3pt Sprayer

[prevent]

(Not 100% if this is where it belongs on forum but figured yes because will be using it to spray hay fields)

I searched and haven't been able to find any good cat 1 3pt hitch sprayers, the ones i found where garbage, just garbage, no drain plugs wires not long enough. I'm looking for something around 50 gallons that is PTO driven (26hp kubota) can be boomed but doesn't have to be..


any ideas on reputable manufactures?

 

[mx1alex]

If the pump is PTO driven what do you need wires for?

 

[joeu235]

Continental Belton makes really good 3 point sprayers. But I don't know what the shipping would be to Illinios.

 

[farmer2009]

https://www.agspray.com

I have a poultry house washer from them and really like it. Pretty reasonably priced and built heavy.

I've also used sprayers from Ag Sprayers Big John 3-Point X-Fold Boom
I wasn't real impressed with them on the custom unit I used. But they were the only ones that would build a custom unit to our specs. Everyone else said it would be too heavy for cat 1. They said no problem. But I did think they cheaped out on some things. Especially for what we paid for it.

 

[Budweiser John]

I just purchased a cat1 3PH 40 gallon sprayer with a 12 volt pump, 10' boom and a hand wand made by SMV products from Family Farm and Home in Michigan for $320.00. This unit is not designed for huge farming operations but is perfect for our paddoc, fence row, and spot spraying operations. Unit appears to be adequately engineered for the price.
I spent a couple days making a storage cart for E/Z hook up and adding a 12V plug on the back of the tractor controlled with an on/off console switch for boom spraying applications
The biggest question is how to calibrate the boom application rate based on the ground speed, pump GPM and pressure, and the chemical manufacturers application recommendations.
Sure could use some help on that question.

 

[mx1alex]

I just purchased a cat1 3PH 40 gallon sprayer with a 12 volt pump, 10' boom and a hand wand made by SMV products from Family Farm and Home in Michigan for $320.00. This unit is not designed for huge farming operations but is perfect for our paddoc, fence row, and spot spraying operations. Unit appears to be adequately engineered for the price.
I spent a couple days making a storage cart for E/Z hook up and adding a 12V plug on the back of the tractor controlled with an on/off console switch for boom spraying applications
The biggest question is how to calibrate the boom application rate based on the ground speed, pump GPM and pressure, and the chemical manufacturers application recommendations.
Sure could use some help on that question.

Just google it. There's lots of different methods out there. Basically you need catch water from each nozzle for a set period of time (30 seconds or so). That will give you your output in ml/sec or whatever unit you're using. Then from that you can calculate your speed to get whatever GPA you are targeting.

 

[farmer2009]

I just purchased a cat1 3PH 40 gallon sprayer with a 12 volt pump, 10' boom and a hand wand made by SMV products from Family Farm and Home in Michigan for $320.00. This unit is not designed for huge farming operations but is perfect for our paddoc, fence row, and spot spraying operations. Unit appears to be adequately engineered for the price. I spent a couple days making a storage cart for E/Z hook up and adding a 12V plug on the back of the tractor controlled with an on/off console switch for boom spraying applications The biggest question is how to calibrate the boom application rate based on the ground speed, pump GPM and pressure, and the chemical manufacturers application recommendations. Sure could use some help on that question.

Set your pressure in the recommended range for your tips. Lower pressures produce coarser water drops with less drift. Make sure you have sufficient overlap.

Then place a container under 2-5 tips and catch them for a measured time. Best to start spraying then move containers under tips. Remove then stop sprayer. You get ml/second/tip. Divide by # of tips caught. Convert to gallons/minute. Multiply by # of tips total. Now you have total gallons/minute.

Figure out speed. mph. Then acres/ hour. (Width/43560)*5280*speed. Divide by 60 to get acres/minute. Now you know your gallons per acre.

 

[Budweiser John]

Farmer0229. Thanks. You supplied the missing link. The owners manual shipped with the sprayer was about clear as mud.
I'll have time tomorrow to tinker with the calibration.
B John

 

[Jerry/MT]

I just purchased a cat1 3PH 40 gallon sprayer with a 12 volt pump, 10' boom and a hand wand made by SMV products from Family Farm and Home in Michigan for $320.00. This unit is not designed for huge farming operations but is perfect for our paddoc, fence row, and spot spraying operations. Unit appears to be adequately engineered for the price.
I spent a couple days making a storage cart for E/Z hook up and adding a 12V plug on the back of the tractor controlled with an on/off console switch for boom spraying applications
The biggest question is how to calibrate the boom application rate based on the ground speed, pump GPM and pressure, and the chemical manufacturers application recommendations.
Sure could use some help on that question.

