Students Turn Combine Into Huge Air Planter

Students Turn Combine Into Huge Air Planter COMBINES Conversions 6-3-22 Three Agricultural Engineering students at Iowa State University, Ames, have done what no major manufacturer has been able to do. They've turned a big, self-propelled combine into a king-size air planter for corn, soybeans and other crops to get double use out of the most expensive machine on the farm. Steven Haverly, Donald Barnes and Brent Dorman set out to use both an existing combine and conventional planter components. First, they attached a bracket to the throat of the feederhouse to allow for 3 pt. hitch type mounting of the planter toolbar. Using the grain tank as seed hopper, they mounted a "Wil-Rich" air seeding system, which consists of a pair of soft rubber rollers, at the bottom of the tank. Seed falls into a chute beneath the rollers and is blown by fan through tubes to each opener. To obtain a positive ground drive for the planter metering unit, a spring-loaded drive wheel was located on the seed hopper. A combination of various size sprockets is used to obtain the desired planter rate. The drive wheel is lifted with a hydraulic cylinder. When the planter is raised, the drive wheel is also raised, stopping the flow of seed to the openers. Spacing of rows was a problem because they could not run the combine wheels over the freshly planted seeds. The students offset the planter, lining one row up with the combine's centerline, three rows to one side and four rows to the other. Row markers were set one half row width shortert han normal and one of the planter units was driven down the mark in the field. The biggest objection to using the combine for planting was the possibility of damaging the combine. The students point out that they were only risking the drive unit and not the all important threshing unit. The advantages ù getting double use from combines, avoiding the cost of an expensive planter, and freeing up a tractor's seedbed preparation - far outweigh any disadvantages, they point out. The combine planter was designed by the students as an entry in an Iowa State University ag engineering design contest. Other entries included: An automatic braking system for trailing farm wagons, which features a spring-loaded plunger that sets the brakes if the hitch breaks loose from the tractor; and a combine grain yield meter that mounts in the grain tank and gives on-the-go electronic readouts of grain yields. The designers say you'll eventually be able to take the readout from harvest and play it back through a planter to adjust planting rates on the go to the uniform yield level you want; and a steering limiter for tractors that automatically limits sharp turns at higher speeds to prevent tractor rollovers. For more information on any of the projects, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: FARM SHOW Followup, Dr. Wesley Buchele, 107 Davidson Hall, ISU, Ames, Iowa 50011 (ph 515 294-3917).

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