Hopper Gauge For IH Air Planters

Hopper gauge for IH air planters PLANTERS Planters 17-3-7 "I've used it for 3 years with all types of seed and it works great with no problems. Total expense was just $5.00," says Steve Avery, Du Bois, Neb., about the simple sight gauge he put on his IH Cyclo air planter's seed hopper that tells him at a glance how much seed is left in the hop-per. Avery made the gauge out of two pieces of 1/4-in. dia. steel reinforcing rod and a toilet float ball. One piece runs horizon-tally across the inside of the hopper (9 in. from top of hopper and 7 in. from front of it), anchored on one side with a nut. It extends out the other side of the box with a 2-in. pointer curved around the front of the hopper. This piece of rod pivots up and down. The pointer moves between "empty" and "full" marks painted on the hopper. The toilet float ball is screwed onto the other piece of re-rod, which clamps solidly onto the pivoting horizontal rod. The float ball rests onto top of the seed and, as the level- of seed drops, the ball drops, turning pointer rod on front of the hopper. When filling the hopper, the float is held up out of the way by a hook at top of hopper so it doesn't get buried by seed. "The design is simple and there's nothing like it on the market. The company fits the hopper with a view glass but it only shows the top of the hopper, not the bottom. It's annoying when you get to the back of a field and your seed monitor tells you you're out of seed. With this gauge, I know when seed gets low so I can refill at the optimumn time without extra trips or skips in the field. It's nice not to get off the tractor to look in the hopper all the time," says Avery. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Steve Avery, Rt.1, Box 31, Du Bois, Neb. 68345 (ph 402 859-4520).

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