MaxiChop

Less Chopper Juice Loss

38%

$14999+gst

Standard 4-blade assembly

Recently featured in the Canegrower

Robust and aggressive designed chopper systems with more blades have been the answer to faster and more productive cane harvesters as contractors and operators look to save time and money to get the harvesting done and dusted as quickly and efficiently as possible. This comes at a cost to the grower and miller as a portion of the crop they get paid for is crushed, damaged and sucked out the extractor in a process we have come to accept in the desire for more bin weights, more tonnes per hour and savings in labour costs.

Mackay based engineering firm, EHS Manufacturing, are known for their innovation and ability in the design and adaption of harvesting equipment to keep the Australian Sugar Industry as world leaders in harvesting technology and best practice. Their latest product development is the most significant and successful change in cane harvester chopper design since rotary differential chop was introduced. This is a welcome improvement as the industry becomes increasingly aware of the sugar losses of current harvesting practices.

The EHS MaxiChop with a patented wedge blade clamp can now provide more blade security and clamping force than ever before allowing a huge 106mm of free ‘clamp to clamp’ gap in the cut position. The free flow open throat design gives the contractor/harvester operator the best of both worlds allowing the increase in productivity and billet quality whilst minimising the juicing/squeezing of the billet ends in the chopping process. This provides maximum profitability for the contractor, grower and miller with the purpose in mind of sugar recovery by all parties involved in the process.

“to ensure we are crushing our cane at the Mill and not in the harvester”

As standard harvester choppers have between 30 – 38mm ‘clamp to clamp’ gap in the cutting position, most billets ends will have some pressure from contacting the chopper drum anvil or clamp bars. This gap is then reduced further by the hard facing to avoid the pressure from the Cane wearing the drums. The open throat design of the EHS MaxiChop eliminates the billets from being squashed or damaged by the blade anvil/clamp bar and rough hard faced edges of the current design.

A grower/contractor in NSW uses the original EHS concept prototype which formed the basis of this new innovation. These chopper drums have just finished their 8^th season in their 2^nd brand new harvester that each have cut in excess of 80,000 tonnes per season. In 8 years the EHS chopper drums have not been touched. No hardfacing – No remachining – all due to the drums have minimal contact with the Sugarcane.

Early testing comparisons of the system showed a decrease in mutilated billets from up to 7% in a standard harvester down to 0.1% in the EHS MaxiChop. Tests also showed damaged billets decreased by 6% and an actual juice loss decrease of 25%. With further testing and positive feedback of the new batch of choppers that have completed the 2015 season, the noticeable lack of juice and mud in the chopper and extractor area is sure visual evidence of the change in this process to ensure we are crushing our cane at the mill and not in the harvester.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do they need to be hardfaced?

How do they go cutting in rocks?

Do the knives cross?

Does extra overlap eliminate knives crossing?

To a degree. Extra overlap has always been the answer to try and stop knives crossing when cutting in rocks where blade condition can not always be maintained. Another solution is to flatten out the approach angle of the bottom blade so that it acts more like an anvil than a blade. This obviously affects the quality of cut. We have studied the geometry of the cut, manipulating the offset on both the top and bottom drum, the overlap, differential and even drum centers and have found the fine line between cut quality and blade security.

Does the wedge get jammed?

The wedge has fully machined contact faces along with the blade/wedge pocket on the drums. When changing out the blades the wedge bolts are loosened in order with a jacking bolt last. This bolt is assembled with a collar that lifts the wedge when the bolt is spun out. The wedge will pop up and sit on two springs. With the wedge sitting loosely on the springs it is easy to slide a new blade in and re-tighten the bolts.

If the wedge doesn’t come loose with the jacking bolt, usually a small tap on the blade is enough to release it. Failing that, there are two threaded holes in the wedge for jacking bolts. Simply remove the spring bolt and jack the wedge out with a wedge bolt.

Less Chopper Juice Loss

Frequently Asked Questions

Register your interest now

Register your interest now

Categorys