I bought a Fimco sprayer and it had calibration that came with it as a function of total gpm from the sprayer. I then calibrate the individual nozzles using water, a jar and a scale and watch. I emptied the jar and weighed it, ran the pump at a fixed pressure for one minute, collecting the nozzle flow in the Jar and then weighed that. the difference between the empty jar and the jar with water was the weight of the water delivered in one minute so that determined the nozzle flow rate in lbs/min. You divide that by 8.34 lbs/gal and get the nozzle flow rate in gpm. You do that for each nozzle and sum them up. I did this for four nozzle pressures and I graphed total flow rate as a function of nozzle pressure.

Most herbicides are applied by so many gallons of mix per acre, usually 10 gallons of mix per acre.

Acres per minute sprayed = width of spray(ft) * speed (ft/min) / 43560 ft^2/acre. If the acre rate is 10 gallons mix per acre than gpm= 10 * width of spray(ft) * speed (ft/min) / 43560 ft^2/acre. Remember 88 ft /min = 1 mph so you have to pick your speed in mph and convert that to ft/min to plug into this equation.

Now go to the graph of gpm versus pressure and pick off the pressure required to get that gpm.

So if you have 12 ft spray width traveling at 5 mph( 440 ft/min), gpm @ 10 gallons/acre = 10 * 12 * 440 / 43560 = 1.2 gpm

 

[Jerry/MT]

(Not 100% if this is where it belongs on forum but figured yes because will be using it to spray hay fields)

I searched and haven't been able to find any good cat 1 3pt hitch sprayers, the ones i found where garbage, just garbage, no drain plugs wires not long enough. I'm looking for something around 50 gallons that is PTO driven (26hp kubota) can be boomed but doesn't have to be..


any ideas on reputable manufactures?

I have a Fimco with a 55 gallon tank and a Hypro 6 roller pump that in total cost $500 in 2005. It came with a 12 ft boom and a hand sprayer and I use it on 60 acres of irrigated ground several times a year. It has served me well. Part are easy to come by since it uses many standard fittings and selling retailers commonly carry specialty parts. I doubt that I have spent any more that $70 on parts over the past 10 years and my ground is pretty rough.

 

[smstonypoint]

Continental Belton makes really good 3 point sprayers. But I don't know what the shipping would be to Illinios.

I purchased one of their 55-gallon boomless sprayers (Ag-Meier Industries 3-Point Hitch Sprayers) with a Hypro roller pump through my local Kubota dealer back in May. I also looked at a 55-gallon boomless sprayer from Ag-Spray (https://www.agspray.com/cart.php#!c=224). The Ag-Meier has a lighter frame than the Ag-Spray by about 80 pounds or so. I would have gone with the Ag Spray if I was going to be using the sprayer with my utility tractor, but I bought the sprayer to use with my small Kubota. Although I have 220 lbs. of front weights, I was worried about the extra weight of the Ag Spray unit when topped off.

I have been pleased with the performance of the Ag-Meier unit to date.

Steve

 

[birddog0304]

Another simple way is putting a garbage bag over each nozzle to catch the output. Then measure it. Continue calculations as above.

 

[prevent]

If the pump is PTO driven what do you need wires for?

The ones i looked at all had electric pump but people complained about cables not reaching the battery and the flow being severely less than advertised like 35psi vs advertised 80psi..



thanks for replies i shall check out a few of these links here

 

[farmer2009]

The ones i looked at all had electric pump but people complained about cables not reaching the battery and the flow being severely less than advertised like 35psi vs advertised 80psi.. thanks for replies i shall check out a few of these links here

35 psi should be more than enough pressure for spraying. If you have some time to spend here's some links to teejet. Probably the most used sprayer tip. They have a very helpful website and its full of information. TeeJet - Spray Nozzles


http://www.teejet.com/media/40076/user's guide to spray nozzles_2013_lo-res-sequential.pdf

 

[mx1alex]

If you're spraying hay fields 35 PSI is plenty.

 

[RPW]

I built mine. I used a 125gal tank, a 7gpm electric pump, and a 14ft boom kit. Pump and boom kit came from Northern tools. Pump is rated for 60psi at 7gpm. This gives me 40psi to the nozzles and the rest is returned to the tank for agitation. Also with the boom kit it came with a spot sprayer wand. Mounted all on a homemade carryall and carry it on my tractor. Added a anderson connector (50amp) on the back of the tractor and a remote switch to control all. So far has worked great.