[chompy]

I have an '06 9760 with the fine cut, electric up/down chopper, and want to make up a narrow windrow chute to try out on a few paddocks this year.

Anyone else out there made one that works well and can be quickly changed from rowing to chopping? Any pictures, measurements, ideas or tips would be great. I have some great ideas from the AHRI site
Windrow burning - a good place to start > Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative : UWA

but thought I'd ask around for any other design ideas, before making all the mistakes for myself TIA.

 

[Ozzie]

I have an '06 9760 with the fine cut, electric up/down chopper, and want to make up a narrow windrow chute to try out on a few paddocks this year.

Anyone else out there made one that works well and can be quickly changed from rowing to chopping? Any pictures, measurements, ideas or tips would be great. I have some great ideas from the AHRI site
Windrow burning - a good place to start > Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative : UWA

but thought I'd ask around for any other design ideas, before making all the mistakes for myself TIA.

Lookin to do the same. Question I have is do you need to narrow the row for large canola rows. We grow bulky canola crops and have been burning rows as deposited out the back of an STS just bypassing the chopper. (redikof MAV) It seems to burn fairly well and I think we would have problems if the discharge opening was narrowed.
As for your 9760 I would question whether the one shown on the UWA site would capture all the weeds. With the galeforce wind coming off the chaffer much of the weed seeds will still be airborn as it goes past the guiding vanes. Unless the falling straw captures it maybe.

 

[phantom970]

You blokes probably already know, you need the chutes to place the row no wider than 600mm to get the hottest burn. As for big canola rows, trust me, by the time it gets out of the discharge beater there is not much left of the bulk. It will not block. Do heavy irrigated canola and wheat every year now with the chutes and don't have a problem. Have them on 9760,9870 and 690. Use the same ones on all machines, just have different holes to suit. Nothing fancy, just a bit of cut and shaped sheet metal both sides and a chain at the bottom to control the width. Will take a pic some time this morning, there not mounted yet for this season but you should get an idea. All chopper machines have a corn cob deflector plate, put this into corn position and it helps stop the dust blowing out of the folded up chopper and up into the engine bay.

 

[chompy]

Thanks Ozzie and Phantom. I was also wondering if the chute needs to be closed off at the back to capture the lighter ryegrass seeds (like the waltons one in the link), and if so, do you need to be aware of blocking off too much airflow from the sieves?

I'm looking at trying it in some wheat this year - no canola in. Machine has a 36 foot front, with ryegrass as the main target, but also have some red brome and wild oats.

Phantom, yours sounds similar to most designs, so I guess it's proven. I like the idea of a chain to control width. Are the wings hinged? A pic would be great, and perhaps one of how you mount it to the machine. Good tip on the cob deflector - in all my research I haven't heard that one yet. Thanks.

 

[chance2]

Back in the '70, Dad was playing around with his JD 7700 and didn't like the idea of lifting the heavy straw chopper on and off the combine to drop straw for burning. He made a second tail board, that curved down gradually and had veins to push the straw to the middle instead of spreading it out over 20 feet. In effect, still using the chopper, but using the chopper to make the narrow windrow. It made a narrow tight 18 inch wide windrow that burned slow and hot. The only thing to do was to pull the stationary knives out of the chopper and change the tailboard to make the narrow windrow. Very easy on the back instead of trying to manhandle a 320 pound straw chopper.

The newer John Deere combines like the S670, S680, even the 60 and 70 series STS, could produce a pretty tight windrow off the chopper with a similar tailboard. Putting the weed seeds through the impact of the chopper would also help smash up some of the seeds, (not all by any means.) The tailboard on the chopper has a hinge point and 2 hangers, so copying the original tailboard and adding a curve to deflect the straw down at a 45 degree angle would not be to hard to make. Add some fins to direct the straw toward the centre and it should make you a nice narrow dense windrow.

The one nice part of his design was when windrowing on a windy day. A cross wind did not have any effect on the width of the windrow. It didn't matter if the crop was thin or heavy, it all went in to the windrow. When you stopped the combine, it just made a small little pile.

 

[Ozzie]

You blokes probably already know, you need the chutes to place the row no wider than 600mm to get the hottest burn. As for big canola rows, trust me, by the time it gets out of the discharge beater there is not much left of the bulk. It will not block. Do heavy irrigated canola and wheat every year now with the chutes and don't have a problem. Have them on 9760,9870 and 690. Use the same ones on all machines, just have different holes to suit. Nothing fancy, just a bit of cut and shaped sheet metal both sides and a chain at the bottom to control the width. Will take a pic some time this morning, there not mounted yet for this season but you should get an idea. All chopper machines have a corn cob deflector plate, put this into corn position and it helps stop the dust blowing out of the folded up chopper and up into the engine bay.

