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NC Iowa | "How does yours handle the heavy use of the season?"
This is a commercially built professional machine, and can handle rigorous usage. As with anything, a few minor adjustments need to be made after so much use, but it is very minimal. Of course probes will wear and have to be replaced just as hand probes do, which is about a 10-15 minute job to replace. There is a consulatant in PA that has a machine, and he has done close to 100,000 probes with no major problems.
"I'm assuming that there are wear parts that need to be replaced?"
The most obvious is the probe. The life of the probe will vary depending on soil sampling conditions. Sandy, rockier soils may only last 5,000-8,000 probes, where clay loams may last 15,000+, which is probably about how long your standard hand probe will last. (give or take a few). The cost of the probe is ~ 1/2 the $ of a good hand probe. Other wear parts....the spring that retracts the holding bucket will loose it's tension over time and need to be replaced ($6.75), The ejector tip that pushes the soil out of the probe will need to be replaced over time (probably about the same time as the probe. $12.50). That is about it. I won't say that you will never have to replace a bearing or something, but that is the same as any other equipment. May need something down the road, my never. For the units that are being used in the US, we have not heard of any problems, other than common wear parts.
"Also what is the actual drive mechanism?"
The drive mechanism is a hydraulic pump that mounts in place of the recoil on the ATV. So as long as the ATV is running, this will run.
"Is it electric over hydraulic, I assume? "
Yes, it is.
"Does it have the guts to sample stickier, heavier OM soils?"
I guess that is subjective. We are in Northern Iowa and have some pretty heavy, high OM soils and it works great here. We have used it in slightly frozen ground where we could not get a hand probe to go into the ground, where the machine could get through (although a bit slower than normal). Keep in mind, the probe is spinning as it goes into the ground, which helps cut thorugh any residue or frost as it is going into the ground. However, we DO NOT recommend this to be used in what is considered frozen ground. It is still a probe, not an auger.
"Also, what are you dumping your samples into on the video? It looks like a small plastic box that may have to be dumped again into a sample bag? May be tedious??"
The video is from Denmark. They send small boxes of soil to labs, where we in the US use bags. We have built a holding container for US customers that that the operator dumps directly into a soil lab bag. So you take the sample, lift the holding container out of the sampler, dump it in a lab bag and put it back in the sampler for the next sample. We will soon have our own video on the web which will be higher resolution and give you a better idea of the process.
As far as the plugs....Due to the fact that the probe is spinning as it is going into the ground, it eliminates many plugs that you get when hand probing because it cuts through as it is going down. It seems most of the time a plug from a hand probe is from the probe going into residue that is not decomposed, or going into wet soil. This probe will not work under muddy conditions much like a hand probe will not.
Thanks for the questions. Please let me know if you have any others. We are always willing to meet up for a personal demo if you would like to see it in action if you are not too far from us....or maybe on the way to or from a show is always an option.
Bryan
Edited by bryanarn 1/4/2007 16:01
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NEW Generation in Automatic ATV Soil Samplers...
