Amity Technology 3200, Operating Manual

Page: 23 / 77

6 - 2
6.2 Flail Height
The single biggest factor in quality defoliator is properly setting the flail height of drums #2 and #3
of your Amity defoliator. Flail height will vary with soil and crop conditions. One inch (2.54 cm) be-
low the crown of the average beet is a good starting point. Actual flail height is best determined by
checking the defoliation results in several areas after defoliating for 50 feet (15 meters). To maintain
even cleaning it is important for the flail height of the 2
nd
and 3
rd
drum to be the same; running the
defoliator level will ensure this. Raise or lower the flail height as required and recheck by defoliating
for another 50 feet. Repeat this process until flail height results in a satisfactory defoliation job.
See section 7.0 for additional detailed adjustment procedures.
IMPORTANT: Defoliation height will change drastically with field conditions and beet variety. Ad-
justing for changing conditions is necessary for optimal defoliator performance.
IMPORTANT: In situations with loose beets adjust the flail height as high as possible while maintain-
ing a quality defoliator job to minimize knocking beets out of the row.
6.3 Field Operating Speed
Proper travel speed is critical in quality defoliation and changing speed will affect the performance
of the machine and needs to be matched to field conditions and machine set
- up. The defoliator
should be operated at speeds specific to the conditions; typical speeds are 2 - 4 mph (3.2 - 6.5 kph) for
00 Series and 3 - 6 mph (4.8 - 9.7 kph) for 50 Series.
•
Increase speed when beet tops are clean of petioles and flails are beginning to damage tops. To
optimize defoliation, continue to increase speed until defoliator begins to leave petioles on beet
tops; decrease slightly from that point to maximize speed and cleaning. If field conditions, or op-
erator preference dictate a slower operating speed and beet top damage is being incurred,
slightly slowing the PTO RPM is a permissible way to mitigate beet damage in place of increasing
operating speed.
•
Maintain current speed when beet tops are clean of petioles and free of any flail damage
•
Decrease speed when beet tops are not satisfactorily clean of petioles and correct flail height for
both #2 and #3 drums have been verified.
IMPORTANT: On beets that are significantly lower than average, not all petioles will be able to be
reached by the defoliator flails and will not be 100% free of petioles. Please take this into considera-
tion when determining defoliation quality.