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Bale-Powered Inoculator
Enos Beiler lets his bales power the inoculant applicator on his baler. He eliminated the need for a 12-volt battery and an on/off switch. Thanks to a belt drive, the applicator runs at the same speed as the bales that move through the bale chute.
  “I bought a Gandy box applicator, but all the other parts I needed were scraps I had salvaged off of other projects,” says Beiler. “I did have to special order a belt to fit the drive pulleys.”
  Beiler mounted the applicator on two vertical steel legs above the bale-making chamber. A third leg is angled back from the applicator tank to the bale chamber to counter pressure from the belt drive.
  A star wheel from a previously used applicator mounts near the rear of the bale chute. Beiler added a pulley to it and bolted a 2 by 2-in. angle iron as a vertical leg just ahead of the star wheel. Two pulleys at the top of the leg raise the drive belt above the knotter and other baler mechanisms to a drive pulley on the applicator.
  The upper pulley directs the belt to the applicator from the star wheel and can be mounted in any of 3 holes. The lower pulley redirects the returning belt. It is mounted in a slot so Beiler can adjust it for belt tension.
  “The star wheel drive means the applicator stops when hay is not moving through the bale chamber,” says Beiler. “I’m not wasting inoculant when turning or not picking up hay, because I forgot to hit the shut-off switch.”
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Enos Beiler, 4508 W. Rohr Rd., Montezuma, Ind. 47862 (ph 765 245-2399).


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2021 - Volume #45, Issue #3