Nov 09,2017 at 03:23 am By Admin - Rocks Gone
Rocks Gone Depth Charger heavy duty ripper made for tough stuff
GLENN MULCASTER, The Weekly Times, November 8, 2017
Rock ‘n’ roll: The Rocks Gone Depth Charger dwarfs inventor Tim Pannell. Photo Credit: Lauren Calvin
THE West Australian company that launched the Reefinator rock-crushing machine to free up pasture potential two years ago has adapted its designs to create a deep ripper.
Rocks Gone has been demonstrating the new Depth Charger, which breaks up clods after deep ripping, throughout WA with different configurations based on the Reefinator.
Inventor Tim Pannell, a contractor and former WA wheatbelt farmer, said design lessons learned from building the Reefinator had been applied to the Depth Charger, which is designed to break up clay pans and restore compacted land to help establish new pasture or sow crops.
“The Depth Charger is an excellent option for farms that have never had deep tillage done before — for fear of the mess pulled up out of the depths,” he said.
“The integrated roller can handle decomposed stumps and softer gravel rocks.
“There is also a hydraulic breakout for any hidden sudden surprises.”
He said the Depth Charger had a different role to the Reefinator, which is designed to break up rocky reefs, although the principles are the same.
Plenty of power required to rip down to 750mm. Photo Credit: Lauren Calvin
The Reefinator works with a large diameter (1800mm) roller on a trailing bar with metal ribs along the roller to crush rock and open up ground for cultivation.
The Depth Charger has a smaller diameter (1300mm) roller, which can be filled with water for extra weight, and can rip down to 750mm deep.
“The roller is a fundamental part of the machine, not only to crush clods and to leave a firm, level seedbed, but also to carry most of the weight of the machine, with some weight on the drawbar to increase traction to make it easier to pull,” he said.
Three different widths and configurations have been built so far, with a 6m-wide 18-tonne machine being shown and demonstrated in WA.
The first prototype was a lighter machine that was 7.2m wide, while a narrower 3m machine was sent to South Australia and is now in NSW for trials.
The tynes have a leading tine adaptor incorporated into the tine itself to make the ripper easier to pull. They have a 3000kg breakout and are spaced at 428mm so they can be lifted to leave 3m CTF tracks unripped.
Push-button controls in the tractor cabin allow operators to lift tynes hydraulically along the toolbar if required to match controlled traffic widths.
The tynes and tool arrangements are customisable with modular components to suit different ground conditions and soil types. For transport, an optional wheel kit can be added, to tow the machine end-on. This means the design is not compromised by folding, resulting in a heavy-duty machine. The 6m wide machine without a transport kit would cost $200,000 (+GST).
For details, visit http://rocksgone.com.au/depth-charger