Simtech owners Thoughts, tips, advice

[adam_farming]

That is not a Simtech Drill. Its an Aicheson drill... very very different machines and manurfacturers

I realise it's a bit different, but thought there might be some commonality with the Simtech hence my post. Thanks for the other link, could have done with that info before I applied for the grant and bought the drill. Never mind, perhaps there's a way around all this.

 

[Wigeon]

I realise it's a bit different, but thought there might be some commonality with the Simtech hence my post. Thanks for the other link, could have done with that info before I applied for the grant and bought the drill. Never mind, perhaps there's a way around all this.

When I had mine I extended it to 4m to give more clearance between the tines- I made up some wings to bolt onto where the hopper mounts on to frame. I'm sure to have them somewhere and cam dig them out if any use to you.

 

[adam_farming]

When I had mine I extended it to 4m to give more clearance between the tines- I made up some wings to bolt onto where the hopper mounts on to frame. I'm sure to have them somewhere and cam dig them out if any use to you.

Was it then a 4m rigid? I'd be interested to explore this, however access might be an issue as it's already wide enough for the places I have to take it!

 

[Wigeon]

Was it then a 4m rigid? I'd be interested to explore this, however access might be an issue as it's already wide enough for the places I have to take it!

Yup, rigid. Ended up taking hopper off and running it through a front hopper, though with a bit of imagination you could srill run it off the box.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Seems to have used less seed than when calibrated though… by your logic should put a higher seedrate?

not if the seed in the hopper is being settled/ compacted by the vibration (as it does ) then the sponge would find it harder and harder to pull the seed down ??
an example of that in box drills is
Our old Fiona's had / have or had an agitator running through them it what was /is a fairly steep hopper , always used it with that one engaged and with Wheat particularly say driving a distance to the field in transport with the hopper having a decent amount of seed in it could and did at times cause such settlement ,enough to shear off some of the plastic spigots on the feed rollers when it was put into work .

wouldn't been so bad with poorer sample of oats granted but all types of seeds used will alter insome way from the point they are loaded enmass into a hopper. to effect flow in different ways.

The type of work (a particularly tine ) drill that goes in relatively hard ground ' .will have increased movemnet of that type ,(one) of the reason old massey drills and some others had big daimetre wheels ,ie to smooth things out a bit

 

[Renaultman]

Yup, rigid. Ended up taking hopper off and running it through a front hopper, though with a bit of imagination you could srill run it off the box.

My Simtech has 16 tines but facilities for about 4 more, which are blanked off. I will try to get you some pictures over the next day or so

 

[Jsmith2211]

My Simtech has 16 tines but facilities for about 4 more, which are blanked off. I will try to get you some pictures over the next day or so

as they do a 20 row 3M option for grassland.

 

[Jsmith2211]

fixed the issue we had with uneven metering, turned out there was a load of crap built up in the plastic channels within the metering units. Scraped that off and gave it a good clean seems to be working right now

 

[Sprayer 1]

Well that's my drilling finished for this year, unless I get the combi out after 7 years of dd.

 

[pear]

Does anyone have any advice on how to stop seed hoses coming loose from the box drill. Its always been a problem (worse in a dry year), since I have had it, but I wasn't sure if anyone had any tricks to stop the buggers coming off! Its a Simtech T-sem 300 box drill.

 

[Jsmith2211]

Well that's my drilling finished for this year, unless I get the combi out after 7 years of dd.

Too wet?

 

[Sprayer 1]

Too wet?

Yes, sick of unblocking the roller. Usually finished drilling by 20th September and crops up and away by now but got held up , and to be honest, it never really dried up from a wet August on some of our clay land.

 

[Sprayer 1]

Does anyone have any advice on how to stop seed hoses coming loose from the box drill. Its always been a problem (worse in a dry year), since I have had it, but I wasn't sure if anyone had any tricks to stop the buggers coming off! Its a Simtech T-sem 300 box drill.

I took off those plastic clips and attached the pipes with jubilee clips.

