AUSTRALIA’S home-grown, popular rock crushing machine that recently launched in the US and can now only be secured on forward order, has undergone further improvements to make operations even easier for owners.
The Rocks Gone H4 Reefinator has been a regular fixture on the landscape of rocky paddocks across Western and South Australia, and more recently along the eastern seaboard before being introduced to the US.
The working depth of the 3-metre-wide machines, which comprise a levelling blade, four front row and five rear row hydraulic tines and a following ribbed drum, was initially managed manually by operators before automation technology became available for installation in tractor cabs – and now it comes fitted with the machines as standard.
Meanwhile, a new prototype cart that allows faster loading and more robust, safe and efficient transport also is being tested with the H4 Reefinator.
Rocks Gone Depth Master automation technology now comes fully fitted with the company’s H4 Reefinator machines, located near the auto-greaser on the mainframe.
The Depth Master auto depth and slip control system, which is suitable for ISOBUS and GPS-integrated tractors, calculates speed over ground and tractor load or wheel slip to adjust machine depth up to 50 times per second, as well as the level of its blade.
“We were previously jury rigging it inside cabs, whereas now it is in a black box located near the auto-greaser on the mainframe and we have run an extra wiring harness. It connects to an ISOBUS plug at the back of tractors and one other hydraulic point,” said the machine inventor and Rocks Gound founder, former WA farmer Tim Pannell.
“It’s a specialised box from Arag that have long been used on other agricultural equipment like sprayers and spreaders, and it’s quite durable.
“It has a window so you can see the lights flashing and an open bottom for the cables, but it is fully weather-proofed, has very heavy-duty connections and is ISOBUS-compliant.”
He said the ISOBUS cable could be plugged directly into the back of US-manufactured tractors, and while fitment of an additional black box was required for European tractors, this was simple and it also offered the benefit of full hydraulic control via the ISOBUS.
As long as old tractors used (around 20 years of age) are running an electric-over-hydraulic system, Tim said ISOBUS and the H4 Reefinator Depth Master automation would be available.
“You can make them ISOBUS-compliant with an external kit that essentially does the ISOBUS, and then you fit one other cable.”
GPS also is required to offer the depth mapping feature with the automation technology. This can help to target specific areas whilst saving passes in other parts, resulting in improved productivity with the machine.
H4 Reefinator machines working in the field with the fitted Depth Master system already have been showing seamless operation.
The latest prototype transport cart for the H4 Reefinator also is being operated in the field by a contracting client with good success.
“We have had carts for our earlier series machines, but they were half the weight of the H4,” Tim said.
“The initial cart will still carry the H4, but the ramp angle is steep and it’s a struggle to get the machine on and off.
“We then went to a float with much bigger and longer ramps, but it required a lot of engineering and expense, the ramps were separate and hinged, and they were held up with safety chains that needed some slack.”
He said they recently decided to simplify the cart, incorporating the use of rigid ramps that were now part of the mainframe, instead of being moveable.
“They don’t lower to ground level. They go to transport height, you reverse the H4 Reefinator up to it and it tips the cart up as it goes up the ramp, and then back down again onto its two axles as it goes into the cradle. And then you just have an attachment from the cart to the drum of the H4.”
The latest cart uses two standard 10-tonne axles similar to truck trailers, extended to 3 metres wide for stability.
“Different to our previous dolly carts, the H4 drops down into a cradle, so the centre of gravity is nice and low,” Tim said
“We had to climb onto the dollies before to chain the machines on, whereas now you can have everything hitched and attached in 10 minutes and be travelling down the road at 40 kilometres per hour.
“We have done big kilometres transporting the Reefinator with carts before and it is far quicker. You don’t need to unhitch it from the tractor, use trucks and then have another tractor at the other end,” he said.