B O R Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 The destoner especially will be a time consuming build but i think will look awesome in model form. Im really looking forward to that one plus ive a neighbour who has the real one so measuring is no problem which is excellent. It was nice that Scanstone have been so helpful towards the project. When i get it built that means its taken me 4 years to work my way through 3 different destoners for my own collection along with building other models for customers. It really is a huge challenge to put a complete potato set up together as theres just so many individual pieces of machinery needed. It really does take years to complete it if you,re also working on other projects. I am wanting a new ridger and it,ll probably be the 2 row version ill decide to build which would need around 170-200hp to comfortably work it in heavy soil conditions. I seem to be forever updating my potato machinery and always moving forward basing my set up on a 300 acre farm which is also involved in processing for mainly chipping, next year will also see a new planter which im hoping to decide upon a 3 row version and will have to be cup type because of our sometimes hilly land where a belt type would prove not accurate enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPN Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I could be tempted by a two row Brian. Would look well behind the ROS T7050 on semi-rowcrops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 DEUTZ FAHR KM 22 mowers completed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 headstock swivels for work/transport.. the 3 mowers are spoken for and one is for myself, i might work my way through a few more popular 5ft 6" mowers from yesteryear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 real machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPN Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 A PZ CM165 would be a popular model I would have thought. There was also a 4 drum version of the FAHR mower if I remember correctly. A strange contraption as I recall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 There's a few drum mowers I'll be getting to in time, I'll be starting work on the SCANSTONE Ridgers very soon and I've a nice little MF tractor project currently underway for myself too. I'm needing a Ridger for my own collection and have my views firmly fixed on SCANSTONES 2 row machine so I'm eager to get that started now very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 I went to begin the Scanstone ridger on Monday evening but was instantly stumped at just how awkward it is to make, there is going to be some very fine work indeed mainly where the ridging body legs attach onto the main frame, and also the design of how it folds too will be difficult to replicate, so i decided rather than rush in unprepared which would almost definately later be regretted that i would instead move along with another order, this will buy me more time to properly study and figure out just how im going to go about building the ridger. Rushing in without enough careful studying never pays off, i believe research is the very foundation for any model build and when i do my studying and research to a point where im confident then at least i know what im doing when i begin, otherwise it would be a case of getting it started and then discovering that your stuck almost immediately into the build which is very frustrating and can lead to costly mistakes. So a little more time will be spent going through the brochure and pictures of the machine until i have enough information to proceed. Its better to do this than to try and "feel" your way through a build hoping for the best. I have in the past build around 15 single row ridgers but this 2 row machine is a much more difficult model to build, but ive still my sights set on one joining my fleet so it,ll just continue to niggle until i have it, good thing is we are a long way off planting time yet!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catkom3 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 You anywhere near Ballynahinch Brian,theres a Scanstone dealer there, STANLEY PATTERSON 3 BLACKS LANE OLD BELFAST ROAD BALLYNAHINCH N IRELAND BT248UT 02897563141 N IRELAND DEALER Regards Joe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Thanks Joe, I know Stanley well as last year I made him a model of his solely designed PATTERSON bed tiller, he designs and builds his own tillers with a unique ROTA-FLOAT system. Stanley also had a huge input into the old REEKIE company which of course is SCANSTONE today. A very intelligent man who has kept a hell of a lot of wheels turning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Stanley was also the agent for Fendt at a time but has been heavily involved in improving potato gear down through the years. When reekie first brought there destoners to Ireland in the late 70s Stanley redesigned the entire front of the machine to accommodate our stony conditions by allowing the intake rotor to rise and fall at either side thus allowing it to constantly keep working rather than having to stop and physically unblock it. He designed his ROTA FLOAT SYSTEM he says by seeing where other machines failed and his tiller does exactly that which is float over stones without constantly tripping the ridgers behind. He designed them in tough Irish conditions and they are an amazing machine to see working,any other tillers simply broke the blade rotor and then had to be stripped be repaired, all other tillers were chain and oil bath type drives but he developed a belt system which eliminated the chains but also allowed a degree of slippage almost like the effect of a dog or slip clutch to prevent damage. His input into the early Reekie company was huge and he was the agent but also the eyes and ears that improved them, a gentleman and indeed a genius in the engineering field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catkom3 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Thanks