 

[steveR]

not if the seed in the hopper is being settled/ compacted by the vibration (as it does ) then the sponge would find it harder and harder to pull the seed down ??
an example of that in box drills is
Our old Fiona's had / have or had an agitator running through them it what was /is a fairly steep hopper , always used it with that one engaged and with Wheat particularly say driving a distance to the field in transport with the hopper having a decent amount of seed in it could and did at times cause such settlement ,enough to shear off some of the plastic spigots on the feed rollers when it was put into work .

wouldn't been so bad with poorer sample of oats granted but all types of seeds used will alter insome way from the point they are loaded enmass into a hopper. to effect flow in different ways.

The type of work (a particularly tine ) drill that goes in relatively hard ground ' .will have increased movemnet of that type ,(one) of the reason old massey drills and some others had big daimetre wheels ,ie to smooth things out a bit

Aitchison has a simple agitator running across the hopper.

However, I don't like travelling a long way with much seed in the hopper for the reason you give, mainly as most of what I am using is small seed mixtures which will compact. I have a stick with me to give it a stir...

 

[steveR]

I took off those plastic clips and attached the pipes with jubilee clips.

I was told that some drills need this doing, mine has been OK.... so far.

 

[steveR]

Well we had a learning experience this weekend. First go out with the Aitchison.
Plan was to drill 3 fields:
2x ex wheat, chopped straw, not touched since the combine except roundup.
1x ex spring beans. Bit of weed trash including a lot of fair sized knotgrass.

Set off into the first field, got about 10m and this happened:
View attachment 1141383

Wet mat of straw just wouldn't flow through.

No problem I thought, I'll go in the ex bean field. Same problem except it was the knotgrass and other trash just wrapping around the tines.
Ended up getting the pigtail and discs back out, cultivating the field and drilling it. Was still getting the knotgrass blocking and being dumped on the headland but at least we've got 1 out of 3 fields drilled, and in fairly good order for the most part.
A neighbour offered to come and Terrastar the 2 ex wheat field but I went and tried the drill into one of his terrastarred fields and it still bulldozed the straw.

Ultimately I think the tines are just too close to allow a lot of loose trash through, wet or dry.

Plan now is to cultivate the fields as I did before having the Aitchison.

Learning points for next year:

Get roundup on ASAP after bean harvest to kill any knotgrass before it gets too big.
Consider baling wheat straw, OR
Consider taking out every other tine, which would make 250mm row spacings and allow trash to flow through, OR
Would moving the straw soon after the combine with some sort of rake/short disc machine do enough to start the straw breaking up?

All things to think about and learn from.

Wet mat of loose straw? Discs I am afraid.... Cultivating only works if you roll it well straight after I found, I use heavy discs and a cambridge roll in a single pass.

I direct drilled into a big crop of chopped wheat straw this time, and had the odd block initially, but got depth spot on and then cranked up the speed big time which kept the trash moving through. 12kph minimum. Autosteer was essential to be honest.

 

[Renaultman]

Does anyone have any advice on how to stop seed hoses coming loose from the box drill. Its always been a problem (worse in a dry year), since I have had it, but I wasn't sure if anyone had any tricks to stop the buggers coming off! Its a Simtech T-sem 300 box drill.

I'm planning on buying some thin wall stainless piles to sit inside of the outlets, so the jubilee clips have something to nip up to. Just need to remember to measure the inside diameter of outlets.
We had one split this year, which was a bit annoying for the work it has done so far.

 

[adam_farming]

Wet mat of loose straw? Discs I am afraid.... Cultivating only works if you roll it well straight after I found, I use heavy discs and a cambridge roll in a single pass.

I direct drilled into a big crop of chopped wheat straw this time, and had the odd block initially, but got depth spot on and then cranked up the speed big time which kept the trash moving through. 12kph minimum. Autosteer was essential to be honest.

Interesting on the speed aspect, not sure I could pull at that speed but worth a try. What is the tine spacing on your drill?

 

[steveR]

Interesting on the speed aspect, not sure I could pull at that speed but worth a try. What is the tine spacing on your drill?

6" or 150mm. Bit wide for grass work, but grand for 90% of my work.

 

[adam_farming]

6" or 150mm. Bit wide for grass work, but grand for 90% of my work.

Was that altered from standard? I'm at 125mm across 3 rows which I think is too tight, so first priority is to remove some tines, quite how many and how I arrange the remaining ones is up for debate as well as blocking off unused outlets