Hints and tips

Chris is the busy chap who looks after our new machines as they arrive from Finland, helps farmers familiarise themselves with the kit on delivery and strips and rebuilds part-exchange Kortes and Murskas. (That's his rear on the right in our workshops.)
No-one in the country knows more about keeping crimping machines working. Before he joined us in 1999 he was a farm manager with 250 high yielders to feed - with crimp of course.

This month's tips are:

• From experience, I have come to the
conclusion that instead of trying to
replace non-greasable bearings with
the greasable type it is cheaper and
easier to use triple seal bearings: we
have all types in stock. Block the
grease hole in the bearing with a bit of wood.

• Keep the elevator chain adjusted - youshould be able, with a little effort, to
move the chain sideways on the
bottom sprocket. But do make sure that the top sprocket is parallel with the top of the elevator.

• When the crop is moist enough not to
need water, an airline with a lance canbe very useful to clean crimped grain
away from the back of the scraper
blades and push it down to the auger.

• To lubricate and extend the life of the
chain, carefully spray some thin oil
through the bottom elevator flap onto
the centre of the chain while the
machine is ticking over.

• To save down-time maintain your
machine regularly, making sure that
you carry spare parts that are most
likely to cause trouble (bearings/belts). We stock all genuine parts.

• Always make sure that you release the jack after use so that the rollers do not hold any material between them that
may lead to rust on the rollers.

• It's wise to put the cut-off shut in place when the machine is not being used.
You can then look inside to check that no foreign body has got inside the
hopper before you load a bucket of
grain and risk the feeder shaft being
clogged when you next use the
machine.

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