DESIGN engineer Steve Murphy has been focused on developing a parallelogram system for Tobin No-Till seeders since starting with the company more than two years ago.
Now the results are in with the company releasing a new model laden with innovation to target the no-till market.
“We’ve been building the Tobin Bullet drill for the past 10 or more years and there was a few areas we felt we needed to improve on,” Mr Murphy said.
“We’ll still sell the Bullet if customers want one, but the Tornado is a step forward.”
The Tornado offers on-the-go adjustment of the planting depth from the cabin via a patented hydraulic adjustment system making dealing with changing sowing conditions easier.
Tobin No Till co-principal Noel Tobin, of Forbes, NSW, said the downforce cylinder was controlled by accumulators and adjustable on the go from the tractor cab.
“This can be useful when conditions change in the same paddock such as planting over rocks, stumps, soft or hard conditions," Mr Tobin said.
“The Tornado is the only parallelogram planter capable of depth adjustment from the tractor cab.
“For the depth adjustment, there is a secondary parallelogram (depth parallelogram) piggy backing on the main one which is connected to the gauge wheel.
“When activated, it raises or lowers the gauge wheel relative to the disc to change the planting depth.
“The depth parallelograms are connected laterally via transverse beam which are in a straight line regardless of the rise and fall of the contours.’’
The hydraulic system is also nitrogen dampened to restrict hydraulic pressure spikes when the disc traverses a rock or humps. “It is designed to work just like a shock absorber system and maintain a constant pressure,” Mr Murphy said.
“We also now have contour following on every row compared to every four row modules on the Bullet model and we’ve also been able to offer narrower row spacings - down to 6” (150mm) which is handy for rejuvenating pasture or if farmers want to band fertiliser away from seeds - the options can be almost endless on the configurations farmers want.”
Key disc seeder wear parts - the bearings and bushes have also been addressed with all bushes made of composite material and just two bearing sizes used throughout the machine reducing the need for owners to stock multiple bearing sizes.
“There’s also a three year warranty on the ground engaging bearings on the disc, gauge wheels and press wheels - as long as they are serviced annually and maintained and recorded we’ll warranty them,” Mr Murphy said.
“We’ve had a machine seeding in South Australia that did about 6000 acres with no sign at all of any wear on the bushes."
Frame design is also changed with more use of heavy duty RHS rather than the trussed frames used on the Bullet to reduce manufacturing time but also lead to a sleeker looking finished product.
The Tornado is available up to 24 metres wide with the 12 metre Tornado folding to under 5.5 metres for road transport.
Tobin are comfortable with the design changes and development testing and feel the machine is now fully resolved and ready for mass production.
“We’ve developed this machine over the past two or three years and we are ready to start production in full confidence,” Mr Murphy said.
Tobin’s market extends to South Africa and Russia where company principal Noel Tobin has been pioneering growth.
“We’ve got a dealer now set up in South Africa so we are very excited about the potential,” Mr Murphy said.