for that Brian,sounds like another Harry Ferguson to me,no idea if these are any good for you,but two / three years ago I took these at The Highland show,a big potato grower just a few miles from me has the big three row tiller ridger,and it doesn't half make their Fendt 936 grunt, Regards Joe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Yes Joe a tiller with ridgers like the one in your pics would make a 936 earn her keep, seed beds are worked on average 13 inches deep and require serious horsepower. I believe a tiller should be worked in many parts of the country for true evaluation, for example the George Moate tiller stars are made in Lincolnshire but have proved unsuccessful in many parts of Ireland, stones being a big part of it because a tillerstar will simply roll bigger stones up and down the stars to you get to the end of the field where you have to get out and lift them, the lack of a boulder box causes this, over here we need boulder boxes on destoners, star type destoners are also only successful in certain parts because if your in flinty type ground the stones turn sideways on the stars and simply fall down through, it's also difficult to determine when to renew stars as the harm will be done if you judge this wrong and the harvester will be seriously slowed down because of this, Stanley pointed out to me that a web will continue to do its job to the end of its working life till it snaps where the stars will require Good judgement on the operators behalf to know when to renew them, but in the right ground the stars will prove much faster due to the aggressive movement at when the soil passes over it. I heard that in some parts on the continent they don't even need to destone. Successful and speedy harvesting depends upon the destoners doing there job correctly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Sometime around 2005 a company called Netagco bought REEKIE but also put themselves bankrupt by buying too many smaller companies, when they went bust the company and name was sold to Steve Thornley in Lincolnshire and the original Reekie company set up business again but had to use the new name of SCANSTONE, they have a long history in potato kit and know there stuff. Thornley has continued building the entire Reekie Netagco line of gear but many say there was little or no funds left to finance researching new machines to market, in business this can of course lead to being overtaken by a rival company with new products, today there really is only one harvester on the market and it is the Grimme but between SCANSTONE and Reekie and Moate and Standen and indeed TONG PEAL the uk still fight there corner hard in supplying top class potato kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Another note on potato gear is that Howard sold out all rights to their superb rotavator to Dowdeswell ( not sure which year) and in turn Standen later acquired the rotavator rights and there rotavators currently available is very much the original Dowdeswell machine. Now Kongsklide set up the name HOWARD again and now produce a newly designed rotavator in their own colours and also supply GRIMME with their rotavators for their bedtillers, some Grimme machines even have the HR40 decals still attached to the headstock, so if you buy a Standen you,re getting the original howard/dowdeswell machine and if you buy from Grimme you,re getting the new Howard made by Kongsklide, confusing to say the least. For years companies like REEKIE, STANDEN, AVR, GRIMME ETC tried very hard to move forward with harvester improvements, Grimme always seemed to be the first to innovate new features and the other companies spent lots of money trying to keep up, eventually others ran out of finances Grimme made it as leader and then when they shook off their followers they actually returned to almost their original design and today lead the way in trailed machines and possibly self propelled as well, with the potato market forever going up and down ( nothings changed in 20 years) it is very hard for any manufacturer apart from Grimme to invest heavily in new products due to an unforeseen market. I say all companies except Grimme simply because they are situated bang in the right place to market to major potato producing countries ( Belgium, Holland and Germany)... Scotland and Ireland have always been 2 major potato producers especially for seed and England also accounts for a large tonnage of seed and ware annually and the UK based companies have done exceptionally well in surviving but then a lot of their destoning equipment is also used for playing fields such as golf courses etc and i guess this helps create a market for there kit. Potatoes in my opinion are very much like the dairy in that farmers and growers are simply not getting what they need to produce but yet think about the price of a bag of chips the next time you,re eating them and how far a ton would go in a chippy. I believe Britain wanted cheap food from the 70s and the introduction of supermarkets has hammered prices but the reality is that the farmer is underpaid..... A note worth making is that a potato grower passes the one bit of ground up to 17 times in a normal year ( more if its a wet year with a more intensive spraying programme). That 17 times is from first going into the field with the rotavator to take the top off, next the plough, then the grubber, then the ridger, then the tiller, then the destoners, next the planter, then the spraying programme right through to burning off and finally the harvester which may also involve a windrower, thats a hell of a lot of diesel and as Joe pointed out it takes a 936 working hard to drive that big tiller thus drinking the fuel, potato growing is a very machinery intensive crop to grow and any grower would tell you that theres always some piece of kit needing replaced every season to keep running reliable gear as you only have a small window of opportunity to both plant and harvest the crop, 2 years ago we experienced an extremely wet august/september