Make my 'dissy' into a video - Calum Evans

Posted 6 July 2011

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A final year engineering student at Harper Adams University College is hoping to reduce labour time for farmers with a modified straw bedding machine, designed and built as part of his dissertation.

Calum Evans from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, recently completed a dissertation which looks at the modification of a Teagle Tomahawk 8080 straw bedding machine, to produce a shorter chop length.

The 24-year-old, who is currently waiting for the results of his BEng (Hons) degree in Agricultural Engineering, chose to research the subject following his placement year with Teagle Machinery Ltd, Cornwall.

He said: “I designed a model using Computer Aided Design (CAD) and tested it using Finite Element Analysis to highlight the points of stress and modes of vibration of the part.

“I then built the machine at Teagle before bringing it back to Harper Adams to test using accelerometers on the gearbox, a torque transducer on the PTO shaft, and an optical speed sensor.

“From that, I plotted the results to produce a graph of data to calculate the power requirements and vibration modes of the machine.”

Calum’s results show that the machine uses eight horsepower more than the old machine and vibration does not affect how it runs.

He added: “My final product works well, it provides a shorter chop length without reducing the performance and speed output too much.

“The main benefit of the machine is that it reduces the labour time for farmers to bed down poultry, and with it being an 8080, it can fit both large square and round bales which is essential for farmers really. There is no other machine like it on the current market.”

Calum is currently preparing for a six month trip to New Zealand, where he will spend his time working on dairy farms and as a contractor.

He said: “I hope that working in different countries will help me to gain agricultural experience and broaden my horizons.

“Teagle Machinery has offered me a full time position but I have deferred that until I return.”