Yes phantom but I don't have a foldaway chopper. Its a Redekof MAV and when not chopping you change hinged chutes that drop the straw and chaff before it gets to the chopper. Last year even barley straw with a lot of green weeds in it was blocking the chute without narrowing it. Turns the header into a very good big square baler! Only problem is the bale is on the inside of the machine!!!!

 

[Ozzie]

Back in the '70, Dad was playing around with his JD 7700 and didn't like the idea of lifting the heavy straw chopper on and off the combine to drop straw for burning. He made a second tail board, that curved down gradually and had veins to push the straw to the middle instead of spreading it out over 20 feet. In effect, still using the chopper, but using the chopper to make the narrow windrow. It made a narrow tight 18 inch wide windrow that burned slow and hot. The only thing to do was to pull the stationary knives out of the chopper and change the tailboard to make the narrow windrow. Very easy on the back instead of trying to manhandle a 320 pound straw chopper.

The newer John Deere combines like the S670, S680, even the 60 and 70 series STS, could produce a pretty tight windrow off the chopper with a similar tailboard. Putting the weed seeds through the impact of the chopper would also help smash up some of the seeds, (not all by any means.) The tailboard on the chopper has a hinge point and 2 hangers, so copying the original tailboard and adding a curve to deflect the straw down at a 45 degree angle would not be to hard to make. Add some fins to direct the straw toward the centre and it should make you a nice narrow dense windrow.

The one nice part of his design was when windrowing on a windy day. A cross wind did not have any effect on the width of the windrow. It didn't matter if the crop was thin or heavy, it all went in to the windrow. When you stopped the combine, it just made a small little pile.

I like this idea. just withdraw the knives to reduce fuel use and make a chute to concentrate what comes out of the chopper. We love our chopper (MAV) even though its a bulky thing that restricts access to chaffer etc because it keep the engine bay so clean. Compared to spreaders that is. We are on the south coast WA so its not a question if its windy, just how strong lol

 

[rod]

Came across this courtesy of Agronomo
AGRONOMO Consulting & Training - Giving a RATS online - Burning windrows from big cereal crops can beÂ*done

 

[chompy]

Plenty of good info there, Rod - thanks!

Reversing the spreader vanes might be something to try for sure. I'm sure it would be less likely to block up. Only problem is it might over thresh things in certain conditions.

I like the idea of bypassing the chopper entirely, to save the extra threshing and perhaps some power and diesel too, but I'm not entirely sure if it can be done.

Great ideas, thanks

 

[rod]

Plenty of good info there, Rod - thanks!

Reversing the spreader vanes might be something to try for sure. I'm sure it would be less likely to block up. Only problem is it might over thresh things in certain conditions......................Great ideas, thanks

I have a wide body CR with later model chaff spreaders (bigger & further back) plus chopper. Fitting a chute in there is not as easy as it looks & certainly evokes the terrifying thought of turning the rear of the machine into a straw bale accumulator
I'm looking at the possibility of still running the straw through the chopper but will run it in low speed & take half the blades off the rotor (corn style).
Swapping some spreader vanes from side to side & lower the tail board - should work - & it will also make my sense, or risk of, straw constipation that much more reassuring.

 

[chompy]

Well, I finally got around to making one up the other day and thought I'd post a few pics if anyone else was interested. I decided to go against adjusting the vanes and tailboard because it would mean dealing with 23 bolts every time I wanted to change from windrowing to spreading.

A wider V that went outside the body of the machine, and bolted to the axle would have been nice, but I was worried about it getting too close to the ground, and needing the extra room up top for the axle to pivot without doing damage. Guess I'm a bit paranoid about blocking her up

This design is lightweight, pretty simple, and attaches with 3 bolts per side. I used 25mm RHS, and some 1mm galv sheet

Here's the basic frame and mounting points I started with. The tailboard is shifted to the lower position and it bolts directly to that, and also to the chopper frame at the rear.

Frame is 600 x 800mm. I added another 400mm towards the rear later. The rear corner of the frame would catch on the chopper if it was turning, but the chopper is disconnected, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I also drilled a 'midway' setting for the cob deflector handle, so it directs the straw more towards the front of the V, but still away from the chopper as Phantom pointed out.



