NH 276 baler capacity

[Hay hay hay]

A few days ago I posted, asking for advice about low capacity baling with a NH276. I got some very good advice from you guys, but finally, after a summer of rain every 3 days, we have a dry weather window of several days and I am making hay while the sun shines.

Repairs are postponed. I am pretty slow at repairs anymore and a one day job may take me 3, at least. After hay season, I plan to do the things you suggested, but I am not looking forward to crawling into that working position.
Do you have any hints, tricks or secret ways to make the job easier?


Checklist:

Sharpen the knife on the plunger.
Check, shim and set the knife clearance.
Check the plunger guides/roller/slides for wear,and adjustment.
Make sure the cross feeder is in time
Run at 540 RPM.

I'll let you know how it worked...next spring.

 

[JD Seller]

Well all of your list is good place to start. The only one I would disagree with is the running at 540 PTO speed. I rarely run my balers that hard. Maybe if I am crowding the bailer I might run them that fast. Usually I just run mine at 80% or so. There is a place right in there it just runs quieter. Just about every baler I have ran was this way. Just listen while you are bailing and you can find what speed to run the tractor at.

As far as your capacity issue I still think your baler is out of time or something is wrong in the feeding system. The NH 276 is usually a great baler.

 

[randallinMo]

"In my opinion", small square balers are not the place to do "home repairs". Simple stuff, yes. Small balers need to work when they're supposed to. A two day delay when the hay is ready to bale is NOT the time for breakdowns. It takes someone with special knowledge to work on a small square baler. Every two years or so I'll take my baler to a guy who specializes in that kind of work. Even if my baler hasn't missed any bales all season, I"ll still take it in for a "tune-up". The last tune up found some things that would have set me back two or three days if I hadn't done the yearly checkup. When I took it to him I KNEW there wasn't anything wrong with the baler "at the time". What he found was "trouble just waiting to happen". It sounds like you're a little "nervous" about tackling this job. Do yourself a BIG favor and take it to someone who knows what they are doing. Peace of mind is worth more than you think.

 

[Part Time Pete]

I agree with JD Seller - mine seems most comfortable at around %80 in most conditions.
As far as getting to the knives, I pull out the tension rail on mine, and go in that way. There may be an easier way, but that's how I do it.
They're fun to work on, if you don't have a bunch of hay on the ground - good luck
Pete

 

[tomturkey]

That is a good plan, but if "that"" person does not exist in your community it is up to the owner operator. There is such a man in our community, He can fix and seems to know alot about alot. Problem; he is 80 yrs old, still sharp and able to do. But will he be there next week, and what will you do if he is'nt. just a thought.....gobble

 

[Hay hay hay]

Unfortunately, that guy in our town died 20 years ago and has not been replaced.

Have you tried hauling a square baler 37 miles to the NH dealer? Not easy.

I too, wish I could call in an expert...but can't.

 

[JD Seller]

Why haul a square baler???? I have pulled them behind a pickup for hundreds of miles. 30-40 miles would be easy. Just air the tires up a take off.

 

[IlliniJohn]

Agree, JD!
Just suggest that he also watch his hay windrows size and match tractor/baler groundspeed to them - -not too big of windrows or too small, don"t drive too fast or too slow, and don"t run the baler at a screaming PTO speed.
Its been 35+ years since I ran a NH 68, Case 220, and a NH 276, but agree need to take it easy, half throttle or a little better, at a ground speed where hay windrow that is just a little smaller than baler pickup flows smoothly into baler and is processed.

 

[showcrop]

I'll have to go way out on a limb here and disagree with JD Seller. I try to keep pretty close to 540 because of the momentum of the flywheel and plungerhead. When being run down around 430 part of the needed force (mass x velocity) has to come from brute push which is more stress on the joints etc. than higher velocity stroke. You can compare it to the probable outcome of a long cheater pipe on a rusted in bolt compared to an impact wrench. Some friends were starting out haying with a 24T and were running it slow to try to "be easy on it" and were breaking a lot of shear bolts. I told them to speed it up and let the fly wheel do its job. A few days later they told me that it worked much easier when they ran it faster. I was just passing on what I had been taught.

 

[JD Seller]

Showcrop: The NH 276 will shake the cross feeder apart much faster at 540 RPM. As far as shear bolts I have a bag of ten that I bought 5-6 years ago and I still have 6-7 left.

The NH 276 has a spot right around 80% of PTO speed that everything just works better. It runs quieter and the knotters work better too.

On the JD 14t and 24T you run them at close to PTO speed. Different baler and different running characteristics.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 15:08:39 09/08/13) Showcrop: The NH 276 will shake the cross feeder apart much faster at 540 RPM. As far as shear bolts I have a bag of ten that I bought 5-6 years ago and I still have 6-7 left.

The NH 276 has a spot right around 80% of PTO speed that everything just works better. It runs quieter and the knotters work better too.

On the JD 14t and 24T you run them at close to PTO speed. Different baler and different running characteristics.

I have never had anything to do with a New Holland baler but I am aware of the cross feed problems.

 

[NEBeef]

(quoted from post at 13:14:51 09/08/13)
I'll have to go way out on a limb here and disagree with JD Seller. I try to keep pretty close to 540 because of the momentum of the flywheel and plungerhead. When being run down around 430 part of the needed force (mass x velocity) has to come from brute push which is more stress on the joints etc. than higher velocity stroke. You can compare it to the probable outcome of a long cheater pipe on a rusted in bolt compared to an impact wrench. Some friends were starting out haying with a 24T and were running it slow to try to "be easy on it" and were breaking a lot of shear bolts. I told them to speed it up and let the fly wheel do its job. A few days later they told me that it worked much easier when they ran it faster. I was just passing on what I had been taught.

Strictly from a physics point of view it's actually worse that that. Remember that energy increases as the *square* of the velocity (e.g. E=MC^2), so if you run your baler at 380 rpm (about 70% of 540) your plunger has about 50% of the energy that it does at 540.

 

[T in NE]

Grandpa almost always ran ours, and I NEVER saw him run it a full 540. Right after he got it he proved the salesman right about "bale in the air at all times with a good winrow and a big horse" when my uncle's in-laws wanted to stack the wagons, and he still had his own hay to bale, with rain coming in, that may have been an exception.

We didn't run the haybine at PTO either. Couldn't tell you what RPM I ran the engine at today but I could put one behind an 684 or red 4240 and put it right there again.