When discing in dry soil conditions, the dust would stick to our APV seeder, which is fitted to an Amazone Catros disc harrow. Then when we cleaned it with a pressure washer, we found the washed-off dust would cause some of the seeder components to stick together, which on one occasion caused the motor to fail.
Obviously we didn’t want to repeat this experience, so we modified how the seeder is attached to the cultivator, as it’s not always needed. We started by making a frame that the APV could be mounted on. This meant we would only need to remove four instead of 12 bolts. We made the frame using box-section steel, allowing us to lift off the seeder with a forklift. Then we welded the four M16 bolts to the cultivator, so we just lower the seeder down on to them. To make it easier to remove the seeding plates, we cut the hexagonal shaft that carried the spreader plates into four sections. Then we fabricated two U-shaped brackets; these slip over the roller frame, with a piece of the hexagonal shaft on either side, making them much easier to take on and off the machine.
When the seeder is removed from the cultivator, we hang these U-brackets on steel hooks that we welded to the bottom of the hopper.
We also modified the hopper a little by fitting white LED lights to the inside. The LEDs are powered by tapping into the rear light using a banana plug connector.
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