Intake Options to Meet Your Operation’s Needs

Optimal Crop Pickup

The pickup is designed to match the full capacity of the baler. The wide, 91” pickup, with narrow tine spacing, will leave your fields clean. Pickup teeth on the SB Series are now even stronger than before, with increased tine thickness and a fifth spring coil to extend tine life. Straight pickup tines help release the crop and reduce crop wrapping. Uniquely shaped crop guides result in more aggressive and efficient pickup by exposing more of the tine when needed, and by pulling the crop away from the tines as it approaches the intake. The pickup roller has a large 10-inch diameter which compresses the crop against the pickup tines reducing friction, thus reducing leaf loss and increasing baler efficiency by evening out the windrow. In extreme conditions, pivoting gauge wheels ease wheel and tire stress.

To better meet your operation's specific needs, there are two intake options available, the OptiFeed non-cutting rotor or the OptiCut cutting rotor. These two intakes both use our patented integral rotor. Farmers who wish to cut their crop can also choose between the 15- and 23-knife OptiCut cutting rotors. Availability dependent on SB model – See Specifications

Power Feed Roller

A Power Feed roller is now standard on all SB Series balers, to even out heavy windrows and improve capacity up to 15%. This driven crop roller is fully integrated into the intake system and has the ability to vertically rise and fall 7.8 inches to match windrow conditions. Moving up and down as the crop conditions change allows the Power Feed roller to constantly compress the crop and propel it into the intake rotor. As a result, the crop is slightly compressed and evenly distributed as it passes through the rotor, this prevents blockages, ensures smoother running, and reduces power requirements.

Integral Rotor Techology

Available on KUHN SB Series balers is our patented Integral Rotor Technology found on OptiFeed and OptiCut models. This simple, low-maintenance intake system guarantees an enormous throughput capacity at all times. The short distance between rotor and pickup tines maintains consistent crop flow. The design of this force-fed intake makes higher forward speeds possible for increased productivity and reduces crop damage. The Integral Rotor is provided with rotor tines made out of Hardox® wear plates. Hardox combines extreme hardness and toughness to reduce rotor tine wear. Longer wearing life of the rotor tines will help to provide time and money savings for the operator.

Non-Cutting, OptiFeed Rotor

When crop cutting is not required, the OptiFeed system ensures a controlled and consistent crop flow to the prechamber. This rotor design helps even out windrows by moving hay where needed for consistent bale formation. This force-fed, non-cutting intake is the perfect solution for handling tough crop conditions such as cornstalks, short straw and high-moisture crops.

Cutting, OptiCut Rotors

With 20 years of experience behind our cutters, the OptiCut (OC) cutting rotors are designed for unlimited intake capacity and excellent cutting quality. KUHN (OC) cutting rotors, with elliptical shaped rotor tines, are acknowledged by users as one of the best cutting systems on the market. The silage is guided and drawn down to the knives from an early stage which improves flow and cutting performance and also prevents unwanted plugging.

OptiCut 15
The OC-15 rotor, on the SB 890, offers a 1.75” theoretical length of cut. The small cut provides better fermentation of forages and more absorbent straw for bedding. The KUHN patented rotor tine shape ensures a low power requirement and a superior cut quality. The knives, individually protected with a spring, can be changed easily with the standard slide tray.

OptiCut 23
The OC-23 rotor, on the SB 1290, offers a 1.75” theoretical length of cut. The large 24” OptiCut rotor is designed with your operation’s high-capacity needs in mind. The knives on the OC-23 have individual hydraulic protection.

With just two levers, you can easily choose from the following knife group configurations: 0-11-12-23. Together, with the standard slide tray for easy knife changing, you not only invest in cutting quality but, above all, in driver comfort.

Power Density – The KUHN Solution

The Importance of Bale Shape: Consistently shaped bales provide more than just aesthetic appeal. A dense, consistently filled bale represents quality in every form. Square bales are easy to handle and stack. In addition, they are much more stable during transport than a poorly formed bale. In silage applications, a square-edged bale indicates less air content, resulting in higher quality feed.

The KUHN Power Density system, a single feeder fork design, proves that a well-engineered component can eliminate complexity. This system ensures consistently filled flakes and results in heavy, square-edged bales regardless of the windrow condition.

The single feeder fork combines two functions into one mechanism, eliminating unneeded components and complexity. KUHN’s exclusive Power Density system runs at twice the speed of the plunger allowing a minimum of one flake formed per plunger stroke. This creates consistent bale shape and excellent density.

Power Density – How Does It Work?

1- The integral rotor actively delivers the crop to the chamber.

2- The single-acting feeder fork (blue) lifts the feed up to the measuring plates (red).

3- The single-acting feeder fork continues to form the bale flake until the measuring plate is pushed back with a predetermined force.

4- Once the measuring plate is pushed back, it locks the single-acting feeder fork to push the perfectly formed flake into the bale chamber.

The Bale Chamber

The specially designed bale chamber of the KUHN SB machines is the result of more than 35 years of experience in large square balers. With the 10-foot long bale chamber, there is plenty of space to form a rock-hard, square-edged bale. The combination of aggressive retainers and special wedge-shaped doors brings maximum compaction and gentle expansion of the bale.

Forty-six plunger strokes per minute result in a high bale capacity. The plunger is guided by four large rollers with a 5" diameter for maximum service life.

Easy-Access Twine Boxes

The twine boxes swing out completely for easy access to the vital parts of the machine. Behind the full-access side doors, spools of twine can be stored. The SB Series balers have a twine capacity of 32 spools. The swine storage itself is sealed to keep twine rolls clean for consistent, reliable tying.

 Double Knotting System

The SB 890 and SB 1290 are equipped with a double-knotting system. With the electronic knotter control, the driver has accurate information concerning twine tension at all times and receives an alarm if an issue arises. The knotting progress can be monitored directly from the tractor cab.

During baling, an upper (blue) and lower (red) twine is fed to the bale, because the twine is not slipping around the bale there is no tension on the twine during the bale formation.

Step 1: As the bale reaches the desired length, the needles (gray) are activated and move upward to the knotter to start the knotting cycle. In this first step the bale is finished with the first knot.

Step 2: Once the first knot has finished the bale, the second knot connects the upper and lower twine again so the bale can be formed without tension on the twine during knotting.

Heavy-Duty Driveline, Maximum Protection

Heavy-Duty Driveline

KUHN uses a combination of synchronized gearboxes, drivelines and oversized chains designed for maximum life and limited maintenance. The driveline layout is simple, clean, and easy to service and maintain while minimizing the overall number of moving parts.

Instant Protection

The pickup, integral rotor and feeder fork are protected with cam-type clutches, which are automatically activated in the event of an overload.

The clutch re-engages when the operator reduces the PTO speed. This allows the operator to restart the stalled component from the driver’s seat, reducing overall downtime that is typical with slip clutches and shear bolts.

Another benefit of these clutches is that they give the ability to drive at a constant speed without worrying about plugging.

Heavy, large-diameter flywheels are featured on all SB models. The large flywheel creates the force needed to pack the bale. This also reduces the horsepower required, and the torque spikes through the components and driveline, resulting in less fuel consumption and wear for extra longevity.