and october, many potatoes were still in the ground after christmas thus risking them all with the hazards of frost setting in, the ground conditions were simply too wet to lift the crop regardless of how modern or new your kit was. Another point worth making is that i believe COLD STORES has the potato industry ruined to a certain degree in that growers can hold their stock as cold stores can pretty much store potatoes all year round, before they came along growers had to be rid of there stock before April at the latest as they began to bud and sprout making them impossible to remove from bags or boxes, do we really know that the potatoes we,re buying from Asda etc are in fact this years stock or held back from last year, WE DONT. The old method of being rid of stock for April meant that when the new harvest came along then there was a market awaiting them although not always at a suitable price but still that market was there. Hopefully all the growers will one day see a price that suits all and the UK can remain one of the most important suppliers of potatoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPN Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Thanks for that Brian. Very informative. I had the good fortune to meet a local potato producer recently as part of my work. He has a top notch set of equipment, including a Fendt 820 Black Beauty and a Grimme Variotron (got to play with it for 5 minutes in the yard. Awesome piece of kit). I hope to get out and about with him during the year and get photos of his kit in action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 Good reading Brian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Just to compliment you on your good story about potato machinery manufacturers here is some more. Netagco really wasn't a bad effort between Reekie, AVR, Rumptstad, Miedema and Tolsma. They wanted to offer a complete package of kit for farmers, mainly in developing country's, and also for the home markets. If you look at what is happening for 2015 it is exactly that. Netagco tried but it was to soon. These days on the continent there are 3 players. Grimme (easily the largest with a €60mil turnover) followed by Dewulf-Miedema (€25 mil) and AVR (€20). Then there are a few British company's, Standen being by far the biggest, that produce machinery that are specifically designed for the UK and Scottish market. With their Clean Flow 2000 Reekie had the best trailed harvester on the market during the early nineties. Look at what happened, every manufacturer adopted it later on. In very wet years only a Reekie could deliver a clean crop. It is a shame they don't produce harvesters any more but the market is just to small. I am sure they could have churned out some interesting machines. Grimme are good in terms of reliability an design but by no means perfect. I first used a Grimme DL 1500 which we swapped for a Standen Status 1750. I'd have the Standen any day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Very well put Brian and i entirely agree with you on issues raised. Being a potato man myself many of these points are close to my heart, mainly the state of the current market. Up and down in the last 20 years as you mentioned Brian and there is a saying round here in Somerset potato land that 1 in 3 years is a good year that pays for the other two and the profit but we are on the 4th or 5th year of loss due to the declining fresh sales and we have no seasonal produce anymore, supermarkets and the consumer want availability all year round driving down prices. This year im sad to say is crunch time, to highlight the seriousness of the problem our cost of production is roughly £80/t including seed, planting, agronomy, and harvesting, add £10/t for grading and £40/t for cold storage then we have transport to add on taking us to near £180/t. We have been moving spuds out at £80/t, now to get movement this year is great with bumper crops and high quality factories are finding any excuse to reject, so we are lossing £100/t, times that by 5000 tons and we are loosing half a million. Also to show what the supermarkets make 4 years ago we were selling Charlotte at £200/t, i went into Tesco the same week to see our spuds on the shelf for £1/kg, thats £1000/t, now i know there is packing to take into consideration but it shows what supermarkets are making. A very sad situation, all we can do is hold on tight but for how much longer is the question. As for kit it would be Grimme for my choice, reliability and speed, we ran a reekie de stoner one year beside our Grimme CS1500 and the Reekie was half the speed and spent more time with its panels in the air than sifting soil. The market share says it all, in our 7 mile radius 6 out of 8 growers have Grimme, with one a Reekie and the other a Standen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Well said Alex, It's the same here as well to a tee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Having recently bought the UH MF1250 I wanted to remove the duals and just have the normal single wheels, I thought it would be just a case of separating them but how wrong I was, the wheels are moulded together so I had to slice them open and then file and sand them down to suit the tyre size, ive now got the result I was after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 1250 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 the 1250 has now joined my Brian Norman 1200 in my collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Below are a few pics of a tractor ive really wanted in 1/32, the MF 590 with 80 loader, I drove one like this but lots of neighbouring farms had them too, all 2wd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 And now the model. There was quite a bit of work converting this to 2wd and fitting the pma axle, the bonnet also had to be shortened and modified to suit the 2wd, and then the loader fitting after that was fiddly to say the least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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