Most of the hours spent in the field by your FD20 are going to be for one operation: weeding.
Using highly-worn or damaged weeding knives and wires is useless from a weed-control point of view. Using damaged or worn tools will increase the weed pressure and reduce the expected yield. Therefore, it is in your own interest to properly maintain the weeding tools.
It is difficult to explain in few words when the weeding knives and wires should be replaced. The best advice possible is to observe the robot during daily operations, and determine if any of the tools are not working as they should due to wear.
Down below, you can find some photos with some examples of tools that are new or worn out, to help you determine whether the parts should be replaced or not.
WEEDING KNIVES
Weeding wires get thinner and thinner as they work in the field, depending on the amount of hours the robot spends in the field and on the soil texture.
They normally would not bend, so they should be replaced when they are too short to cover the area you want them to sweep.
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New conditions |
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Almost new conditions |
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Starting to get worn, you should consider to replace them in a short while |
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Worn, this knife should be replaced as it cannot sweep the whole weeded area |
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Extremely worn, this knife is not able to cover the weeded area, and should be replaced as soon as possible |
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Completely worn, using this knife is just a loss of time as it won't be able to remove any single weed |
WEEDING WIRES
Similarly to the knives, the weeding wires also get thinner as they work in the field, depending on the amount of hours the robot spends in the field and on the soil texture. However, as they get thinner, they can also bend.
Straighten a bended weeding wire is not a problem if the metal wire is thick enough.
We recommend to replace the weeding wires when the they get too thin to be straightened again, or when they have been permanently damaged (e.g. missing a side).
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New weeding wires |
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Used, but in nearly new conditions |
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Slightly bent. Can be straighten and used with success |
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Bent, but can be straightened if the wire is thick enough |
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Completely bent wire. When they get so bent, it is because of the metal wire is worn out too much, and they should be replaced |
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Completely bent. This weeding wire should have been replaced long time ago. It is completely useless as it is now. |
Replace the weeding knives and wires on time, and get all those weeds out of the ground! 😀👇
