Claas announces new round and square balers

Claas has announced a lineup of round and square hay balers for this year with a series of new upgrades.

"Each of these machines are designed to provide maximum performance, easy maintenance, and the reliability you expect from Claas," says Matt Jaynes, product manager for Claas. "By listening to the needs of our customers and bringing our brightest thinking into research and development, Claas is providing customers with a truly innovative portfolio of tools in the baler and hay market."

Quadrant series square baler

The Claas Quadrant Evolution series brings some new technical upgrades to the Quadrant 5300 series.

Leading the upgrades is its pick-up with two cam tracks, designed for torsional resistance. The pick-up has five rows of tines, and 18 double tines per row. The fifth row of tines allows the pick-up to rotate more slowly, while the speed of the feeding system roller has been increased. The feed roller is mounted on springs to compensate for uneven swaths, and has extra paddles which can be removed while harvesting long-stalked crops.

The baler uses a hydraulic drive for pickup, and components from Claas' Jaguar pick-up-line, for smooth operation with reduced noise levels and minimal wear costs.

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The Quadrant balers make use of Claas' Fine Cut technology, with 51 knives instead of the usual 25 on the Roto Cut, making for a cutting length of just 2 cm. The shorter chop length on silage helps minimize residue in the feeding stations.

The bale chamber has also received modifications. The top bale chamber plate has been changed to ensure strong bales, right to the edges. Continuous straight bale chamber side plates are designed to compact bales evenly. To reduce material build-up in the ram guide area when baling, factory-fitted side knives and deflectors have been added.

Hardox components have been installed on the Quadrant baler, including heavy duty bearings for the ram guide to reduce wear in the bale chamber and knotter area.

Variant 500 series round baler

The new series of Variant 500 round balers includes six models, featuring Claas' Roto Feed and Roto Cut formats.

The Variant 565 RotoCut (RC) and 585 RC have reinforced drive chains, a strong cutting rotor with 8mm double-tine stars and knife protection. These two models have a 17-knife cutting mechanism, with a cutting length of 2.3 inches.

On the 565 RC and 585 RC, the standard rotor drop floor can be lowered hydraulically to clear blockages with the push of a button, while knives are immediately depressurized. The drop floor also compensates for uneven swaths, able to lower itself by up to 1.2 inches, to prevent blockages in advance. A sound will notify the driver before the rotor is blocked to give time to reduce driving speed.

The Variant 500 balers have a new baling density pressure control system, which includes a new hydraulic control block with two independent tines for both belt tensioning arms. The arms and baling pressure can be measured and set independently. The bales will have higher density in the outer position to better protect from the elements.

• READ MORE: NEW ROUND AND SQUARE BALERS FROM NEW HOLLAND

Density management also allows control of the density for the bale core, to produce soft-core bales. The dimensions and baling pressure for softer core bales can be adjusted depending on your operation needs. The new control software assists during baling, so the bales can still leave the chamber under difficult operating conditions or in uneven windrows.

The new tying system for the Variant 500 series has the net roll 10 inches lower than previous versions for more accessible roll changes, and is sitting on a roller so dirt or crop residue can fall out. A new net brake, feed plate, and knife release assist in the tying process on the Variant models.

Returning from the previous series of models, the comfort net wrap for the automatic binding process enables high belt rotation speeds of up to 10 feet per second.

For more information about the Claas Quadrant Evolution series square baler and the​​ Variant 500 series round baler, visit claasofamerica.com.