Tractor Mounted Reaper 

About the Tractor Mounted Reaper

The harvesting machinery can be operated manually, pulled by animals, or propelled by electricity or power. The harvesting device that is most frequently used for a range of crops is the sickle. It has been discovered that the sickle used for cutting plants is effective with both plain & serrated edges. It’s a tried and tested method and its successful to harvest wheat with reapers pulled by animals. Machines that need power to function include reapers, rotary power cutlasses, mowers, forage harvesters, binders, & conventional combines.

The cutter blade on a scythe which is manually operated and has rotary power also known as a scythe, is rotated by a high velocity engine. Using an impact force, a rotating disc with a straight or edge which is serrated can rip through materials. The operator controls cutting rod while simultaneously having the gadget attached to their back. The crops are stacked in windrows after being harvested. The daily output averages around within 0.2 and 0.4 hectares. Mowers and reapers mounted on the front to the tractor are also used for harvesting a wide range of crops. Tractors or power tillers can both provide power. Not only in the northern part of India, but also in other areas of the nation, combine harvesters are becoming more and more common. Combination harvesters are most frequently used to harvest a variety of crops, such as wheat, paddy, sunflowers, soybeans, & others. These kinds of crops are frequently harvested using both tractor-powered and self-propelled combines.

What is Tractor Mounted Reaper?

It is possible to categorise a reaper as a reaper drawn by animal, a reaper operated by an animal which is drawn by engine, a tractor mounted reaper attached at the back, a power tiller driven or tractor mounted conveyer type reaper attached from the front, or as a tractor mounted reaper binder. A tractor mounted reaper can be attached to the front or the back of a tractor to harvest crops.

Tractor mounted Reaper: Works & Function

When it comes to tractor mounted reaper, there are very choices in the market as far as types are concerned. The simplistic ways that can help categorise them are manual, semi-manual and auto.

Power Tiller

The crop can be cut and then laid out in the look of a windrow by a piece of equipment called a vertical conveyor reaper also windrower, making it easier to pick. Its components comprise a conventional crop separator, cutter bar, wheels, coverings, pressure springs, & vertical belts. The crank wheel drives the cutter bar's reciprocating motion. Star-wheeled crop dividers have the ability to enter standing crops and aid in lifting, collecting, & directing the crop in the path of the cutter bar. Once the crop has indeed been chopped, pressure rises and wheels are used to keep it upright while it travels. The crop that is being held vertically is then moved to the machine's right side in the shape of a windrow that is 90 degrees from the direction in which the machine is travelling, with the aid of a attached conveyor belt. A prime mower's drive shaft is connected to gearbox, and there is also room for the windrower. In order to drive the hooked flat conveyors, power must be transferred from the out shaft to that shaft. In order to push the cutter bar through the connecting rod, a crank is also connected to the bottom portion of the out shaft. The blade and knife guards are included on the cutter bar. The top attached conveyor belt helps rotate the star wheels that are mounted on the crop row dividers.

Pressure springs which are placed under the star wheels & in the gap between the carrying platforms helps to keep the crop that has been cut upright when it is discharged from the machine. Depending on how the unit is configured, the power for tiller units is transferred through a belt or even a shaft drive from an input shaft towards the gear on the windrower. Similar power to a gearbox is supplied from the PTO shaft toward the gearbox in tractor-mounted types through a lengthy shaft that extends from underneath the tractor's body right up infront. A telescopic shaft which is connected to the gearbox and a universal joint work together to make this possible. With the aid of the tractor, a reaper is lowered and raised using the hydraulics of the tractor. A tiller will cause the machine to pivot on its wheels when in use. The handle could be pressed in the other direction to raise the cutter bar.

Because front-mounted upright conveyor reapers are the most standardised, they are usually used to harvest paddy and wheat crops. The harvest of soybeans as well as other plants with a comparable structure can also be accomplished with it. A tractor with 20–40 horsepower can power the reaper while an engine with 5–6 horsepower can power the reaper. A power tiller reaper has a cutting width of around 1.6 metres, but a tractor-driven reaper has a cutting width of about 2 metres. The rate of the cutter bar strokes in power tillers and tractor-driven reapers is 1225 & 1550 /minute, correspondingly. A power tiller can cover around 0.2 ha per hour, and a tractor mounted upright reaper attached at the front windrower can cover about 0.4ha/hour.

Powered by the Tractor's Power Takeoff (PTO)

The machine's cutting bar, which has a span of 1.5 metres & is borne by the machine, is powered by the tractor's PTO. It’s a device that gathers crop from all sides of a platform & delivers it to either side in tied bunches of the desired size. A side delivery device is what this device is called. The profile cam can help to control the raking motion. Any of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th rakes can be used to sweep out cut crop that has been spread out on top of the platform by controlling the motion of the cam rollers using an index lever. To gather the crop into the appropriate-sized bundles, hand ties are utilised. It is capable of covering about 3 hectare each day and has a field effectiveness of about 85%. The amount of grain lost could be anywhere from 0.2 and 3.1%.

Reaper Binder that is Attached On The Rear of The Tractor

The apparatus contains a slicing, collecting, and plaiting mechanism attached on a frame made of high-pressure tubing. The frame also features a 3 headed linkage system that enables it to be hooked to the back end of a tractor. This aso has a cutting bar which is 1.36 metres long, and v-belts & pulleys are used to transfer power from PTO to the different parts. The machine does have the ability to move 1.6–2.1 ha per day by maintaining a speed of 2 kph. This machine is adaptable and may be used for both paddy and wheat harvesting. While paddy experiences losses of 1.0–50%, wheat experiences losses of 2.0–8.5% of its grain.

What are the Benefits of The Reaper?

1. Controls that are not complicated to use, and the manual handling device does not need additional machines for attachment.

2. Time and money are both saved by using this method.

3.  Appropriate for a wide range of crops, including Bengal Gram, Green Gram, Black Gram, Wheat, Soybean, Mustard, and Paddy, among others.

4. Because this machine can replace as much human labour as possible, it can reduce the cost of labour.

Which Tractor is Best for Reaper?

There are plenty of companies which sells reapers and the brand name is not a factor that matters. However, one should take note of the specifications and then decide on purchasing a reaper. The number of steel bars in a reaper should be around 7 to 12, the diameter should be around 250-300 mm with an effective cutter width of 1900-2300 mm. The guard spacing should be around 70-80 mm, the cutter stroke length around 70-85 mm, the number of strokes per minute can be around 350-750. The width of belt should be around 50-70 mm with the pulley diameter around 110-150 mm, cutter length of around 1500-2100 mm and the weight around 180 – 500 kg.