Mastermind Worksaws Finally Gets More Help

[Greenthorn]

http://louisville.craigslist.org/grd/5020876652.html

 

[Magnum783]

That is a great video I remember watching that when I was a young man working for my father watch that one and you will learn a ton.

 

[Alu]

Thats Good news! Remember to hawe lots of fun

 

[fordf150]

here ya go...my old POS baler that just wont quit and up until last year was stored outside. with a picture of those infeed teeth i was talking about earlier.

 

[Mastermind]

really? wish i did. closest is 50 miles away and not much help. i like massey tractors, just parts are scarce. i would see if they have a guy there can work on um if i was you.

Yeah, they are a Kubota dealer too, I went in there when my 135 was having power steering issues. They knew exactly what I needed, and even warned me about the pump seals. Said that after I fixed the gear seals, the pump seals would fail next. They were spot on......

http://louisville.craigslist.org/grd/5020876652.html

That one is bit too far away.

 

[Mastermind]

here ya go...my old POS baler that just wont quit and up until last year was stored outside. with a picture of those infeed teeth i was talking about earlier.

View attachment 427454 View attachment 427455 View attachment 427456 View attachment 427457 View attachment 427458 View attachment 427459

I wish those pics were a little larger Nate.

 

[fordf150]

now the faster and less labor intensive version. new idea's better idea's just so happens to be a better mouse trap this time around. I love my hydro drive rake. so much easier, quieter, less maintenance than a traditional ground drive. 4x4 round bales. ease of round bales but still manageable to move around by hand if the need arises. yep unfortunately everything i own sits outside except the tractor, manure spreader, and square baler. we put up a 21x42 metal building and still dont have to get stuff under roof hopefully we can get another machinery shed up next year and get the equipment out of the weather

 

[fordf150]

I wish those pics were a little larger Nate.

fixed for ya. my baler is a prime example of just how rough a baler can look but still function great. knotters, knotters, knotters. everything else can be cobbled together with twine and duct tape as long as the knotters function correctly and you learn how to tune them.

 

[Mastermind]

I've been watching some knotter vids. There's a lot going on in there huh?

 

[fordf150]

allot happens and it happens fast. something else with square balers. knotter performance sometimes depends on pto rpm too. one of those old balers i had like to run a couple hundred rpm slower than all the rest of them.

 

[fordf150]

i scrapped the last 68 super i had after i bought this baler. advertised it for $500 for months and couldnt sell it so i hauled it and a 12' haybine in for scrap. that thing put hay on the ground FAST but was just too big to pull between fields without folding it up which took 2 people and 45 minutes but i bought it at an auction for a couple hundred. used it for a few years and hauled it in for scrap and got more money out of it for scrap than i paid for it.

 

[High-Wall]

You fellers keep an eye out for me. I'd drive and fetch a baler if it was worth the drive.

Middle GA is the elephants graveyard for balers. Oh, I forgot, you aren't going to be there Saturday.

 

[Mastermind]

Middle GA is the elephants graveyard for balers. Oh, I forgot, you aren't going to be there Saturday.

LMAO

 

[Duane(Pa)]

I've been watching some knotter vids. There's a lot going on in there huh?

That is true. However, it really is almost as simple as a two stroke engine. The design is obviously updated from the first version, but remains very much the same as it was 80-100 yrs. ago. Don't be intimidated. I know that if you can understand the smoke and mirrors of porting theory, you will grasp the mechanical linkages and gear train of a knotter easily. I am often working alone, but if you have someone to roll the flywheel over slowly while you watch the knotter mechanism you can learn pretty quickly.
Newer balers have more pickup teeth spaced closer together and that really helps with a second cutting. The first cutting has plenty of stems and is easily picked up even with wide pickup tooth spacing. Learn as much as you can (pick that Massey dealers brain) before you pull the trigger. There are certain models that are highly regarded and of course some that are known PITA.
Before I got a proper mower, I took a rear shield off my brush hog and was able to make a crop using what I had available.
Balers with pan throwers (vs. belt type throwers) tend to self destruct. Each time the pan launches a bale there is a colossal shock wave throughout the entire drive train and subsequent metal fatigue. Cracks and welds tell the story. Most small operations get by with hand stacking, so not sure if you will need a thrower to start off with? I guess it kind of depends on Jon & Bubba if you know what I mean. I have this vision of a chimp driving the tractor, and the boys ranking the bales..... I also baled my first crop onto the ground and went back and tossed them on the pickup. Lots of options.

