PRACTICAL TEST: Irish machinery makers have built themselves quite a reputation in the specialist bale wrapping sector – and none more so than Co Mayo-based McHale Engineering. Here we look at the firm’s trailed 991 B model, a heavy-duty machine that is both robust in build and straight-forward in operation
Bale wrappers take their fair share of stick, particularly in the autumn when crop dry matter contents drop and bale weights of 600kg+ are commonplace. Not every design is capable of putting up with such punishment, and cracked main frames and/or bent loading arms are often the result.
Irish maker McHale reckons it solved most of these problems when it launched its 991 B model. Do we agree? We tested a 1995-build example to find out. An initial tour of the machine showed it to be crack-free in all the potential trouble spots – chassis, turntable and self-loading arm.
In work, wrapping a 1.20m diameter bale with a 750mm film in four layers took about 50secs, and the complete wrapping process, from loading the bale to unloading it, took about 90secs. So, in favourable conditions, we would expect an experienced operator to
wrap a minimum of 30 bales/hr with this machine. McHale says this figure is low, and would normally expect the 991B to achieve a 50sec load/unload cycle time and 60-bale/hr output; it cites possible causes for our disappointing test performance to be a problem with oil flow, poor film quality, and/or an operator not totally familiar with the machine.
