[FPBF]

We're running an R40 for the first time this year (replacing an F2 we ran for several years), and we are having trouble with a dirty sample picking soybeans. Cylinder speed is 600, concave is 0.25" and we're seeing pods and stubble in the sample. The sieve and chaffer are set up according to the manual.

We have tried closing up the chaffer and opening the sieve a little bit and that helped just a little.

Should we try slowing the cylinder speed down, or increasing fan speed, or...?

Otherwise the machine is picking fine; We have not problem with split beans or with loss. These are 40bu/ac beans located in eastern NC.

 

[pehinric]

Open up the cylinder. If you are getting pieces of stubble you are grinding the stalks to much. You want to thresh just enough to open the pods and leave everything else as whole as possible. Today's beans are designed for shelling so you do not have to grind the beans out of the pods like in years past.
Also, turn your fan up. If your accelerator rolls are good you should never blow beans out the back. The accelerator rolls increase the weight of the bean as it goes through the air blast and because of the round shape of the bean, there is hardly any flat surface area for the air to "lift" the bean. The other MOG is lighter and flatter and catches more air thus getting blown out the back.
Keep the plant as whole as possible thus staying inside the cage and use the air blast under the accelerator rolls to blow the majority of the MOG out the back.

 

[mattalx]

600 does seem a little slow for soybeans. The general rule of thumb that I use is fast as you can without cracking the kernel. I've been running my R62 and R72 around the upper 700's near 800 in soybeans. That really shouldn't affect how clean the sample is as much as clearance and fan settings. I would look closely at the accelerator rolls. If you can stick a pencil between them then they need replacing

 

[gleaner-r76]

I had that issue on my 78, it was the cleaning fan choking up with bean dust. Had a leak on the rear feed chain door letting green material to enter the fan. For a few days it drove me crazy. I would clean it and do fine for awhile until it choked. Finnaly found the leak. cleaned the goop off and clean sample the rest of the fall. I've ran the cylinder and concave at every setting possible and still have a clean sample. Dirty sample is usually a air problem.

 

[tbk]

3/8" hole sieve makes a huge difference, open the chaffer, turn up the wind and slow down the cylinder and pods will be a thing of the past!

 

[FPBF]

Thanks everyone! We'll give these suggestions a try tomorrow and post back.

 

[pgagnon]

Tbk what is 3/8 hole sieve?

 

[tbk]

Tbk what is 3/8 hole sieve?

OK, I'm sorry. It's a perforated sieve that replaces the adjustable sieve. They work great for soys and some edible beans around the same size. I've heard some use them in wheat as well. With your wind and chaffer set right, the cookie sheets out of the shoe and perforated clean grain and tailings boot doors in place, your sample will darn near be suitable to sow for seed.(say that real fast five times!)

Agco and some aftermarket guys like Lowen made them, Agco should have them, but really expensive, like $1,000+. J. Vorderstrasse can make one up for you much cheaper and just as good 402-469-8058.

I think you actually pick up a little more shoe capacity as well.

 

[FPBF]

We opened the cylinder, ran it from 500 to 600 (ended up @ 600), ran the fan nearly wide open, closed the sieve, opened the chaffer a bit, and things ran somewhat cleaner. There's still a little trash in the hopper. I hope to tweak some more on the weekend. Rain is coming tomorrow.

Here is a pic of what we were seeing in the hopper:

 

[tbk]

Ya know, I might be all wet but I think I'd be inclined to close your concave back down some and slow the rotor down to @475-500 RPM. Wouldn't that give the material a little more time for separation and keep the threshing action about the same. I did something like that with my R50 this fall because I was getting shoe overload, including my tailings conveyor as well as increased rotor loss. When I did that rotor loss dropped to about nothing and the sample cleaned up quite a bit without any splits or cracking.

I always figured it was cylinder/rotor speed that most often contributed to damaged grain and excessive MOG from grinding up the stalks, not concave clearance, and that slowing the material flow gives the cage a better opportunity to do the primary separation without losing grain at the discharge. Am I thinking right?

 

[BP78]

Run your air wide open. Check out the acc rolls and the cylinder bars. Speed sounds too high for our area. I am in eastern NC also. I think it is over threshing

 

[FPBF]

Will slow down the cylinder speed and check the accelerator rollers tomorrow. The entire machine was rebuilt front to back 800 hours ago, so I suspect the accelerator rollers are good, but will check to be sure. Cylinder bars are in good shape.

 

[FPBF]

Ya know, I might be all wet but I think I'd be inclined to close your concave back down some and slow the rotor down to @475-500 RPM. Wouldn't that give the material a little more time for separation and keep the threshing action about the same.

Closing the concave back down and running the rotor @450 cleaned things up nicely, so it appears you were not all wet on that point.

Picked for the last two days nicely. Tried picking late this evening and the impeller got clogged up. I'm guessing it was dew causing the bean vines to soften up and get stringy, but it may have been a wad of pig weed. So Monday we get the pleasure of cleaning that out which sounds like lots of fun.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

[FPBF]

OK, I'm sorry. It's a perforated sieve that replaces the adjustable sieve. They work great for soys and some edible beans around the same size. I've heard some use them in wheat as well. With your wind and chaffer set right, the cookie sheets out of the shoe and perforated clean grain and tailings boot doors in place, your sample will darn near be suitable to sow for seed.(say that real fast five times!)

I'm going make this modification over the next few weeks. The plan is to take an adjustable sieve, remove the louvers, and weld 16ga, 0.375 51% open perforated steel into the openings.

 

[FPBF]

Run your air wide open. Check out the acc rolls and the cylinder bars. Speed sounds too high for our area. I am in eastern NC also. I think it is over threshing

The accelerator rollers are in rough shape. Picture attached. I plan on replacing them before picking beans.

 

[FPBF]

Picture