BRANDON – Farmers often find that when they improve efficiency at one point in an operation, a bottleneck is created somewhere else.
Bigger combine headers lead to bigger tanks, bigger grain trucks and carts, bigger grain bins and bigger augers.
But it doesn’t stop there. The latest 16 inch auger creates a new bottleneck at the top of the bin if farmers try to run it at maximum capacity. And after all, why would farmers invest in that giant auger if they couldn’t run it at max?
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That is why the new standard in bin lids is rapidly becoming 48 inches. With that diameter, farmers can quickly position the auger and dump grain without it rolling to the ground.
Richard Epp of Darmani North America, which builds bins and bin equipment in Fiske, Sask., said it’s easy to describe the new lid.
“It’s a big lid so you can hit the hole with a big auger,” he said.
“It’s easy to open from the ground and it closes itself. No need to get up on the bin. There’s no springs. No counterweights. The lid weighs about 30 pounds and it runs on four rollers in a garage door roller track. When you stand on the ground and pull the cable, the lid simply lifts up and follows the track, just like a garage door.”
Epp said a 30 lb. lid would normally create significant problems at the top of the bin. A spring heavy enough to close that big of a lid and keep it closed would be too heavy to lift. Lightening up on the spring tension wouldn’t leave it with enough force to close the lid.
“That’s why we went with rollers,” Epp said.
“We’ve totally eliminated that old problem of springs. The other advantage of the roller track system is that now we have four spots holding the lid down. The wind can’t open it.”
Another feature is the optional ventilation flaps at the top. The vent flaps are made of rubber and attached to a steel ring that bolts to the underside of the lid assembly. In the winter, farmers can pull the control cable tight and latch the vents closed. In warm weather, they can unlatch the cable and the rubber flaps are once again free to open with the air movement.
Although Darmani’s 48 inch lid is intended for large, new grain bins, it is also available as a retrofit kit for smaller, older bins. The kit does not require cutting the existing galvanized roof. Instead, it uses an adapter funnel to channel grain into the smaller top. Epp said the retrofit bolts on the top of a variety of bin models.
The 48 inch rolling lid with air vent ring sells for $650 complete. The vent ring sells for $150. Epp said the price on the retrofit kit should be less than $500.
For more information, contact Richard Epp at 306-377-4433.
