Square baler knotting issue

   / Square baler knotting issue #1  

jgreene33

New member
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
2
Location
bristol va
Tractor
kuboto 4030
Hey all and thanks in advance for any help. I have a ford 532 square baler. Ive been trying real hard to figure out why its not getting the twine around these bails. After a ton of failed attempts. New twine (not plastic) and a ton of looking and head scratching this is what I've come up with... the baler seems to me to be doing everything besides releasing the knot and sometimes the trigger that tells it when to tie sometimes does not go off (had an 8 foot long bail lol). This happens on both sides. the knot doesn't get pushed out of the billhook. that thing that swings past the billhook(plz forgive my lack of terminology)seems to be close enough to the billhook but it doesn't push it out. when we parked it last season roughly a year ago. It worked fine. Serious thanks to any that post. Im open to any suggestions and pulling my hair out...

and ps am I allowed to leave a link to my business website on this forum I wasn't clear on that after reading the rules.
 
   / Square baler knotting issue #2  
An old man told me one time to rub a little grease on the bill hook and the knots would come off like they should, not sure about the size arm. My new holland baller had a little wheel i had to replace. I would suggest a little grease and see what happens
 
   / Square baler knotting issue
  • Thread Starter
#3  
dan ty so much for your input. tried that. even heard not to do that. dirt would be better then grease. like that they where saying it needed friction. also heard the billhook should be smooth as a babys butt. so grease couldn't hurt to bad sept maybe when it comes to slipping. either way my billhook seems very smooth, no burrs whatsoever tried it dry as dirt and oiled. thanks though... mean it
 
   / Square baler knotting issue #4  
My baler is a old NH 269 so I'm assuming they're close cousins, any way those knife arm that scraper is mounted to is suppose to be soft steel so's you can bend them to make them rub tighter on the bill hook. Make'em rub a little tighter and also the twine plate tension springs may need tightening. I've been doing battle with that ol' warhorse of mine am still having problems. One thing I just did fix was put new holes and bolts (went to 1/2" bolts) in the knotter assembly side plates they were worn so bad that when the knotter went it motion the whole assemby would rock and make the trip arm too tight. Just check for movement in the assembly where there shouldn't be. bjr
 
   / Square baler knotting issue #5  
Sounds like to could be either the wiper arm is not close enough to the bill hook, or the bull hook isn't releasing.

The long bale problem will be the metering wheel/trip arm. If you can trip the arm manually at any point and it will start a tying cycle, then the problem is the metering wheel isn't working correctly. If you trip the arm manually and it doesn't try to tie, then it's something in the drive mechanism.

If you're not clear how the knotters are tripped and are supposed to work, try watching this a few times:

Small Square Baler Knotter - YouTube
 
   / Square baler knotting issue #6  
Fantastic video. I've been trying to understand the knotters for years. I've always attributed it to FM.
 
   / Square baler knotting issue #7  
I am not sure of the Ford baler but here goes from a post I did elsewhereI think all NH knotters are the same in operation and many are identical across a range of machineI have had super^^, 317 (an australian made machine and 570 machines and worked on supre68 69 and 275's
Knots hanging on the bill hook can have several causes
! Knife arm scraper is not adjusted properly the curve of the bill hook. The cure is to (very technical this) hit the knife arm scraper with a hammer and bend it toward the curve of the bill hook it scrapes across
Take the retaining pin out of the knotter assembly and lift up the assembly and the knife arm scraper should contact the curved bit and make lifting the assembly difficult it should take quite some effort to lift the assembly
Even if the knife asrm scraper makes strong contact it can have wear that means there is a lead under which the twine enters and forces the knife arm scraper away from the curved bit if that is the case you may need to grind the knife arm scraper so it makes foll contact across the contact surface in the direction of travel OR buy a new one!
2 Knife arm travel is too short (have yet to see this) Cure is to adjust the knife arm to clear the end of the bill hook by 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch
3. Knife arm roller worn or not there Cure: new roller or knife arm
Blunt Knife ; there is a small triangle shaped knife that cuts the twine Cure: remove the knife arm and knife you do this by pulling out the split pin and with the knotter assembly lifted up wriggle and jiggle til the knife arm comes out(can be tight) sharpen the knife or replace it You may have to drill out 2 rivets but NH can supply little replacement bolts
4Twine holder tension too little CURE tighten the twine holder tension 1/4 turn at a time it is I recall a 9/16 SAE hex nut at the side with a compression spring under it not too much at a time!!!!
5. Bill hok cam too tight CURE loose off the hex head on the flat non-descript spring on the RHS on;ly1/8 turn at a time try the machine after every adjustment
6.roller on the knife arm damaged CURE needs a new knife arm good news is you get a new knife at the same time but you must adjest the knife arm contact to the bill hook
There are about another 6 or seven possible causes but they are very very rare in my experience
I have just read BJR post and the Twine holder problems are rare but first tighten the twine holder spring bolt and check the twine timing if it is retarded string stays on the billhook and check the twine finger timing if that is retarded then string on billhook again but these issues are very rare
Hope this is of some help
 
   / Square baler knotting issue #8  
FOR OVERLENGTH BALES
Again I am not familiar with Ford but NH have a measuring wheel that runs on the forming bale that in turn winds up an arm that in turn trips and causes the knotter to kick into action happily known as the trip arm
that trip arm sits outside the bale chamber LHside and you can adjust the distance it drops down thus adjusting bale length
that trip arm is a crescent shape at one end with a hook on the bottom and it is connected by a pin to the knotter and held taut by a spring
a toothed wheel (drive disc) is on the measuring wheel shaft that is recessed within side discs a bit like a cotton reel on steroids and contacts the crescent shape just as the crescent shape meets the hook at the end there is a knob at the side of the crescent
The wheel winds the rescent up and the knob goes past the micddle of the side discs and the wheel then falls into the hook pulled in by the spring to trip the knotter
Wear on the crescent shape causes rhe knob to run into the discs and the wheel spins on the crescent and cannot cause the wheel to drop into the hook to trip the knotter into action it is like the drive from the measuring wheel is bogged and just spinning on the crescent
CURE
1 remove the crescent, some are soft metal against a hardened driving wheel in the discs, and you will see it is not a smooth curve , build up the face of the crescent with a mild steel welding rod grind back to a smooth shape refit
Cure2
Buy a new crescent and refit
Cure 3
check the disc drive and make sure it has teeth that grip
Some disc drives have hard fine teeth like a file and a smooth crescent others are toothed like cogs
THERE can be another cause of irregular bales but this usually gives short bales
The knotter brake a small disc brake holds the knotter mechanism in its place after cycling long bales can be caused by that being too loose if so tighten the spring loaded nuts
 
   / Square baler knotting issue #9  
Your ford is like my neighbors NH 269..it was having the same problem so and like you he had tried numerous things to get it to work.
I took the worm gear pinion on the knotter assy and the knotter pinion gear and built the worn "rolling" edge back up with weld and then ground it down smooth, polished it, put it back together and bent the "stripper arm" just a little and every thing is going great so far this year...over 2500 bales so far and no more trouble out of the knotter assy. Hope that makes sense and helps you.
 
   / Square baler knotting issue #10  
You said "when you parked it last year" Did you park it in a shed where the baler got no rain on it or was it in the rain where the duck bills got rusted and rough? If the duckbills get rusted it is often better to get new ones and be gone with it. Run your fingers over the surfaces of the duck bills and if you feel even the slightest roughness you can try to smooth them up with emery cloth or replace them. The grease trick is to keep rust off of while it is in the shed over winter.
 
 
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