Galv sheet was tekked on. I decided to add a strip of rubber belting to the bottom with teks, so that it could be narrowed up if required. Better to start too wide, than too narrow!
All finished up it looks like this.


From behind you may just be able to make out the widths I texta'd onto the bottom tailboard.
Without the rubber belting, the gap at the bottom is 600mm, and is 700mm off the ground.
With the belting on the gap is around 400mm wide, and 500 off the ground. I'm thinking this might be a bit too narrow, and might need a snip?


It's a 5 minute job to fit/remove, but at this stage the design is unproven, so if anyone can see any glaring errors, don't be shy about pointing them out!
Hopefully I'll be able to get it into the paddock next week if all goes well, and we'll see how many modifications need to be made.

 

[Ozzie]

Well, I finally got around to making one up the other day and thought I'd post a few pics if anyone else was interested. I decided to go against adjusting the vanes and tailboard because it would mean dealing with 23 bolts every time I wanted to change from windrowing to spreading.

It's a 5 minute job to fit/remove, but at this stage the design is unproven, so if anyone can see any glaring errors, don't be shy about pointing them out!
Hopefully I'll be able to get it into the paddock next week if all goes well, and we'll see how many modifications need to be made.

Looks good, should work well. Luckily you have a hinge up chopper, mine don't so I am going to try running it through the copper with knives withdrawn and reverse the guide vanes. Good luck, let us know how it runs.
Ps. Don't forget to reverse if you stop

 

[chompy]

Ok, here's a post harvest report.

It worked pretty well without the rubber strips in the picture above. The straw was contained in a row probably no more than 500mm wide, but I felt that some of the lighter material was being blown out a bit wider, partly due to the fact that it was un-guided from 700mm off the ground.

I added a couple sheets of galv to the bottom, going straight down to form a neck on the funnel that stopped 200mm from the ground. I felt that this worked better, but looking at it in operation there was still a small amount of spillage of lightweight material from the air chutes on the back of the chaffer, and from the small triangular area where the chopper hinges open. How much of this is weed seeds will be revealed later on, but next year I'll probably look at closing these off.

If it's hot and dry its hard not to overthesh, which makes a lot more fines that are easy to blow out of the windrow - particularly if you have a cross wind.
In more typical conditions around the 12-13% grain moisture mark, it does a very good job, keeping a fairly compact row of straw and chaff.

I used it mostly in 2 - 3.5T/Ha wheat, which it handled perfectly with no hint of blocking. My brother has a 9600 with a chute he made, but in the same paddock he was having problems at night with blocks, while going half the speed. I think the problem is that the 9600 only drops the straw off the walkers into the chute, where sometimes the funnel bridges.

In contrast, the discharge beater on the rotary machine throws the straw through the chute with force. Plus the walker machine is a lot softer on the straw. Combine those two and the 9600 windrows looked double the size of the rotary's.

I had them on and off 3 times, and it's probably less than ten minutes changeover for one man.

I only blocked it up once. The first 100m of harvest - in peas that were still a bit green. I was concentrating so much on the major battle to get them up the draper, that I forgot about the windrow chute .

To cut a long story short, through my own stupidity I now have an insight into what you northern hemisphere guys put up with .

 

[Ozzie]

Ok, here's a post harvest report.

.

Thanks for the info, glad it worked for you.
I did what I planned too. Removed all the vanes from the redeckop. Put the two largest back on but reversed so they pulled everything back in narrow and lowered the tailboard down fully. Withdrew the knives. It worked a treat. Nice narrow rows and because its propelled down the pattern is not affected by our near constant strong winds. There is a small amount of escapes from the crop loss monitor sensor pads.
Will have to figure that out next year. May also fit a larger driven pulley to slow chopper rotor to use less power. Will try to post some pics.
BTW did you see that new data on radish seed set. Only takes about 5-7 generations to develop early maturing plants that drop seeds before collection

 

[chompy]

Sounds like a simple and hassle free mod. I thought all the JD's had a two speed chopper?

Hadn't seen that trial data, but I'm not at all surprised about it. Natural selection will always find a way. I did see a WA article on the time taken to shed brome, ryegrass, wild oats and radish seeds, and the take home message was to harvest your weediest crops first . Talk about turning things upside down!

It seems like every method we use for killing weeds, has a limited lifespan.