14T knot is getting stuck

[coondle]

First thing to do is replace the wire wound on the wiper arm shaft with washers, really shims ie different thickness washer/s to give a firm fit without end play but not so tight as to impede the rotation of the wiper arm. The billhooks are usually really shiny, although I assume they have been cleaned up. If a smoother finish is needed use wet and dry paper of at least 400 grit and instead of dry or with water use a small quantity of lubricating oil on the carborundum paper, it may also be known as emery cloth. The oil helps give a very smooth finish.
The wiper should make a reasonably wide contact with the billhook. The video shows only a small contact not central to the centre line of travel on the billhook. The video shows contact to the left of centre.
Although filing is a last resort, I think that the wiper of the knife arm should be very gently filed to give a rounded profile to match the curved profile of thebillhook that the wiper traverses. The knife arm should be bent to give good contact of the wiper to the billhook and the wiper should not have any taper in the direction of travel such that twine would wedge under its leading edge.
You have asked the question in regard to knife clearance from the twine disc holders. The knife arm when fitted with the shims should not foul on the twine holder discs but does not have to be in very close proximity. The knife itself should be sharp and can be touched up with an oilstone to make it almost razor sharp.
In the passage of the knife arm toward the billhook to wipe the formed knot from the billhook, the knife passes the tightly tensioned strings and cut them only a moment before the wiper removes the formed knot from the billhook and can do so because the twine ends have just been cut leaving a small residue length of twine, about 1 inch long which falls out of the twine disc holder and the other end is already held in the next station of the twine disc which rotates ready for the next bale to be formed. That end which was held and cut off from the looped and just formed knot is the little bit of cut twine that appears on the top of the bale chute behind the knotters.
I like zzby6's use of two crescent spanners to achieve adjustment of the wiper arm. Much more controlled than my hit with a hammer.
After a few failed knots build up on the billhook, the knots pull very very tight on the billhook and are almost impossible to remove so the wiper has to jump over the growing bundle of knots and is bent away from the billhook just as zzby 6 says.
To get the build op of knots off the billhook, undo the knotter from its secured position and swing the knotter up as is shown in the video and flick the billhook tensioning arm off the billhook roller, this allows the billhook beak to open and gives you room to cut the sides of the knot tangle from the billhook with a sharp knife. Do not use something like a hacksaw blade because the teeth can damage the smooth surface of the billhook. Replace the billhook tensioning arm snugly over the billhook roller. Fold the knotter assembly back down and secure it in position.
Good luck with the fix, and happy baling.

 

[macecase]

Wiper arms are made of malleable iron. That means its softened and bends without breaking. The manual instructs you to bend the wiper arms so that they make hard contact with the billhooks. It should take 5 - 10 lbs of force to pull the arm across the jaw when its done correctly.

I use TWO Crescent type wrenches to do this with the arms in place: First one is on the arm itself and the second one is on the first wrench. This allows you to draw the wiper area back to a contact position without having to remove it from the knotter frame.

No need to file or grind the wiper in the contact area. Check the other side, too. The manual indicates that there is such a thing as a 'modeling tool' available to do this same adjustment, but the two wrenches give me all the movement I need. We're not talking a quarter inch, it should only be off by 1/16" or so before trouble starts.

These parts don't get out of adjustment because of wear usually. It's because other causes of knot failure make multiple knots build up on the billhooks and this makes the wiper bend away to clear the tangled up twine.

I will try this when I get back to the baler in a few days. Thanks a lot!! I will report back.

 

[macecase]

First thing to do is replace the wire wound on the wiper arm shaft with washers, really shims ie different thickness washer/s to give a firm fit without end play but not so tight as to impede the rotation of the wiper arm. The billhooks are usually really shiny, although I assume they have been cleaned up. If a smoother finish is needed use wet and dry paper of at least 400 grit and instead of dry or with water use a small quantity of lubricating oil on the carborundum paper, it may also be known as emery cloth. The oil helps give a very smooth finish.
The wiper should make a reasonably wide contact with the billhook. The video shows only a small contact not central to the centre line of travel on the billhook. The video shows contact to the left of centre.
Although filing is a last resort, I think that the wiper of the knife arm should be very gently filed to give a rounded profile to match the curved profile of thebillhook that the wiper traverses. The knife arm should be bent to give good contact of the wiper to the billhook and the wiper should not have any taper in the direction of travel such that twine would wedge under its leading edge.
You have asked the question in regard to knife clearance from the twine disc holders. The knife arm when fitted with the shims should not foul on the twine holder discs but does not have to be in very close proximity. The knife itself should be sharp and can be touched up with an oilstone to make it almost razor sharp.
In the passage of the knife arm toward the billhook to wipe the formed knot from the billhook, the knife passes the tightly tensioned strings and cut them only a moment before the wiper removes the formed knot from the billhook and can do so because the twine ends have just been cut leaving a small residue length of twine, about 1 inch long which falls out of the twine disc holder and the other end is already held in the next station of the twine disc which rotates ready for the next bale to be formed. That end which was held and cut off from the looped and just formed knot is the little bit of cut twine that appears on the top of the bale chute behind the knotters.
I like zzby6's use of two crescent spanners to achieve adjustment of the wiper arm. Much more controlled than my hit with a hammer.
After a few failed knots build up on the billhook, the knots pull very very tight on the billhook and are almost impossible to remove so the wiper has to jump over the growing bundle of knots and is bent away from the billhook just as zzby 6 says.
To get the build op of knots off the billhook, undo the knotter from its secured position and swing the knotter up as is shown in the video and flick the billhook tensioning arm off the billhook roller, this allows the billhook beak to open and gives you room to cut the sides of the knot tangle from the billhook with a sharp knife. Do not use something like a hacksaw blade because the teeth can damage the smooth surface of the billhook. Replace the billhook tensioning arm snugly over the billhook roller. Fold the knotter assembly back down and secure it in position.
Good luck with the fix, and happy baling.

