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What is a Drum Mower????

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Bill

06-28-2003 21:33:11




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I have read several posts about drum mowers. My question is - what are they? How do they cut, how are they different from a haybine? Do they also condition the hay? Who makes these things and what kind of price do they bring?

Thanks in advance,
Bill




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Jerry A.

06-30-2003 11:30:58




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 Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Bill, 06-28-2003 21:33:11  
Although a drum mower is more complex than a sickle, you can't beat the speed with which you can mow. I've gone through 6' tall weeds with my Zetor 2 drum mower with no problems. It mows hay great. My only gripe is that it tends to "windrow" the hay much more so that a disc or sickle mower. I end up tedding the hay to get it to dry faster (alfalfa, that is). My unit is too small to rig a tedder directly to the mower, but some of the larger drum mowers have that option (Hmmmm....maybe a winter project in the works)

I bought a new 6' drum for about what I would have spent on a beat up used disc mower. It works for me and my 15 acres of hay.

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Mark in TN

07-01-2003 05:52:10




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 Re: Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Jerry A., 06-30-2003 11:30:58  
The drum mowers are designed & work perfect for people just like you. Did you think about that the windrowing allows the ground to dry and then you ted back over that grown. Hay will not cure if the grown under has dew of surface moisture on it. With a drum mower and a tedder you'll make as fast as anyone out there and have the lowest maintenance bills on the drum mower of anyone making hay.New drum mowers can be purchased for $1,800 in TN.

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Terry in KY

06-30-2003 04:59:07




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 Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Bill, 06-28-2003 21:33:11  
www.agritech.org.nz/members/reese_agri.htm

Click on drum mowers on this link. It has some good pictures of their drum mowers and how they are designed. These are the simplist I have seen. They are driven by a belt with no gears or gear boxes. They appear to weigh about the same as disc mowers or maybe a little less. I priced some at the National Farm Machinery show. The 9 ft. three point hitch I think was $8000 and the trailed 10 ft. was $10,000. That was for Reese, I don't know the price of other brands.

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Roy in UK

06-30-2003 08:39:01




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 Re: Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Terry in KY, 06-30-2003 04:59:07  
Thinking about it very carefully, with a belt driven drum mower, the blades on adjacent drums must be designed to be as close to each other as possible, without actually touching, (just like a belt driven pasture topper with more than one knife)
However, on a gear driven drum ( and indeed disc ) mower, the blades are 'timed' i.e. they are arranged to overlap each other as they turn. With the machine stationary, if you look at a disc mowers knives, they are arranged at 90 deg. to one another on adjacent discs. I should imagine there is less wear and tear on the knives because of this.

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Roy in UK

06-30-2003 08:50:54




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 Re: Re: Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Roy in UK, 06-30-2003 08:39:01  
Link

easier to see with a pic.



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Roy in UK

06-29-2003 02:25:45




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 Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Bill, 06-28-2003 21:33:11  
They work using knives mounted on contra- rotating drums, spinning at high speed, 3000 rpm or so. As you can imagine they take a bit more hp than a sickle, but a 40hp will spin a 5'6" disc or drum.the knives are held in place by either clips or bolts, they can be given a quick sharpen using a grinder but it is the speed of the blades that does the cutting, just like a rotary lawn mower or bush hog. Unlike a sickle they are immune to "woolly" undergrowth and they are much less prone to blockage in thick or tangled crops.In all fairness, the cut is not quite as neat as a sickle, and you need to keep the guard or curtain that surrounds the discs or drums in good condition,Although they do last a long time( if you hit a stone it can send one miles otherwise !) But there is no messing about riveting sickle sections, no ledger plates, no points to bend break, or get mis-aligned. Some are fitted with tine conditioners, the tines are either metal or plastic. Mine had plastic tines (Lely ) but I never managed to break any.

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Bill

06-29-2003 05:01:28




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 Re: Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Roy in UK, 06-29-2003 02:25:45  
How are these different than a disc mower or disc bine mower?

Thanks!
Bill



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Roy in UK

06-29-2003 05:37:10




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 Re: Re: Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Bill, 06-29-2003 05:01:28  
They both work in a similar way, the grass is cut by contra-rotating knives. The drum mower has its gear train on top of the drums, and the drums themselves run along the ground supported by saucers. In disc mowers, the gear train is situated beneath the discs,within the cutterbed itself, (the whole cutterbed is mounted on slides to protect the cutterbed as it runs along the ground) One thing in favour of the disc mower as opposed to the drum mower.... they tend to be a bit lighter in weight, although of course, no where near as light as say a sickle mower of the same width!

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Mike (WA)

07-01-2003 12:36:07




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Roy in UK, 06-29-2003 05:37:10  
Drum mower is generally two large drums suspended from above with knives attached, disc mower is 4 to 7 smaller discs. In "down" or tangled grass, the drum mowers tend to wind up grass around the drums, and disc mowers are preferred in my area (western Washington) where most grass is rank and tangled by the time the weather dries off enough to do hay. Except this year. Just heard the local weather guy say we had .38" of rain in June, second driest on record. Average is 1.6".

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Roy in UK

07-01-2003 13:36:47




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Mike (WA), 07-01-2003 12:36:07  
I much prefered the disc mower to the drum mower for that very reason. I hardly ever had a disc mower bung up on me, and believe me I have cut some really 'down' and tangled crops.



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Roy in UK

06-28-2003 23:30:20




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 Re: What is a Drum Mower???? in reply to Bill, 06-28-2003 21:33:11  
Click on >Link
No sickle sections to sharpen EVER!



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