Here's how I was taught to adjust a combine, and it always worked well for us... just a few simple step-by-step "rules of thumb" and then GET OUT AND CHECK to see what it's doing-- look for header loss (shatter from excess reel speed, excess cutting height, or excess speed), thresher losses (unthreshed grain still in the head, pod, or cobs), separator losses (should only be unthreshed grain going out with the straw, shucks, or stalks) and then of course cleaning shoe losses (grain riding over the chaffer or being blown out the back. Set the cylinder or rotor speed as fast as possible without cracking grain. Basically when you start to see cracked grain back off til it's "acceptable". Going hand-in-hand with cylinder or rotor speed is, set the concave clearance as wide as possible without leaving unthreshed grain on the cob, heads, or pods. If you're seeing unthreshed grain on the heads or cobs or unthreshed pods, close the concave a bit til its right. Set the cleaning fan speed or air shutters to maximum possible without blowing grain out the back. Air does about 90% of the cleaning; therefore as much as as possible without blowing grain over the shoe and out the back. Set the chaffer as wide as possible without getting too much crud in the tank... the airflow from the cleaning fan does the vast majority of the cleaning, but we don't want sticks or broken heads or busted cobs or too many hulls in the tank, so close the chaffer *just enough* to bring it down to acceptable levels. We DO want any unthreshed grain or pods to drop through, rather than out the back, so they can go to the tailings for a rethresh. Set the sieve as wide open as possible without letting the tailings drop through it... they should *just* ride to the end of the sieve and drop onto the tailings pan to ride the tailings auger for a rethresh. Maximizing rotor or cylinder speed, concave clearance, chaffer opening, and sieve opening all INCREASE throughput or capacity, whereas reducing all those things REDUCES capacity and increases the likelihood of grain riding out the back. Ideally you get as close to a 100% thresh the first time through as possible, so it ALL starts with the rotor/cylinder speed and concave clearance-- but it should always be as fast and open as possible WHILE STILL GETTING AS CLOSE TO COMPLETE THRESHING as possible... Of course we don't want to OVERTHRESH, and grind up cobs or pods or heads and straw and send ALL that material down into the cleaning shoe, as it will overload the shoe and send grain out the back-- it's a CLEANING shoe, not a SEPARATOR shoe. SO, know what "acceptable" losses are, because *some* low quality grain, small kernels, etc. will ALWAYS make it through unthreshed and ride out with the straw. Overthreshing though is as bad as underthreshing, and will result in higher shoe losses trying to separate all that material, as well as more cracked grain. The importance of correct cleaning shoe air volume cannot be overstated. Air does about 90-95% of the cleaning job, the actual chaffer and sieve only contributes maybe 10% of the cleaning action by keeping stuff that's too big and heavy for the airflow to remove from getting into the clean grain elevator to the tank, while allowing any unthreshed material to go to the tailings auger and back for a rethresh. Rethreshing increases cracked or broken grain, so you want to keep tailings to a minimum. Set the fan to the highest speed or volume possible (most air possible) without blowing grain off the back of the shoe. Coupled with nearly wide-open chaffer and sieve, MOST of the grain will drop through the airflow and land on the front 1/4- 1/3 of the chaffer, drop through the second airflow from the sieve, and be dispersed across the front half or so of the sieve, then drop through it to the clean grain pan and slide down to the clean grain auger. Sufficient airflow will blow most of the chaff, pods, and crap out the back. The only grain going out the back should be the occasional undersize or immature kernel or broken kernels-- grain is heavier than chaff and will drop through open chaffers and sieves readily if they're open correctly, while chaff and broken kernels/immature or damaged grain (by bugs, etc) are lighter and will blow out the back. I found that by setting the cylinder speed and concave clearance correctly, I could run my combine with the air wide open full force and the chaffer and sieve *almost* wide open, and still not lose hardly anything out the back, and put a clean sample in the tank at a good speed. It's all about knowing what the straw or cobs or pods, what the sample in the tank, and what the losses on the ground are telling you-- they'll tell you how to adjust the machine properly. You can only find that out, however, by GETTING OUT OF THE CAB and sifting through the material behind the head and behind the cleaning shoe and chopper discharge to SEE what the machine is doing... little corner post monitors won't cut it when it comes to SEEING what kind of job the machine is doing! That's the biggest mistake I see operators today make-- leave it all to the instruments to tell them the settings and losses/conditions... No substitute for LOOKING FOR YOURSELF with the old "mark 1 eyeball"... Later! OL J R :)
Hello Calmer Corn Heads: 0:18 Not new to those running Cat Lexion combines. Operator's manual for 465 combine settings for beans (of all sorts) recommends removing the bottom sieve (using top sieve only) & moving the returns pan from the shaker shoe, directing all of the grain that passes through the top sieve, from the front to the back, into the clean grain auger & into the grain tank.
