Simtech questions

[Stuart J]

I've two simtech questions!

Do users feel there is enough deep soil movement? Or would it benefit from some sort of pancracker or subsoiler in front of the drill?

Can a box drill be converted to air? I.e. swap the box with an accord hopper and metering?

 

[steveR]

I've two simtech questions!

Do users feel there is enough deep soil movement? Or would it benefit from some sort of pancracker or subsoiler in front of the drill?

Can a box drill be converted to air? I.e. swap the box with an accord hopper and metering?

Most DD users want minimal soil movement I thought!!

 

[Michael S]

I've two simtech questions!

Do users feel there is enough deep soil movement? Or would it benefit from some sort of pancracker or subsoiler in front of the drill?

Can a box drill be converted to air? I.e. swap the box with an accord hopper and metering?

I took the conscious decision to buy a no-till drill rather than a strip till drill - if you think strip till is the place to start I'd buy a Claydon and change it to a lower disturbance setup when you are ready. I think if you want the pneumatic hopper you're best to start off that way.

 

[rob1]

I've two simtech questions!

Do users feel there is enough deep soil movement? Or would it benefit from some sort of pancracker or subsoiler in front of the drill?

Can a box drill be converted to air? I.e. swap the box with an accord hopper and metering?

Did an experiment a few years ago by using a low disturbance subsoiler in front of mine, was no difference, if you have a bad pan then perhaps but cant see any benefit, cant see an issue in putting a accord unit on as long as you can attach the metering wheel but why would you want to ?

 

[Longpod]

I've two simtech questions!

Do users feel there is enough deep soil movement? Or would it benefit from some sort of pancracker or subsoiler in front of the drill?

Can a box drill be converted to air? I.e. swap the box with an accord hopper and metering?

We have a low disturbance Sumo Grassland Subsoiler which we use straight after harvest. On our clay land, we feel that it helps with the drainage and allows us to drill much sooner after rain in the Autumn.

We feel that the draft work should be done straight after harvest and not trying to pull a leg through in the Autumn in less than ideal conditions.

 

[clbarclay]

You can convert any box drill to air within reason. If you can, then I would change to air instead of box. It doesn't take a whole lot of fabrication to put an Accord hopper on anything, but not that cheap if you need to by a hydraulic drive for the fan. Still totally worth it for single point metering.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

Apologies for the dairy farmer question but what are the advantages of an air drill over box?

 

[towbar]

especially useful on smaller plots as seed hopper empties totally unlike box where you have to try and spread seed over all wheels as it empties.
On side hills air drill more even metering - box drill can loose seed flow to outside openings as seed level drops.
overall seed flow more accurate as any wear etc on box drill can impact seed rate differently across outlets
currently use an accord on top of an old moore drill but have a desire to make a tine drill for beans and as the accord sits on a quick attach frame hope to swap it over and back.

 

[steveR]

especially useful on smaller plots as seed hopper empties totally unlike box where you have to try and spread seed over all wheels as it empties.
On side hills air drill more even metering - box drill can loose seed flow to outside openings as seed level drops.

I assume the Simtech is similiar to the metering on the Aitchison, but I have found the small "mini hopper" effect inside the box, on each metering unit seems to handle the issues you describe, quite well.

My previous box drills over the decades, did indeed suffer the problems you describe...

 

[Renaultman]

I wonder if Simtech would supply a drill without the hopper or metering unit?

 

[clbarclay]

I've not kept up with how the box drill has developed in the last few years since I had a demo, but most of my gripes with the drill related to it.

I think the box on their demo unit then was built for 18 rows, but the drill only had 16 rows, so it had 2 blanked outlets amd the internal baffles weren't matched to that, which made running it empty very tedious.

 

[neilo]

I wonder if Simtech would supply a drill without the hopper or metering unit?

They certainly sell one with pneumatic metering & hopper, so why would you want to pee about getting a bare unit & cobbling something on?

 

[Renaultman]

They certainly sell one with pneumatic metering & hopper, so why would you want to pee about getting a bare unit & cobbling something on?

I want to put one on the front, at the moment I'm fantasy drill building do it's just curiousity

 

[neilo]

Apologies for the dairy farmer question but what are the advantages of an air drill over box?

You can tramline with the pneumatic version, but not with the box drill. However, a box drill will cope with a bit of rubbish in an uncleaned ‘off the heap’ seed, whereas an air drill will block individual coulters and shove the correct seed rate down the remaining coulters.

 

[Stuart J]

I want to put one on the front, at the moment I'm fantasy drill building do it's just curiousity

Seed hopper on the front? I did wonder about that, but wondered if the drill benedittd from the extra weight.

 

[Renaultman]

Seed hopper on the front? I did wonder about that, but wondered if the drill benedittd from the extra weight.

Yes that's crossed my mind too.

 

[Renaultman]

How has the Simtech gone in this wet back end? Has anyone used it as a conventional drill, behind the plough/cultivator in this we weather and got away withit?
Also specifically to those running 3m box drills how do you manage with the extreme seeds, ie OSR and Beans.
TIA
Tony

 

[robs1]

How has the Simtech gone in this wet back end? Has anyone used it as a conventional drill, behind the plough/cultivator in this we weather and got away withit?
Also specifically to those running 3m box drills how do you manage with the extreme seeds, ie OSR and Beans.
TIA
Tony

Not done beans but osr was fine the twice I used it for that.

 

[Michael S]

How has the Simtech gone in this wet back end? Has anyone used it as a conventional drill, behind the plough/cultivator in this we weather and got away withit?
Also specifically to those running 3m box drills how do you manage with the extreme seeds, ie OSR and Beans.
TIA
Tony

The Simtech will go wetter than most and wetter than you probably should be going, but I find it best to remove every other ring on the packer in these wetter conditions. Working into cultivated land is generally OK but the firmer the better. Because of the rigid frame getting the depth behind the tractor wheels can be a problem.

Drilled into Trio'd, Carriered and rolled:

After once round I stopped and went back five days later:

Drier after five days:

 

[Wigeon]

Aitchison here, but going ok. No packer to block, but depth wheels still pick up a bit. Following with grass harrows to level- not ideal but seems to be working.