Thank you for the detailed answer. I will try to fix and will report back. I appreciate your input!

 

[macecase]

First thing to do is replace the wire wound on the wiper arm shaft with washers, really shims ie different thickness washer/s to give a firm fit without end play but not so tight as to impede the rotation of the wiper arm. The billhooks are usually really shiny, although I assume they have been cleaned up. If a smoother finish is needed use wet and dry paper of at least 400 grit and instead of dry or with water use a small quantity of lubricating oil on the carborundum paper, it may also be known as emery cloth. The oil helps give a very smooth finish.
The wiper should make a reasonably wide contact with the billhook. The video shows only a small contact not central to the centre line of travel on the billhook. The video shows contact to the left of centre.
Although filing is a last resort, I think that the wiper of the knife arm should be very gently filed to give a rounded profile to match the curved profile of thebillhook that the wiper traverses. The knife arm should be bent to give good contact of the wiper to the billhook and the wiper should not have any taper in the direction of travel such that twine would wedge under its leading edge.
You have asked the question in regard to knife clearance from the twine disc holders. The knife arm when fitted with the shims should not foul on the twine holder discs but does not have to be in very close proximity. The knife itself should be sharp and can be touched up with an oilstone to make it almost razor sharp.
In the passage of the knife arm toward the billhook to wipe the formed knot from the billhook, the knife passes the tightly tensioned strings and cut them only a moment before the wiper removes the formed knot from the billhook and can do so because the twine ends have just been cut leaving a small residue length of twine, about 1 inch long which falls out of the twine disc holder and the other end is already held in the next station of the twine disc which rotates ready for the next bale to be formed. That end which was held and cut off from the looped and just formed knot is the little bit of cut twine that appears on the top of the bale chute behind the knotters.
I like zzby6's use of two crescent spanners to achieve adjustment of the wiper arm. Much more controlled than my hit with a hammer.
After a few failed knots build up on the billhook, the knots pull very very tight on the billhook and are almost impossible to remove so the wiper has to jump over the growing bundle of knots and is bent away from the billhook just as zzby 6 says.
To get the build op of knots off the billhook, undo the knotter from its secured position and swing the knotter up as is shown in the video and flick the billhook tensioning arm off the billhook roller, this allows the billhook beak to open and gives you room to cut the sides of the knot tangle from the billhook with a sharp knife. Do not use something like a hacksaw blade because the teeth can damage the smooth surface of the billhook. Replace the billhook tensioning arm snugly over the billhook roller. Fold the knotter assembly back down and secure it in position.
Good luck with the fix, and happy baling.

Good wiper are that does work:



Worn wiper arm that dies not work:



As an update to this post, we finally got around to working on this Baler. Comparing the wiper arms, it is very clear that the one that does not work is very worn. We took it off and brought it to a welder who is working on it right now. When he gets finished, we will put it back on and see how it works. It is expected that we will have to do a little bit of grinding to make it fit properly. In addition, washers will be put on in place of the bailing wire that was used to keep this wiper arm space properly.

I appreciate everybody's feedback and wanted to give an update so you all knew it was still being worked on.

I will update this post when the wiper arm is put back on. I will hand cycle a few times in trip the knotters manually to confirm it is fixed.

 

[macecase]

Any thoughts on what to do?

I took the wiper arm off and brought it into a welder that was local. He knew the minute I walked in with it in my hands that I had knotter issues.

After about 10 days I swing back in there and he had it all done up. I must say that I think he did about as perfect a job as possible by the looks of it. I installed it back on the baler (with new washers/shims instead of baling wire!!). I put it through a hand cycle and the know stayed like before. I am not discouraged as I feel the pressure from the bale and also the speed of the action will probably let it push off of there. As you can see from the pictures, it looks about perfect.

I will hook it to the tractor and throw some hay from a big round bale as soon as weather permits to test it out.

 

[coondle]

No I do not think the wiper will remove the knot if it will not at hand speed.
The billhook looks too rough to allow smooth wiping.
The wiper needs to make firm contact with the billhook across a curved shape on the wiper.
The knot hanging on the billhook could also be caused by a whole raft of things, more than a dozen:
I will go through the most likely and if the knotter was giving trouble before there have possibly been many adjustments tried to remedy resulting in mis-adjustment now.
1 the knife arm travel being too short the wiper on the knife arm should go about1/2 inch past the end of the billhook at full stroke.
2 The knife arm roller is worn or missing, the roller rides in the cam and makes the knife arm move .
3Tension on the twine holder spring is too low
4 wear and roughness on the billhook and tongue will cause the knot to hang
5 wear groove on the billhook tongue
6 this is the most likely because operators always fiddle with billhook tension when knotters do not work properly. The billhook tension is too high. The adjustment is the castle nut with spring under which can be seen on your video at 1:12 where it is above and to the right of centre screen.
You can get an idea of comparative tension by lifting the arm on each knotter that the spring tensions and feeling the force you have to apply
The vee shape under that arm to the left of the spring puts tension on the billhook and if unsure after feeling the force necessary on both sides, loosen the castle nut until there is very little force needed to lift the arm. If too loose you get a bow knot and then tighten no more than 1/4 turn and retry.

Good luck.