Row marker

[bdog]

My tractor is 7’ wide. The front wheels are narrower than that maybe 6’? I have several implements that are much wider - 15’ mower, 14’ field cultivator, 12’ grain drill, etc. I know I can look out the back window or in the mirror and see where the implement is in relation to my previous pass but it is hard to be really precise. after Spending most the day on the shredder I got to thinking that I bet on average I am losing at least a foot maybe two per pass which adds up especially when each pass is nearly a half mile.

I have seen markers for use when planting that is attached to the planter and actually has a thing that sticks out and disturbs the soil so you have a line to follow with the tractor wheel on the next pass. That isnt what I was thinking about. I was thinking of making a removable arm that mounts to my loader frame and sticks out the left side of the tractor where it is easy to see and then have something flexible (antennae whip maybe) extending down from it that almost touches the ground. The arm could be telescoping so that you can extend it and match the working width of your implement. You then simply could drive and keep your marker right on the edge of your last pass. Has anyone done anything like this or have any other ideas?

 

[Gee Ray]

We used a Farmall Cub to lay out the garden rows. There are holes for different widths on the front axle which we placed a piece of all-thread and bent it to the front. One on each side of the tractor. Then attached a 2 x 4 so it was 12 or 14 foot wide. A nail in the 2 x 4 with a piece of string and an attached weight hung down over the last row marked. You could tell exactly were to drive to mark the next 3 rows.

Your idea is OK until you hit uneven ground. A little rocking motion on the tractor translates into big movement of your arm up and down. This could easily break or bend your arm.

Perhaps you could fabricate an arm that is spring mounted with a wheel at the end. Attach it to a SSQA plate. As you let the wheel ride on the ground it could "trip" with the springs to not damage your arm. You could easily pick it up as you make sharp turns.

Look for a worn out planter or sprayer that you could steal the marker arm. Replace the marking disk with a rubber tire. Attach that to the FEL on a SSQA plate.

 

[WranglerX]

IN concept it seems good... You need to develop it with Gee Ray's comments in mind... You could try a QED (Quick En Dirty) trial with a piece of PVC pipe to prove concept...

 

[chim]

A piece of light chain long enough to drag slightly on the ground might be easier to keep track of than a weight on a swinging string.

 

[ehcrain]

I second the idea of pvc pipe, i think 1.25 and 1.5 slide inside each other easily for your width adjustment.

 

[Gee Ray]

As I was driving today I thought about this problem. I forgot about a foam or soap suds dropper. As the suds drop you could adjust the path of the tractor.

 

[Stowed4Sea]

Whenever I was doing tillage or something like that, the best thing I could figure was put head in fixed spot and put a mark on edge of cab frame where fresh dirt on left or right touched the cab based on that line of sight. With your head in a fixed spot you don't have parallax error and with some practice you can normally get it pretty good.

I think it would be just as hard to follow a marker. I recall many years of planting corn and beans by marker before we had GPS. The marker has a disc that slices and leaves one hard edge with dirt thrown off to one side a bit. It is very easy to see the contrast between wet disturbed, and undisturbed soil. Even when I had to stop to fill up the planter and start going again, just 15-30 minutes later with the mark in the soil, but that dirt dried out, it was hard enough to keep planter perfect, even harder during sunrise or sunset.

I'd think even with your idea of a marker, you could still have problem with parallax error, if you move head around in the cab it changes the reference point looking out at your marker idea. This is why markers on planters extend so you drive directly over the center of the mark, no parallax error.

I'm not trying to discourage of course, it's just really hard to see mark/marker from cab of a tractor. I think the chain idea could be good, but I'd constantly worried it would fall off and go into the mower. Something that touches the ground where you can visibly see it in or on the ground next to where you worked I'd think would be best and most easy to see.

 

[OzKioti]

Is some sort of physical mark on the ground preferable to GNSS guidance?

I've just bought a 6 metre spray boom, and had ordered a foam marker kit, however before it arrived I investigated GNSS units. I cancelled the order for the foam kit and went with a Trimble GFX-350. It's not auto-steer, but does feature what they call "coverage logging" which "paints" the area you've sprayed on the screen. Claimed position precision is around half a meter. I don't need any additional subscription add-ons to improve precision beyond that - as in sub-inch.

So far I've found it not as easy as following marks on the ground (as in using a slasher where it's clear where you've mown), but once you're "on track" and maintaining a heading to an identifiable spot in the distance, the screen paint confirms your accuracy.

My uses for the Trimble unit are spraying and fertiliser spreading, rather than ground engaging implements.

 

[Stowed4Sea]

Hm, half a meter precision is around 1.5 feet, when he's originally off by 1-2 feet, I'm not sure this would work out too well. Seems pretty horrible to me but I'm used to planting corn where a few inches actually matter a lot, I don't have experience with your system. Is half a meter like worst case and it's normally better than that or what has your experience been with that precision?

 

[LouNY]

Row crop cultivator markers are similar to what you are wanting.
It is a tube mounted across the front of the tractor with a light chain hanging down.