong type of knife (same type as a normal header knife and fingers) and didn't use a Roller.

 

[Flat 10]

It could have been a Company called SCL from France. They use a system of discs instead of reciprocating knives. Takes 30 HP/metre to drive it and there is a hell of a lot of dust!

No it didn't inspire NH. The idea was 1st thought of in the 60's. They could get it to work then because they tried the wrong type of knife and didn't use a Roller.

This whole thing has been fascinating Tone thanks.

 

[Two Tone]

That BSC 2kx system would be more suited to a Stripper header system IMO. Would need rollers though.

 

[Two Tone]

This is probably what caught New Holland's eye in asking me to test Dual Stream.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/simple-ideas-make-a-new-holland-tf-combine-better.htm

I still get TF users from all over the World contact me. Mostly for more info about number 7.



DO NOT do number 6. This will blow the circuit boards and cost £1k to fix!

 

[Flat 10]

This is probably what caught New Holland's eye in asking me to test Dual Stream.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/simple-ideas-make-a-new-holland-tf-combine-better.htm

I still get TF users from all over the World contact me. Mostly for more info about number 7.



DO NOT do number 6. This will blow the circuit boards and cost £1k to fix!

Number 5 seems common on all combines I have ever been involved with, whatever make. There must be a reason why they make the flights longer than you would expect?

 

[Two Tone]

Number 5 seems common on all combines I have ever been involved with, whatever make. There must be a reason why they make the flights longer than you would expect?

Actually, this problem was discovered by a guy called Nick (I think!) from M Bloomfield and Sons, Debenham, Suffolk.
In the late 1980's, a Large farmer nearby had swapped 3 John Deer Combines for 2 NH TX36's, because he was promised that they would cut 20 tonnes an hour.

The farmer complained that he couldn't get more than 18 tonnes from either of them. So Nick was sent out from Bloomfield's to see what he could do. He told to the farmer to keep cutting with one while he tried to sort out the other.

He tried all sort of thing to no avail. Then by chance he happened to be stood behind the engine and raised the inspection lid above the straw walker, after the Combine had just completed a "Kill Stall".

He noticed that there was hardly any straw on the 2 outer straw walkers. Realising that once the straw elevator had grabbed the straw from the header auger, there was no way it could move sideways past the drum, beater and rotary separator before it hit the straw walkers.

So his solution was to cut a few inches at a time of the header auger flight until the straw was evenly spread over the 6 straw walkers.

By the time he had done this the combine had achieved 22.5 tonnes/hour!

He told NH who from then on installed removable flights from the header auger.


Will Slatter (Cotswold Combines) and I stole the idea!

 

[simon-0116]

Actually, this problem was discovered by a guy called Nick (I think!) from M Bloomfield and Sons, Debenham, Suffolk.
In the late 1980's, a Large farmer nearby had swapped 3 John Deer Combines for 2 NH TX36's, because he was promised that they would cut 20 tonnes an hour.

The farmer complained that he couldn't get more than 18 tonnes from either of them. So Nick was sent out from Bloomfield's to see what he could do. He told to the farmer to keep cutting with one while he tried to sort out the other.

He tried all sort of thing to no avail. Then by chance he happened to be stood behind the engine and raised the inspection lid above the straw walker, after the Combine had just completed a "Kill Stall".

He noticed that there was hardly any straw on the 2 outer straw walkers. Realising that once the straw elevator had grabbed the straw from the header auger, there was no way it could move sideways past the drum, beater and rotary separator before it hit the straw walkers.

So his solution was to cut a few inches at a time of the header auger flight until the straw was evenly spread over the 6 straw walkers.

By the time he had done this the combine had achieved 22.5 tonnes/hour!

He told NH who from then on installed removable flights from the header auger.


Will Slatter (Cotswold Combines) and I stole the idea!

Was a bloke in fw tx 66 ?? How cut flights down to also aid bunching even flow up feed elevator. Keep meaning to do it on tx 64.

 

[Tommy]

Coming along now, just a few small jobs and a tidy up to do and it'll be ready for paint

 

[essexpete]

Actually, this problem was discovered by a guy called Nick (I think!) from M Bloomfield and Sons, Debenham, Suffolk.
In the late 1980's, a Large farmer nearby had swapped 3 John Deer Combines for 2 NH TX36's, because he was promised that they would cut 20 tonnes an hour.

The farmer complained that he couldn't get more than 18 tonnes from either of them. So Nick was sent out from Bloomfield's to see what he could do. He told to the farmer to keep cutting with one while he tried to sort out the other.

He tried all sort of thing to no avail. Then by chance he happened to be stood behind the engine and raised the inspection lid above the straw walker, after the Combine had just completed a "Kill Stall".

He noticed that there was hardly any straw on the 2 outer straw walkers. Realising that once the straw elevator had grabbed the straw from the header auger, there was no way it could move sideways past the drum, beater and rotary separator before it hit the straw walkers.

So his solution was to cut a few inches at a time of the header auger flight until the straw was evenly spread over the 6 straw walkers.

By the time he had done this the combine had achieved 22.5 tonnes/hour!

He told NH who from then on installed removable flights from the header auger.


Will Slatter (Cotswold Combines) and I stole the idea!

