MF 'Suretie' knotter

[Boohoo]

So after singing the praises of my MF 124 baler on every thread about conventional balers it has now started to try my patience. Rather than releasing the knot as the next bale is formed the left knotter is holding on to the knot until it breaks. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to this, it could do it with every other bale or it could be 1 in 20. The right knotter was doing similar a few weeks ago but it seems to have fixed itself. Don't think it's a twine problem as swapping the twine didn't cure or move the problem to the other knotter. Any ideas? Not much in the operator or workshop manuals and I've never been brave enough to take a knotter apart yet.

 

[Dan Attle]

are the brakes tight and the springs tight ad the knotters alll clean and the string has resistance for it to be pulled off the bill hook these are the first things to check IMO

 

[ollandroverman]

Read the manual.
Settings, and trouble shooting help are all inside and you shouldn't go far wrong

 

[ollandroverman]

Tip the knitters up. They can get a pollen build up in the roller track which bothers the bill hooks.
Are the strings a clean cut. The twine knives may need sharpening.

 

[ollandroverman]

But your first port of call should be carefully consult the manual cos the factory settings are all given.... And they work

 

[John 1594]

Different knotter to our MF20 i know, but that decided to play up the other day, its usually faultless.

It started hanging the knot on the left billhook. At the same time the bales started to be a bit wonky. After watching it miss its 3rd knot i worked out the issue, so rediculously simple and nothing to do with the knotters!!!

the packer fingers sweeping into the chamber were worn just enough so the left side of the chamber wasnt getting as much crop as the right. Add to this is was rather rough straw what didnt want to feed smoothly

This meant when it tied, the left string was slightly slack, and as the stripper arm came across to pull the knot off, instead of the knot popping off the hook it just took the slack up in the tied string

2 new packer fingers, 700 bales that day and not one missed...back to how it should be.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

IHC can be the same, but there is several holes in the top of the packer arm, moving in to a different hole depending on the crop, this gets a even feed

 

[John 1594]

IHC can be the same, but there is several holes in the top of the packer arm, moving in to a different hole depending on the crop, this gets a even feed

MF has 3 holes for the main packer, and sliding adjuster for the ones on the pickup...

when the fingers are worn though, doesnt matter how you adjust them, when i measured the old packers against a new one there was 3" worn off the bottom tips!!!

always had to run our IH in the bottom hole regardless of crop, any other hole and it wouldnt work at all

 

[Boohoo]

There must be more than 1 version of the manual because all mine says is 'lubricate plunger inside bill hook barrel or have bill hook changed by your distributor' and that's for occasional broken knots not every other bale.

 

[Boohoo]

Different knotter to our MF20 i know, but that decided to play up the other day, its usually faultless.

It started hanging the knot on the left billhook. At the same time the bales started to be a bit wonky. After watching it miss its 3rd knot i worked out the issue, so rediculously simple and nothing to do with the knotters!!!

the packer fingers sweeping into the chamber were worn just enough so the left side of the chamber wasnt getting as much crop as the right. Add to this is was rather rough straw what didnt want to feed smoothly

This meant when it tied, the left string was slightly slack, and as the stripper arm came across to pull the knot off, instead of the knot popping off the hook it just took the slack up in the tied string

2 new packer fingers, 700 bales that day and not one missed...back to how it should be.

Now you say that I remember that problem when we had a 20, was cured when it baled it's packers. 124 has metal packer fingers and is making a solid, well formed bale so that isn't the problem

 

[John 1594]

There must be more than 1 version of the manual because all mine says is 'lubricate plunger inside bill hook barrel or have bill hook changed by your distributor' and that's for occasional broken knots not every other bale.

Every other bale.....right, trip the knotter and get someone to turn the baler by hand, prefferably with crop in the chamber..see what it does, take some photos if needs be

do the spikes on those spiral hooks look ok, if one of those is bent and not picking up the string maybe?

 

[John 1594]

Now you say that I remember that problem when we had a 20, was cured when it baled it's packers. 124 has metal packer fingers and is making a solid, well formed bale so that isn't the problem

My old packers were made from plywood, and had worn terribly...

i fashioned new ones from a plank of mahogany out of the side of a pettit trailer!!!!!!

 

[Boohoo]

Every other bale.....right, trip the knotter and get someone to turn the baler by hand, prefferably with crop in the chamber..see what it does, take some photos if needs be

do the spikes on those spiral hooks look ok, if one of those is bent and not picking up the string maybe?

I got someone else to drive and I walked alongside, the problem is definitely the knot hanging on the bill hook until it breaks. Should've taken pictures or a video at the time. Will try breaking up a few bales and feeding them through but it likely won't do it in the shed when there's no risk of getting wet!

 

[Boohoo]

My old packers were made from plywood, and had worn terribly...

i fashioned new ones from a plank of mahogany out of the side of a pettit trailer!!!!!!

Mahogany will last a lot longer, I made packers for our 20 out of an old window sill

 

[Hilly]

If you have a phone with video, video it in action and watch back in slow motion.

 

[John 1594]

The billhook, this has a roller on it...that roller should be in contact with a steel or cast plate,which is pressured by a spring?

the plate can get a groove in it where the roller runs, causing the hook to jam. Had that issue before with various makes...take the plate off, counting the turns on the tensioning nut as you unwind it. Flap disc on a grinder, smooth the plate off, replace, tighten spring back up to where it was, possibly turn it another flat of the nut to account for the worn material you have removed with the grinder

 

[Henarar]

There must be more than 1 version of the manual

There is more than one version, I think the older one was much better

 

[Boohoo]

There is more than one version, I think the older one was much better

Mine is dated 1994 so long after they stopped making the 124 and well into the 'ring the dealer' era. I'll have to see if the older version is available to download.

 

[Boohoo]

Is this the version of the manual that has all the settings in it?http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122132835497

 

[Boohoo]

Old thread revival since I've finally solved the problem. I bought another operators manual and a workshop manual in 2016 and checked the settings but the baler wasn't out again that year or last. Was out a few weeks ago and it didn't go well but I noticed that the twine wasn't being cut right through the odd time so removed the twine knife and it came out in 2 pieces.

Where it was broken meant that it was still held in place but it must've been able to move a tiny bit under pressure and miss part of twine.