Most Case IH/IH Legacy combines have the tailings return to the rotor. Wasn't until the AFX8010 "Flagship" was introduced the tailings ran to the top of the cleaning system. Check that 2188, I believe that 5088/6088/7088 "heritage" combines cleaning is closer to the Flagship.
Here is a link to our combine settings page, which will walk you through the detailed settings in corn and beans. calmercornheads.com/in-the-field/combine-settings. Of course, feel free to call Marion on his cell at (309) 368-1182 with any further questions.
Hi Marion , I’m a contractor in Zimbabwe , please can you send me a picture of the filler plates for the case , up until now have never heard of them and my local case dealer has no knowledge of them . If I have a picture I can make them up myself. Cheers Tony.
Tony, did you ever get the pictures you wanted of the filler plates? I've been using them for years in soys and wheat and I feel they are a must, at least for my operation. I am taking a set out off my old concaves today and will get pictures of them and send them to you if you still need them. Would email them to you, need address to do so if you wish?
@@56COLWOOD for me this is the first time I heard about that.. do you have any pictures? Cuz I'm combining soybeans and still have lots and I'd like to try
@@jonathanfriesen1720 Still doing soys?? I'll take pictures this morning when I feed cattle. Email me at colwoodmotorsports@gmail.com I know how to download pictures that way. Not sure this way with UA-cam?
Here's how I was taught to adjust a combine, and it always worked well for us... just a few simple step-by-step "rules of thumb" and then GET OUT AND CHECK to see what it's doing-- look for header loss (shatter from excess reel speed, excess cutting height, or excess speed), thresher losses (unthreshed grain still in the head, pod, or cobs), separator losses (should only be unthreshed grain going out with the straw, shucks, or stalks) and then of course cleaning shoe losses (grain riding over the chaffer or being blown out the back.
Set the cylinder or rotor speed as fast as possible without cracking grain. Basically when you start to see cracked grain back off til it's "acceptable".
Going hand-in-hand with cylinder or rotor speed is, set the concave clearance as wide as possible without leaving unthreshed grain on the cob, heads, or pods. If you're seeing unthreshed grain on the heads or cobs or unthreshed pods, close the concave a bit til its right.
Set the cleaning fan speed or air shutters to maximum possible without blowing grain out the back. Air does about 90% of the cleaning; therefore as much as as possible without blowing grain over the shoe and out the back.
Set the chaffer as wide as possible without getting too much crud in the tank... the airflow from the cleaning fan does the vast majority of the cleaning, but we don't want sticks or broken heads or busted cobs or too many hulls in the tank, so close the chaffer *just enough* to bring it down to acceptable levels. We DO want any unthreshed grain or pods to drop through, rather than out the back, so they can go to the tailings for a rethresh.
Set the sieve as wide open as possible without letting the tailings drop through it... they should *just* ride to the end of the sieve and drop onto the tailings pan to ride the tailings auger for a rethresh.
Maximizing rotor or cylinder speed, concave clearance, chaffer opening, and sieve opening all INCREASE throughput or capacity, whereas reducing all those things REDUCES capacity and increases the likelihood of grain riding out the back. Ideally you get as close to a 100% thresh the first time through as possible, so it ALL starts with the rotor/cylinder speed and concave clearance-- but it should always be as fast and open as possible WHILE STILL GETTING AS CLOSE TO COMPLETE THRESHING as possible... Of course we don't want to OVERTHRESH, and grind up cobs or pods or heads and straw and send ALL that material down into the cleaning shoe, as it will overload the shoe and send grain out the back-- it's a CLEANING shoe, not a SEPARATOR shoe. SO, know what "acceptable" losses are, because *some* low quality grain, small kernels, etc. will ALWAYS make it through unthreshed and ride out with the straw. Overthreshing though is as bad as underthreshing, and will result in higher shoe losses trying to separate all that material, as well as more cracked grain.
