modifying mouldboards

[Bury the Trash]

to make them work better, give them a bit of extra push over etc. not really referring to tail pieces exactly but the mouldboard itself .
have you done any , any tips on welding etc.
i guess some may have modified match plough boards before.

 

[JockCroft]

Seen ones with additional height maybe 3" to 4" cut from matching old boards, welded with MIG.

Nice one, was section of disc coulter welded to shin as a knife. Dont know how it was welded but stood up to a few stones.

Was once helping at setting more twist on Ransomes boards for match ploughing. It did not end well. Two propane felting torches heating and a tool made that clamped on to boards which were still bolted to frog at front, stay removed. After cooling took one board off and held against other. Was miles different. Twonights followed and eventually both shaped very similar.
After an hours practice ploughing one of the boards broke. Was welded up but was not a success.

 

[Bury the Trash]

possibly the heating took away some tensile strength./made a bit more brittle
ive sucessfully welded up ucn boards before that have a habit of snapping in the throat when quite worn. and possibly did a ycn one although memory fails me on that one.

maybe it will just be the welding on of a tail piece in a different /better for final push of furrow slice than the standard bolt positions offer.

 

[massey765]

I clamped a new yl183 to an old one that was the correct shape ….. pepper pot and and a dozen clamps ….. heated to yellow hot clamped moved on 3” and repeat till it was all clamped up put the hose pipe on it. Undid the clamps and it didn’t move so end up with a matching pair ….. done one season ploughing with them and ya can’t tell which one was welded

 

[Bury the Trash]

do you think i could do the same with a dowdeswell dd clamped to a kv no. 8

 

[massey765]

do you think i could do the same with a dowdeswell dd clamped to a kv no. 8

why ?

 

[Bury the Trash]

I'm not one for taking lots of photos and this is one that's already on here from a few yr s ago,
not apparent in that field because it was fairly wet at the time and the furrow slice was rolling over nicley.
but in drier conditions our loam doesn't get the last bit of push to settle iy right over and it can at time s even tip back a bit after leaving the tail of the mouldboard.
they missed their chance ....Dowdeswell should've gone further with that mouldboard when they developed it and added more metal , but no they stayed true to traditional Ransome format of proper semi digger whereas the like s of kverneland and kuhn with the h4 took semi digger neck /throat and body plus added extra in the form of a tail end twist and press .
see the blue marking or there abouts to show what imo would make them work more reliably overall......
if slightly harder to pull / offset ,extra weight and expense being the negatives.

 

[Welderloon]

I'm not one for taking lots of photos and this is one that's already on here from a few yr s ago,
not apparent in that field because it was fairly wet at the time and the furrow slice was rolling over nicley.
but in drier conditions our loam doesn't get the last bit of push to settle iy right over and it can at time s even tip back a bit after leaving the tail of the mouldboard.
they missed their chance ....Dowdeswell should've gone further with that mouldboard when they developed it and added more metal , but no they stayed true to traditional Ransome format of proper semi digger whereas the like s of kverneland and kuhn with the h4 took semi digger neck /throat and body plus added extra in the form of a tail end twist and press .
see the blue marking or there abouts to show what imo would make them work more reliably overall......
if slightly harder to pull / offset ,extra weight and expense being the negatives.

I'd say that's perfectly do-able @Bury the Trash.
Because the soil is at the tail end of the turnover with those boards then a section could be added without much stress being applied to either the welded area or the rest of the board as you are only trying to maintain the soil throw that is already in motion.
for a starting point use the Kuhn or KV philosophy regarding length/curvature - possibly use one as a pattern
I'd look towards a set of worn boards with an acceptable contour which could be plasma cut to suit basically to maintain a similar hardness as the motherboard - doesn't necessarily need to be the tail end of a board, could be a middle or front of whichever style of board as long as the contour is right & a plasma cutter won't lay down much heat cutting the shape.
options:-
1: Find worn boards from 'any' plough which have a suitable contour ( your ploughman's eye will be required to identify) & butcher, weld & dress the polished side flat to prevent sticking in claggy land
or
2: Find a tame Blacksmith/Engineer with a bit about themselves who could fashion some weld on tails for your boards from mild steel - someone with a pressbrake should be able to create the profile with some subtle creative bending - only issue with this is it will likely be mild steel which will wear faster than the parent board material ( hardox would be ideal but cost prohibitive more than likely)


The heat treatment processes of plough metal really effects the malleability then any further heating & shaping will either weaken it or make it more susceptible to cracking

I've 'engineered' repair sections for boards from worn boards, breast plates, maize skim boards & other manufacturers obsolete stock to adapt & overcome on a budget.
Decent Vee prep & a pre-heat then turn up the juice on the welder, she'll be fine.

 

[tomlad]

Mig weld ?

 

[Bokey]

I'd try adjusting settings before doing anything drastic

 

[Bury the Trash]

I'd look towards a set of worn boards with an acceptable contour which could be plasma cut to suit basically to maintain a similar hardness as the motherboard - doesn't necessarily need to be the tail end of a board, could be a middle or front of whichever style of board as long as the contour is right & a plasma cutter won't lay down much heat cutting the shape.
options:-
1: Find worn boards from 'any' plough which have a suitable contour ( your ploughman's eye will be required to identify) & butcher, weld & dress the polished side flat to prevent sticking in claggy land
or

yes there's plenty of replaced worn ucn and ycn boards here that would be ok for a section to be cut out of and used for the purpose that's what i was thinking, because as you say, they have the curves in places and should be the same type of metal.
length of added bit will be more critical than exact shape i think but they will have to be fairly consistent .
i don't want to have to add an extra stay to support the extra length as there's a fair bit of work in it anyway. will take quite a time to do well i fear which i guess, would be a different if it were for match ploughing but commercial is a bit different matter.

 

[Welderloon]

yes there's plenty of replaced worn ucn and ycn boards here that would be ok for a section to be cut out of and used for the purpose that's what i was thinking, because as you say, they have the curves in places and should be the same type of metal.
length of added bit will be more critical than exact shape i think but they will have to be fairly consistent .
i don't want to have to add an extra stay to support the extra length as there's a fair bit of work in it anyway. will take quite a time to do well i fear which i guess, would be a different if it were for match ploughing but commercial is a bit different matter.

I think if you pick 1x board set initially as the trial - either a front or rear to get your length/angle perfected then take it from there. A bit of trial & error in an unseen awkward bit of a field.
I'd look at stitching a far bigger extension piece on initially then trial & error trimming that down to the finished article. then once happy, cut it off & use as the marking templates for the others
Once you are happy then it could probably be done in reasonable enough time - would be a fine rainy/wet weather job - Plasma cutting the boards shouldn't take long if you have an exact pattern to cut around & in theory need little cleaning up, the vee prep & welding then grinding the soil face is what will likely take up the most time. - depends on how quickly you work & how keen you are to get on.

 

[ploughman1963]

The match boards I used were made by myself- I used dissimilar rods and an arc welder. The weld was softer than the board steel but the relatively smaller amount of actual ploughing meant that it wasn’t an issue but ima commercial situation I think it would be a problem

 

[Lazy Sod]

It looks as though the OP want to live up to his user name.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Yes indeed .

 

[Bignor Farmer]

It’s all possible but I wouldn’t bother on a commercial plough. Lots of gas, lots of time and hours of grinding/polishing!
Find the boards and setup that does the job you want and change the plough if necessary.