2000 - Volume #24, Issue #6, Page #31

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Do-It-Yourself Tool Makes Baler Repair Easy

Do-It-Yourself Tool Makes Baler Repair Easy FARM SHOP Tools 24-6-31 It used to take Lynden Krym a whole day to straighten out bent pipe slats in his older model Sperry New Holland round baler. Now, using a tool he designed, he can straighten slats right in the machine in about one hour. "The tool is simple and mechanical, just a screw jack operated by an impact gun," says builder Krym's neighbor Todd Dennis, who built the tool for Krym in his machine shop. "One man could operate it but it's quicker and easier with a second set of hands to hold in place while another person operates the impact gun." The backbone of the tool is a 5-ft. long piece of 2 by 3-in. steel tubing. Mounted at the center is an automotive screw jack. The drive shaft for this jack has two small U-joints and a slip sleeve, leading back to the outer end where a welded-on socket is driven by an impact wrench. Each end of the tool has a 12-in. post with a large hook to grasp the chain slat. "Our first version of the tool had shorter arms at the end, but the screw jack had to start out totally screwed flat. The jack doesn't have much power when it's flat, so we lengthened the outer arms. Now, with the 12-in. throat, the screw jack is past half-way before it starts to push on the chain slat." The present version of the tool only pushes in the middle but Dennis is going to make some changes so the screw jack can put pressure at any point along the slat. "The slats don't always bend in the middle, so we need to add this feature to the tool." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Todd Dennis, Box 35, Rosser Manitoba R0H 1E0 Canada (ph 204 467-5091).