The importance of correct cleaning shoe air volume cannot be overstated. Air does about 90-95% of the cleaning job, the actual chaffer and sieve only contributes maybe 10% of the cleaning action by keeping stuff that's too big and heavy for the airflow to remove from getting into the clean grain elevator to the tank, while allowing any unthreshed material to go to the tailings auger and back for a rethresh. Rethreshing increases cracked or broken grain, so you want to keep tailings to a minimum. Set the fan to the highest speed or volume possible (most air possible) without blowing grain off the back of the shoe. Coupled with nearly wide-open chaffer and sieve, MOST of the grain will drop through the airflow and land on the front 1/4- 1/3 of the chaffer, drop through the second airflow from the sieve, and be dispersed across the front half or so of the sieve, then drop through it to the clean grain pan and slide down to the clean grain auger. Sufficient airflow will blow most of the chaff, pods, and crap out the back. The only grain going out the back should be the occasional undersize or immature kernel or broken kernels-- grain is heavier than chaff and will drop through open chaffers and sieves readily if they're open correctly, while chaff and broken kernels/immature or damaged grain (by bugs, etc) are lighter and will blow out the back.
I found that by setting the cylinder speed and concave clearance correctly, I could run my combine with the air wide open full force and the chaffer and sieve *almost* wide open, and still not lose hardly anything out the back, and put a clean sample in the tank at a good speed. It's all about knowing what the straw or cobs or pods, what the sample in the tank, and what the losses on the ground are telling you-- they'll tell you how to adjust the machine properly. You can only find that out, however, by GETTING OUT OF THE CAB and sifting through the material behind the head and behind the cleaning shoe and chopper discharge to SEE what the machine is doing... little corner post monitors won't cut it when it comes to SEEING what kind of job the machine is doing! That's the biggest mistake I see operators today make-- leave it all to the instruments to tell them the settings and losses/conditions... No substitute for LOOKING FOR YOURSELF with the old "mark 1 eyeball"...
Later! OL J R :)
I'm gonna leave a reply so I can reference this comment. Thanks :)
Hello Calmer Corn Heads:
0:18
Not new to those running Cat Lexion combines. Operator's manual for 465 combine settings for beans (of all sorts) recommends removing the bottom sieve (using top sieve only) & moving the returns pan from the shaker shoe, directing all of the grain that passes through the top sieve, from the front to the back, into the clean grain auger & into the grain tank.
Awesome! Glad to hear the Lexion team paid so much attention to their setups, and point out the variables to focus on.
Most Case IH/IH Legacy combines have the tailings return to the rotor. Wasn't until the AFX8010 "Flagship" was introduced the tailings ran to the top of the cleaning system. Check that 2188, I believe that 5088/6088/7088 "heritage" combines cleaning is closer to the Flagship.
I have a John Deere 9400 combine if you open the bottom sieve all the way do you start with the book setting on the top Chaffer in corn or beans ?
Here is a link to our combine settings page, which will walk you through the detailed settings in corn and beans. calmercornheads.com/in-the-field/combine-settings. Of course, feel free to call Marion on his cell at (309) 368-1182 with any further questions.
Send a picture of the Filler plates in the concave please
ua-cam.com/video/V8fLTzyv3z4/v-deo.html Here's for harvesting corn
ua-cam.com/video/R2IvIqA4TNg/v-deo.html Here's for harvesting soybeans. Check out our UA-cam channel for more updated videos on this topics. Thanks!
Are both of the combines on the background owned and operated by you?
Marion runs a Deere S680, Case 2188 and Case 2388
M huviera gustado escucharlo en español igua saludo desd panama
Thank you for writing in Alexis! We might consider doing a few Spanish language pieces, thanks for the input.
Hi Marion , I’m a contractor in Zimbabwe , please can you send me a picture of the filler plates for the case , up until now have never heard of them and my local case dealer has no knowledge of them . If I have a picture I can make them up myself. Cheers Tony.
Tony, did you ever get the pictures you wanted of the filler plates? I've been using them for years in soys and wheat and I feel they are a must, at least for my operation. I am taking a set out off my old concaves today and will get pictures of them and send them to you if you still need them. Would email them to you, need address to do so if you wish?
@@56COLWOOD for me this is the first time I heard about that.. do you have any pictures? Cuz I'm combining soybeans and still have lots and I'd like to try
@@jonathanfriesen1720 Still doing soys?? I'll take pictures this morning when I feed cattle. Email me at colwoodmotorsports@gmail.com I know how to download pictures that way. Not sure this way with UA-cam?