Home-Built Baler Monitor

Home-Built Baler Monitor HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Balers (6) 21-1-33 Joe Roske didn't want to spend the money to have the computerized monitor on his Case-IH 3650 round baler repaired, so the Hubbard, Sask., farmer decided to build his own replacement monitor. "It doesn't operate quite as automatically as the original one, but it works just as good and cost less than $100 to build," says Roske. The monitor controls the bale-tying operation. The new monitor looks identical to the original one except that it's equipped with a spring-loaded switch instead of a button. Roske threw away the original monitor and bought new toggle switches, indicator lights, buzzers, and circuit breakers at a local hard-ware store. He used 14-ga. metal to build a control box that contains the wiring for the unit. "I've used it for two years now and it works great," says Roske. "I built it because the computer chipboard on the original monitor continually burned out due to a short in the wiring. I had to have it repaired three times at a cost of $100 to $500 each time. Even after it was repaired it never worked right. A new replacement monitor would have cost about $825. "On the original monitor the operator held a button to set the number of wraps, but on my monitor I use a spring-loaded switch that controls the motor's polarity. Flipping the switch to the left reverses the motor and puts the twine tie arms into motion. Flipping the switch to the right makes the motor go forward which causes the twine tie arms to move over a few inches. Letting the switch go cuts off power to the motor. "It took a while to figure out the wiring, and I had a lot of trouble finding a plug-in for it. Case-IH wouldn't sell me a separate plug-in. I finally salvaged one from a wrecked truck. The monitor is equipped with a 20-amp circuit breaker so if there's ever a short in the wiring it won't burn anything out." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joe Roske, Box 100, Hubbard, Sask., Canada S0A 1J0 (ph 306 795-2867).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.