[mx270a]

We've got a pair of 2388s here in Iowa that only see corn and soybeans, about 50% of each. I know we don't have them "dialed in" quite the best, so I'm looking for suggestions on what to change. One is a 1999 model the other is a 2002. Both have the specialty rotor, large wire concaves, and keystock grates.


Corn:
2208 corn heads, 160-210 bu/ac, 15-25% moisture, 3-4.5 MPH.

In the past we either don't pull any wires on the concaves, or only pull every other wire on the front concave only. I understand that we should probably pull every other wire on the front two concaves, but should we do the third as well, or what determines that?

Early on this past season, we had a bad time with rotor losses. It seems we kept getting corn kernels going out the back of the machine, despite changes in the rotor speed, traveling speed, and concave setting. It was after this that we pulled every other wire on the front concave, which did help the problem some. We did have a lot of leaves going through the machine, which I think was carrying kernels out the back. Would more/less speed have helped here?

I'm also told that we should make sure we have 8 straight bars on the rotor (that it comes with 4 stock). I'm not sure what exactly I have right now.


Soybeans:
1020 25' flex headers, 40-70 bu/ac, 9-14% moisture, 3-4.5 MPH. Rarely any green-stem beans.

We won't be spending the money to get an AFX rotor, so is there anything we should look at doing on the current specialty rotor, such as spikes or different bars?

We don't run concave covers, but I'm starting to thing we should. As I understand this, I can pull every other wire on the entire front concave and just leave it that way. When switching to soybeans, I would cover up the first concave to get more threshing of the pods.


Thanks in advance for any input,
Lance

 

[unit2]

Several years ago when I traded for some 1688 machines the salesman told me if I want to make real corn machines out of them I should pull every other wire out of all three concaves. That's what I did and that is what I've been doing ever since even before I ever take the machines to the corn field. I even leave them out for soybeans. Some of my customers are awfully particular but they never complain on the job I do for them. I've always felt that if you are going to throw a crop out of the back of an axle flow it is going to come off the rotor. There is so much capacity in the shoe that it very seldom goes over the shoe if you have the air and sieves set correctly. There fore it is important to get the crop away from the rotor as soon as it is threshed. If your bars and concaves are up to par there should be no reason to ever use cover plates especially in corn.
Now for beans, I guess some parts of the country they raise tougher threshing beans than we do here in Kansas. Even with the green stem irrigated beans I've never had a problem getting them out of the pods or getting pods in the sample even with every other wire pulled on all concaves. But I wish some one would tell me how to get the green stem beans through the AFX rotor. I can put a perfect sample in the bin and nothing on the ground but gosh it takes power.

 

[mx270a]

Thanks for the input guys. As for our soybeans, I know we always get at least a few pods and some cracked beans in the tank, but I think you'll always have some of that, although a small percentage. At 10% some of the beans will crack, and at 14% there will probably be some pods that won't crack open unless you really get that rotor spinning fast, but then you'll get cracked beans too.

Unit2, are you saying that in soybeans you don't have an issue getting pods in the tank, even with every other wire pulled and no cover plates? I didn't think that was recommended practice.

-Lance

 

[tomih]

Lance,

as you already know, we do have often problems with pods in the soybean sample. The best way, under our conditions, is to run the machine in the first section of the threshing part with the concave from small grains, as you use normally in wheat ( small wire). You have to decrease the r-speed to 300 rpm, otherwise you will crack the beans. The first concave is normally followed by two corn concaves, in the seperating section the first one is a large wire concave followed by two slotted grates. This is to keep the the straw going out of the machine slightly to keep much material away from the shaker system.

Do you really have rotor losses in corn, are you shure that it isn't a shaker system problem?
We do a lot of very wet corn with yields up to 310 bu/ac, and its always the shaker system that makes problems. You also have to be sure that you won't break to much cobs in the rotor area, otherwise those little parts will cover the seperation areas in the rotor and will following overload the sieves. Please let me know, probably we'll talk about our experiences in our next phone call!!!

Cu

TOM

 

[unit2]

That is right Lance, I've cut beans for the last 10 or 12 years with every other wire pulled in all three concaves and getting pods in the bin is not an issue. If I ever do get in a variety that puts pods in the bin, just fine tunning the seives cleans it right up.