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Proper adjustment of a sunflower header is essential for achieving a clean and efficient harvest while minimizing seed loss. Sunflowers present specific challenges due to their large, heavy heads and sturdy stalks, which require a header to be set up with care and precision. The correct settings help ensure that the heads are gathered cleanly and conveyed into the combine with minimal damage or loss. The process involves several key adjustments that operators should perform before and during harvest.
The first critical adjustment is for the reel. Its position, both in terms of height and fore-aft location, is crucial. The reel should be positioned low enough so that the bats or pick-up tines make contact with the middle to upper portion of the seed head, not the stem. This placement allows the reel to gently guide the heads over the cutter bar without aggressively beating them, which can cause shattering. The reel speed should be synchronized with the ground speed; a general guideline is for the peripheral speed of the reel to be approximately 10-25% faster than the forward travel speed. This helps in smoothly guiding the stalks rearward as they are cut.
The second major area of adjustment is the cutter bar. It is important to set the correct cutting height. Cutting too high leaves valuable stalk material in the field and can miss lower heads, while cutting too low can gather dirt and rocks, leading to increased machine wear and contamination. The cutter bar should be set to operate just below the lowest heads, typically leaving a stubble height of 15 to 30 centimeters, depending on field conditions and stalk evenness. Additionally, ensuring that the knife sections are sharp and that the guards and hold-downs are properly aligned and tightened is vital for a clean cut through the tough, fibrous stalks.
For headers utilizing a draper platform, the belt tension needs to be correctly set. A belt that is too loose may slip or fail to convey material efficiently, leading to plugging. A belt that is too tight can cause premature wear on the bearings and the belt itself. The gathering belts should be tight enough to prevent slippage under load but should still have a slight amount of deflection when pressed. If the header is equipped with an auger, the clearance between the auger and the header floor should be checked and adjusted according to the manufacturer's recommendations to ensure smooth feeding without damaging the seeds.
Finally, the overall ground speed of the combine must be matched to the crop conditions. In a heavy, high-yielding crop, a slower speed may be necessary to allow the header to process the material without overloading. In lighter crops, a slightly higher speed can maintain efficiency. Operators should frequently monitor the performance of the header and make fine adjustments to the reel, cutter bar, and ground speed as field conditions change throughout the day. Taking the time to make these adjustments correctly can significantly impact harvest efficiency and final yield.
Shijiazhuang Tianren Agricultural Machinery Equipment Co., Ltd. designs its equipment with adjustability in mind, providing farmers with the tools needed to tailor machine performance to their specific crop and field requirements.