In moving machine with wind stacker in place, care should be taken to see that it rests in its support before machine moves.
The canvas curtain under the decking, used to turn the straw into the hopper, may need a piece of wood fastened to its lower edge to keep it more stiff when stiff rye straw is passing. The bearings of the fan and jack shafts should be kept well lubricated with hard oil, and the bevel gears should be kept well greased with axle grease applied with a stick. Other bearings and worm gear of automatic device should be oiled with soft oil.
The attached stacker is simple in operation, and if it is desired not to use the automatic swinging device but swing by hand, the automatic gear may be thrown out. An independent stacker is managed in much the same way.
ATTACHMENTS.
A weigher, bagger, and a high loader are usually used with a separator. Their operation is simple, and depends upon the particular type or make.
BELTING.
The care of the belting is one of the most important things about the management of a threshing machine, and success or failure will depend largely on the condition in which the belts are kept. Of course the hair side should be run next the band wheel. Once there was disagreement among engineers on this point, but it has been conclusively proven that belts wear longer this way and get better friction, for the simple reason that the flesh side is more flexible than the hair side, and when on the outside better accommodates itself to the shape of the pulley. If the hair side is outermost, it will be stretched more or less in going around the pulley and in time will crack. Rubber belts must be run with the seam on the outside.
When leather belts become hard they should be softened with neatsfoot oil. A flexible belt is said to transmit considerably more power than a hard one.
Pulleys must be kept in line or the belt will slip off. When pulleys are in line the belt has a tendency to work to the tightest point. Hence pulleys are usually made larger in the middle, which is called “crowning.”
Belts on a separator should be looked over every day, and when any lacing is worn, it should be renewed at once. This will prevent breaks during working, with loss of time. Some threshermen carry an extra set of belts to be ready in case anything does break, and they assert that they save money by so doing.