 

[fordf150]

3000 bales last year without a thrower. our ground is too steep to be able to pull the baler and a wagon on. drop em on the ground and come back later with a pickup and trailer. brush hog with a side panel removed does work in a pinch. we did that for a few years till i bought the cut-ditioner. first few years after i started farming again i did all my hay with auction finds. started with sickle bar mowers then upgraded to a brush hog with the side panel removed. old ford ground drive rake $50 with $200 worth of new teeth installed and a wheel that was only held on by one 3/8 shear bolt. it fell off at least once per field. also had a steel wheeled side discharge that i bought for $100 that i used on the 2 fields near the house. started out the first year with a john deere 14T that even with new knotters someone rode on the back of it to tie the bales it missed. over the next 5 yrs or so i upgraded when a deal came along. half a dozen or more 68, 68 specials then the 271 that at the time i bought it was super nice with shiny paint still. sold all but one of those 68 balers for at least double what i paid for em. finally ended up going to round bales when i found a nice 4x4 baler. upgraded slowly from the brush hog to a 7' cut-ditioner, NH 495 12' haybine, then finally my current NH 492 9' haybine. rakes there were too many to list but when i ran across that New Idea hydro that was less than a year old for under $3000 i couldnt resist and havent regretted that purchase. scrap has distorted the cost of equipment but i still think you can be set up to make square bales for under $2000 and have decent equipment that doesnt break down all the time. If i was closer im sure we could get you up and running cheap. couple years ago i had extra baler, rake, haybine that all got sold for scrap or scrap price just because i got tired of looking at them sitting in the weeds rusting away.

 

[Mastermind]

My neighbor has a NH311 that the chute is bent on. Hit by a car. I can get it for nearly nothing........but I'm not sure it's worth fixing.

I can get a package deal on the whole pile.....

I'm going to a ball game........I'll check in later.

 

[fordf150]

fixable...thats the type of stuff i would drag home and have out in the field the same week when i had more time than money....now i have no time or money

 

[Duane(Pa)]

I would grab that stuff (as cheap as you can). If most of the damage is behind that four bolt flange in the second photo, I think you can get that back in the field. That piece running under the bale case is called the needle yoke. It MUST swing free n true. It brings the twine through the bale case and places it before the twine fingers which pull it into the twine disc.

That 311 is modern enough to justify some work and investment. It is hard to tell if it is spragged forward of the bale case. If it isn't, I would think you could fix that one up. The oldest balers are the cheapest ones. The problem is, some are just flat worn out after all these years. The 311 should have some life left in it, if the damage is behind the "business district". Most of the important work happens in front of the knotter area. Back where that one is bent and rusted, all that is really going on, is friction to provide resistance for packing.
What is your time frame? If you have this year's hay arranged, I would think you could get that up, tested and ready for next year. You surely have plenty of irons in the fire...

 

[Mastermind]

fixable...thats the type of stuff i would drag home and have out in the field the same week when i had more time than money....now i have no time or money

I would grab that stuff (as cheap as you can). If most of the damage is behind that four bolt flange in the second photo, I think you can get that back in the field. That piece running under the bale case is called the needle yoke. It MUST swing free n true. It brings the twine through the bale case and places it before the twine fingers which pull it into the twine disc.

That 311 is modern enough to justify some work and investment. It is hard to tell if it is spragged forward of the bale case. If it isn't, I would think you could fix that one up. The oldest balers are the cheapest ones. The problem is, some are just flat worn out after all these years. The 311 should have some life left in it, if the damage is behind the "business district". Most of the important work happens in front of the knotter area. Back where that one is bent and rusted, all that is really going on, is friction to provide resistance for packing.
What is your time frame? If you have this year's hay arranged, I would think you could get that up, tested and ready for next year. You surely have plenty of irons in the fire...

There's quite a bit of rust under the knotter here that this pic doesn't show. I prolly would have to remove the knotter and build a new base. Not a huge deal there either though.

 

[fordf150]

Did you see my baler? The feeder trough is literally rusted completely through all the way across the back and there are holes rusted through the bale chamber.

Fix the bent up chamber and run it. As long as the all the bent up metal on that baler is behind the knotters I would just sledge it back straight with some strategic relief cuts and heat up the tough spots to bend them back. When it's all straight or close to it, weld up your relief cuts and go bale. yoke needs to swing free, and needles need to pass through the knotters at the right spot but needles are adjustable on the yoke so you have room to fudge it. Everything else is just there to hold the bale square and squish the bale so it really doesn't matter much if it's a little bent up.