Fresh knot spontaneous releases on small square bales, why?

tmac196 · Oct 11, 2013

My neighbor pitched in to help us finish our final cutting this year when our baler broke down. He has a New Holland 565 which is approx. 12 years-old and immaculately cared for. He had not used the baler for 5 or 6 years as he has slowly gotten away from the hay business. The baler had sisal twine in the twine box which had been sitting for all of that time or perhaps longer. The baler performed flawlessly, with one hitch. Every so often I would lift a bale onto the wagon and both knots would unknot suddenly under the load of the bale and the bale would burst open. At first I thought it was old sisal which was breaking, but upon closer inspection it was evident the knots were slipping open. This problem occurred every 10th bale or so.

I am interested in purchasing this baler from my neighbor to replace our aging one. Is this problem common? Could it be due to old sisal tine? Is it a knotter problem? The baler was used on approx. 20 acres for the first 7 years of it's life and has been idle since, so it is not particularly "worn". Evidently he has only used sisal twine in it.

Bales that were successfully produced had good solid knots, but the other 10% were another story. We used the same old twine on all of the bales so I can't answer the obvious question on all of your minds.

MFRED · Oct 11, 2013

I would try new twine first. I can't imagine using twine that's 6 or 7 years old. You would be amazed what problems twine can give you and you don't want to start chasing your tail.

oldnslo · Oct 11, 2013

Try the twine first and then look at cleaning the knotters second. We had a Ford baler many many years ago that we had to pour diesel over the one knotter every few hundred bales or it would misstie bales just like you are describing. Ran that baler for years with that one little quirk.

tmac196 · Oct 11, 2013

Consensus is good. Thanks for the feedback. New twine it is and if there are no other suggestions, then I will post back next spring with our results.

zzvyb6 · Oct 11, 2013

I would check the tension in string coming out of the twine box. If it is too 'light', then the twine pulls through too easily and the knot will be loose. Also check the position of the cutoff knife blades on the wiper arm. If the cut end is too close to the formed knot, then the knot integrity will be low and some may fail like yours are doing.

Twine box pull-out force is usually about 10 lbs. Same for the twine disk retention/clamping force. Be careful, too much will cause twine failure during needle lift. Better to measure (fish scale) than estimate. Once you have this right you can test the effect and move on.

A good way to check this is to stop the baler immediately after it completes a tie. The newly formed knot(s) should be tight and not open/loose. If they are tight and the knots are still breaking, check the rear bale case area for a sharp edge on the tensionclamping bracket. This could be catching the knots and peeling them loose and ready to break.

tmac196 · Oct 12, 2013

Thanks, zzvyb6. How do I increase the tension force of the twine (if need be)?

Bigfoot62 · Oct 12, 2013

tmac196 said:
Thanks, zzvyb6. How do I increase the tension force of the twine (if need be)?

I'm not really familiar with a 565, but on most balers, the twine goes under a tensioner. Most adjust with a wing-nut.

coondle · Oct 20, 2013

Where the twine first exits the twine box, it passes between two plates that are adjusted by a wing nut screwing down on the spring underneath. If the machine has done a lot of work the the plates may be worn so much that the tension cannot be increased ie channels worn in plate by twine. Replace the plates.
The 1 in 10 is tricky if both knots fail simultaneously. If knotters have a problemsthen it is unlikely to be identical in both knotters. If the twine balls each had a weak spot developed in storage then because the twine length on each side is not absolutely equal on each bale and the problem with the knots would become separated over a number of bales.
Oddly balers in storage for a long time may need some shining up on wear surfaces to operate properly.
A baler with that little use, 7 years of even 5000 bales per annum is only 35,000 bales barely one year for some operators.
Start the new year with fresh twine then there is only adjustment to get good knots. In storage for so long without any use or adjustment the various tension settings that depend on springs would need checking. Springs under load get tired over time. Obtain a manual and that will have all the settings and tensions to check.
A baler, still in production, albeit with a different model number, with so low a number of bales, I would not hesitate to buy

tmac196 · Oct 24, 2013

Thanks all for the constructive feedback. Once I read an owners manual and have a chance to play with and adjust the tension settings I will post back my findings.

P.S. I bought the baler.