Steve, Neil,
John;
I till.
Lots. 1/2 acre of raspberries, 1.5 acres strawberries, 1/2 acre
garden. Sandy soil.
When the
hitch is RAISED at the drawbar, the tilling is "aggressive", when down it is
"cultivating". Use the chain to set the lowest depth; don't make the
tiller bounce too much. Untwist and remove weeds at the end of each
row. The motor WILL run hot. It has a thermal shut off; if it
overheats (rare for me) let it cool for 10 minutes, then depress HARD the
interlock. I till deep as slow as the tractor goes; I cultivate slow in
L. That's the main reason I'm going to an E-15; slow is slower. The
current may go into the yellow, but not as often as with the snow blower.
I never see yellow unless I'm over 4.5" deep and have weeds collected on the
blades. I have worked with other tillers (Troy-Built, Sears, Ariens,
Siemens) for years, and the bolts on the tiller blades are wrong. They
should have used carriage bolts and short, low-profile nuts or better yet;
dedicated plow-bolts. The blade design is good but there is too much bolt
drag and weed collection area on their bolts. I intend to come up with
better bolts later this season.
Larry
Elie
-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Naugler [mailto:snaugler earthlink net] Sent: Sunday, June 09, 2002 10:47 PM To: elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu Subject: (ET) tiller motor temperature John and others,
The GE motors aren't labeled, but I'd assume they
have a temperature rating the same as industrial motors. Most industrial
motors are rated for a 40 deg C (72 deg F) temperature rise. Industrial
motors can frequently be much too hot to touch when heavily loaded.
I believe that tillers when performing
normal tilling are expected to move the power meter well into the yellow zone,
unlike the mower deck where you should stay in the green. I don't have a
tiller, but my snow blower manual specifically states that the power meter
should be in the yellow zone.
Hope this helps,
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