Bloomfields had a very high reputation with Combines and Balers but I think they have now ceased trading?
Very interesting topic. I got into trouble driving a combine over 30 years ago by lifting the header on and old Dom 85 and steaming along more quickly than a more modern 86 with 2ft less on the header. The field was a series of stripes in a different way! I had been getting away with it with a spreader for burning but wind rowing for baler I was in the do do.

 

[Two Tone]

Bloomfields had a very high reputation with Combines and Balers but I think they have now ceased trading?
Very interesting topic. I got into trouble driving a combine over 30 years ago by lifting the header on and old Dom 85 and steaming along more quickly than a more modern 86 with 2ft less on the header. The field was a series of stripes in a different way! I had been getting away with it with a spreader for burning but wind rowing for baler I was in the do do.

M Bloomfield and Sons were a damned good firm. I don't know what happened to them because I moved away from the area in the 1990's.

They specialised in NH Combines and balers and in grain stores. I believe they started off with Thrashing tackles and Steam Traction engines, presumably in Mr M's day.

What they didn't know about anything mechanical to do with Combines, wasn't worth knowing. The Combine shop manager was Neil Bloomfield. I remember taking a a concave to him to be rewired. At the same time, they pressed a reverse bow in it, so that when it was under load in work, it would run straight again. What a clever idea! That is exactly the sort of tricks of the trade they knew and did to make things work better.
I believe that every combine they sold, they would keep a book on that had every bit of history of that combine written in it.

We bought a NH 387 Baler, unfortunately not from them and it wouldn't work properly. It obviously hadn't been PDI'd properly. I rang Neil and he sent his baler specialist out to look at it. He told us to take an early lunch and leave him to it for a couple of hours. I came back early to watched him set the plunger knife to the stationary knife by adjusting the LHS plunger rails up a bit. What he in effect did was make the 2 knives meet at the bottom then actually push together at the top as if they were a pair of scissors. What a brilliant idea! That baler never was any trouble after that. I doubt that we put more than 10 shear bolts in it over the next 10 years!

Their service was absolutely 2nd to none.

 

[the-mad-welder]

http://www.bloomfieldinstallations.co.uk
It all finshed and then started up again as a part of Ben Burgess. I believe they now concentrate on handling equipment mainly.

 

[tinman]

Coming along now, just a few small jobs and a tidy up to do and it'll be ready for paint

forgive my ignorance tommy but is that a land leveler your a makin there, or a frame to hold some tillage metal?.

 

[Mursal]

Its a proper frame whatever its for, no skimping there ..........

 

[Tommy]

It is a land leveller. We have some reseeding to do and a bit of levelling on them would do no harm[emoji849] our ground is quite soft so no real need to power harrow if we can help it

 

[Lincsman]

Was a bloke in fw tx 66 ?? How cut flights down to also aid bunching even flow up feed elevator. Keep meaning to do it on tx 64.

You wont need to, the flighting was correct for 5 walkers but not 6, the man welding flights was not told to do them differently for each combine.

 

[tinman]

It is a land leveller. We have some reseeding to do and a bit of levelling on them would do no harm[emoji849] our ground is quite soft so no real need to power harrow if we can help it

its a fine frame you have made.
one wee thing id probably personally do different is that box iron you have to support the toplink.
id of been inclined to have run two lths of heavy angle from the outside of the support plate to the head, a V shape ifykwim.
all you may ever want to do with yours is pull it but the one i have here id push nearly more than id pull with it.
you should save your paint and send it off for a galv, lifetime job even tho you will wear some of it off at the ground, paint it after if you like but it wont ever rust.

 

[Ioan annwyl]

M Bloomfield and Sons were a damned good firm. I don't know what happened to them because I moved away from the area in the 1990's.

They specialised in NH Combines and balers and in grain stores. I believe they started off with Thrashing tackles and Steam Traction engines, presumably in Mr M's day.

What they didn't know about anything mechanical to do with Combines, wasn't worth knowing. The Combine shop manager was Neil Bloomfield. I remember taking a a concave to him to be rewired. At the same time, they pressed a reverse bow in it, so that when it was under load in work, it would run straight again. What a clever idea! That is exactly the sort of tricks of the trade they knew and did to make things work better.
I believe that every combine they sold, they would keep a book on that had every bit of history of that combine written in it.

We bought a NH 387 Baler, unfortunately not from them and it wouldn't work properly. It obviously hadn't been PDI'd properly. I rang Neil and he sent his baler specialist out to look at it. He told us to take an early lunch and leave him to it for a couple of hours. I came back early to watched him set the plunger knife to the stationary knife by adjusting the LHS plunger rails up a bit. What he in effect did was make the 2 knives meet at the bottom then actually push together at the top as if they were a pair of scissors. What a brilliant idea! That baler never was any trouble after that. I doubt that we put more than 10 shear bolts in it over the next 10 years!

Their service was absolutely 2nd to none.

Ther's a guy around our way who use to keep a record of all combines in the area. He would know the model, Serial No, type and size of header and all work done on them, by himself or others that he had heard of. He knew if they had been moved on locally, Pxed, or exported. Worked on most of them himself so knew their history looked after 100 plus I think, remember him telling me of one 1968 F reg Claas Matador std still working and in as good working order as when it came out new (never slept out or been out in the rain) . If he could not get a part he'd make it, augers, shafts, unloading tubes, grain pans, you name it he'd give it his best shot. Priceless bloke.