Frame
We have developed the frame in New Zealand to be robust and simple. While focusing on strength and durability we were very conscious not to make the frame difficult to work under for servicing and calibration. The hinges on the wings feature greasable hardened pins used in the mining industry. The rams work well within the designed load range, and are equipped with check valves and a brace for safety. The drills folds to three metres in the transport position while maintaining a lower centre of gravity in transport. The chassis was designed to tow a trailing roller or your vehicle between jobs. The chassis provides protection for the main hydraulic lines and electrical harness by being inside the beam. Incorporated in the frame is an air tank for quarantining the seed tank between jobs.
Setting depth
The Bourgault 3710 openers have sixteen depth settings in 6mm increments held by with depth stopping pins, the hydraulic pressure adjusted in the cab helps with finer tuning in different conditions. In most conditions the cleaner wheel and closing wheel will share the downforce pressure but if conditions are difficult to close the seed furrow, all of the packing pressure can be placed on the closing wheel by pinning the walking axle link up. See in openers specs below
Tank and Metering
The tanks are manufactured in New Zealand specifically for the Superseeder drills. They are folded sheet metal carefully welded and powder coated leaving a tidy corrosion proof finish. Inside the tank there are no obstructions, this makes cleaning out easy. The tanks are pressurized and use the Bourgault auger meters. The lids are sealed, which is an advantage having the fertiliser in a moisture free environment. The tank is bolted down on rubber mounts to reduce field vibration and ensure durability. There are meter drive options available including full hydraulic drive or through a variable drive linear gear box. Either way the auger meters provide a constant flow of product with no blobbing effect with no flaps or plugs to change between all products.
Fan and air delivery
The SuperSeeder drills run Bourgault air fans, and 100mm charge lines in either a single or double shoot configuration. The fans are fitted will an oil cooler radiator, not only does this help the tractors oil, it warms and drys air pipes before the fertiliser passes through greatly reducing the chances of plugging pipes. The seed distributor heads are German made by Amazone, these are easy to check for plugging and easy to set up for row crop drilling.
Filling & Calibration
The Superseeder drills have to tares of platforms both with safety rails and plenty of room to sit small bags of product in the field or in transit. As these days most grain and fertiliser is in bulk bags the drills can be fitted with a HIAB crane with the control bank is located at the back with good visibility and safety. The lids all have fine grates with them to catch any rogue pipe blocking material in your product. Calibration is a simple and accurate task, simply unclip the meter hose, prime the meter until product comes out, reset the monitor then run the meter for a few minutes into a bucket, enter the weight into the monitor with your desired sowing rate, refit the meter hose and your calibration is complete.
Manoeuvrability
Manoeuvrability was an important consideration when designing the SuperSeeder, the two point hitch shifts the pivot point back almost a metre from the regular pull hitch. This enables us to turn full lock with a tractor on dual wheels to just past 90 degrees. This allows tight turning on the headland and good access through tight gateways and farm lanes, even with the long wheel base model 636. If this is not important the drills can be equipped with a regular pull type hitch with adjustable height tongue to suit you tractor.
Maintenance
The only daily grease nipples on the Superseeder are on the two point hitch ( if fitted with that option) The weekly grease points include the frame folding hinge points, ends of rams and HIAB crane if fitted. The openers have two grease nipples on each of the adjustable tapered roller bearings, these are on 250 hour service intervals or once a month is good practice for most New Zealand contractors. The low disturbance boots have a tungsten leading edge and are easily adjusted up a spline as the disc wears. The side draft effect is taken out by ‘click in’ plastic tabs which are inexpensive and do not require any disassembly of openers.
Bourgault 3710 opener Specifics: Parallel Walking Coulter Arm
When going over residue or obstacles, the walking action between the cleaner and packer wheels stabilizes the coulter arm assembly reducing coulter movement by a factor of two. Delivering superior precision seed placement as compared to competitive units with the cleaner wheel fixed to the side of the coulter. Click this link for more details
Contour-ability & Consistency
Seed drills with a high degree of contour-ability may also be very sensitive to debris, previous furrows, or displaced soil in the field, forcing operators to reduce seeding speeds in order to maintain seed depth consistency. Bourgault offers the best balance of contour-ability and consistency in the design of the Parallel Walking Coulter Arm, with its patent pending walking gauge/packer wheel assembly. This design provides a 1-to-1 contour parallel link system gauged by a walking cleaner/packer wheel assembly. This simple, yet innovative approach provides you consistent depth in many different field conditions without being overly sensitive to residue or soil lumps.
Low Disturbance Seed Boot/Scraper
Seed Placement with Minimal Disturbance, the narrow profile Low Disturbance Scraper provides seed placement in a narrow cut seedbed. The result is an exceptional field finish that preserves the maximum soil moisture in order to foster germination.
Reduced Hair-pinning
The 3710 ICD arm mounts the 521mm disc opener on a 5 degree horizontal and 10 degree vertical compound angle. This innovative feature will provide better cutting action through field residue, greatly reducing the issue of hair-pinning in the seedrows.
Walking Axle Link
You have the option to shorten the link to lock the cleaner wheel up so that the packer wheel alone sets the opener depth. Locking up the cleaner wheel is done when additional packing force is required, or if there is concern of the cleaner wheel pulverizing the soil.
On-The-Fly Hydraulic Control
Adjust penetration & packing force from the tractor cab. The 3710 Independent Coulter Drill provides the unique and valuable feature of electric-over-hydraulic control of penetration and packing force through the Model 410 Control Box. Apply up 204kg of opener down force, with 32 to 104 kg of packer wheel down force, along with 14 to 45 kg of cleaner wheel down force on each seed row! A gauge on the control box allows you to monitor the hydraulic pressure being applied.
