NH baler knotter trouble -- twine slipping under billhook

[grassward]

Hay folks,

Found and joined this forum just from this frustration. Running an old NH 1972 282 baler. It's not in great shape by any means but has made a couple dozen tons of small bales the last couple of years since I inherited it.

This year the right knotter has been failing about 25% of the time (loose knots, short tails, sometimes no knot). After making all of the adjustments I could think of from reading the manual and various forums, and talking to neighbors, finally called the local NH mechanics.

After many hours of the NH guys working on it (and of course selling me a new billhook and knife arm for the right side), it now has this problem: the needles drop the new twines in the holders correctly, but then they slip under the billhook instead of staying laid on top, in position for the second twine to get knotted with them. This now happens on both knotters. The NH guys tell me it's just "too old" and "worn out", but they can't actually explain why this is happening. So I'm unconvinced until I can figure out what is actually going on.

I've talked to a bunch of people but no one seems to have seen this problem. It seems like it must be something to do with the movement and position of the knife arms as the needles are recessing, so that they're not in the right place to keep the twine above the billhook.

I've been staring at this thing for two weeks and the grass is just getting older. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Brian

 

[nwhittemore]

Either rebuild the knotters or buy new knotters.

 

[RickB]

Check your twine finger adjustments and make sure the twine finger return spring is in place and intact.

 

[hawkeye08]

Back in the 70s, Pa was using IHC 57 (2) and IHC 56 balers. The dealer mechanics could never figure them out, they usually made it worse. Pa took a notepad and wrote things down as he figured on it. When he was done, not only did all the knotters work properly, but he understood all aspects. There were a number of problems on the used 57 and used 56 balers that he was able to fix, but he had the newer 57 that did not have issues to study and compare. Have you searched for youtube videos that show how to adjust or even just how it is supposed to work?

Small Square Baler Knotter - YouTube Perhaps around the 10 minute mark is the bill hook you mention..

 

[grassward]

Thanks for the replies. I have spent a lot of time with the baler manual, the special knotter manual, and maybe every knotter video on youtube. Have adjusted the twine fingers -- I also believe they're out of the picture when the twine issue happens, because it's at the very end of the knotter cycle, after the knot has been tied and the new twine has been placed.

NH says that some of the knotter parts for the 282 aren't made anymore. I also think that rebuilding the knotters would cost more than the baler is worth.

 

[RickB]

Check your twine tension at the twine box. There may be grooves worn in the plates. You can turn the top one 180 degrees and the grooves won’t line up, the twine will be held better.

 

[nwhittemore]

Check your twine tension at the twine box. There may be grooves worn in the plates. You can turn the top one 180 degrees and the grooves won’t line up, the twine will be held better.

I didn't even think about the tension plates. We use nylon twine now and have to turn them each season and replace ours about every 4 years. Another thinking point is what twine are you using? sisal or nylon? what length rolls? Our 282 wouldn't work with nylon worth a crap but did fine on 9000 foot sisal and our 565 knotters clog up using sisal but never misses a beat using nylon.