FARGO, N.D. — Kondex KX7 concaves are half the width of original equipment manufacturer concaves. The company’s wide variety of specialized, custom designed concaves fit different conditions, allowing many mix and match options to optimize combine performance.

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The ARP series has been developed for the machining of stainless steels as well as titanium alloys and other heat resistant alloy materials that are commonplace in the aerospace and power generation industries. Under test conditions, the impressive new ARP series has delivered tool life improvements of over 40%, efficiency improvements up to 20% and cutting force reductions of 16% when compared to other products.

The company head office is situated in Johannesburg with branches in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban. They service other areas through a network of smaller distributors outside the reach of the branch offices. Multitrade Distributors pride themselves in the quality brands that they represent. The level of expertise of their management and staff is their biggest asset, which includes the full backing of their technical applications department providing guidance from basic tooling requirements to full CNC programming in many disciplines, including turnkey projects.

“Another unique thing we do is put a tungsten carbide coating on our threshing bars, using a laser cladding process. This gives them phenomenal wear life. We have seen bars that have done 25,000 acres and the working edge of the bars look like new.

The company’s wide variety of specialized custom designed concaves fit different conditions, allowing many mix and match options to optimize combine performance.

“MaxThresh is a very aggressive threshing insert. You’ll notice that the bars are almost perpendicular to the direction of the crop mat as it enters the rotor. That forces the crop mat to lift up and over the bars, versus a more conventional concave with straight bars. The MaxThresh promotes more grain on grain threshing, thus improving both grain quality and threshing capacity.

Theisen said the company makes a version of the KX7 for John Deere, called the Convex Revolution. Instead of Kenox half-width bolt-in modules, Deere uses the same concept, but it’s a full-width solid weld-in concave.

For further information contact Multitrade Distributors on TEL: 087 803 2377 or visit www.multicarb.com

He said that while the performance data is encouraging, farmers don’t only buy the KX7 for capacity, but also because it lets them easily customize their combine to suit the situation. “A farmer who’s cutting a couple thousand acres of wheat wants a setup to optimize the combine in that crop. However, he benefits from a different setup if he’s cutting lentils or canola or dry beans. Again, he wants the concaves that are most suited to the crop and the conditions.”

“The KX7 units simply bolt in, the same as OEM. No modification. No other changes. Half the width gives more options because it takes two KX7 inserts to equal the width of a single traditional concave. You can run two or even three different inserts to tune the thresher for optimal threshing.

“Those are the inserts that go into the frames. We have the MaxThresh and the MaxRound. MaxThresh is a very aggressive threshing insert. You’ll notice that the bars are almost perpendicular to the direction of the crop mat as it enters the rotor. That forces the crop mat to lift up and over the bars, versus a more conventional concave with straight bars.

“Yes, that can be an issue,” Theisen said, “To solve it, we work closely with our dealers. They know the cropping situation in their local area. Each store sells a combination they have found appropriate for their area.

Because the KX7 is half the width of the original, the operator has double the number of mix and match options in configuring for different conditions and different crops, according to Kondex representative Andy Theisen, who brought KX7 samples to the show.

“The MaxRound is a gentler insert that promotes additional separation. It does that with more grain on grain threshing.

He said the John Deere data is good, but some farmers don’t buy the KX7 for capacity, but because it lets them customize their combine to suit the situation.

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Across the Northern Great Plains, many farmers end up buying seven frames, giving them their two main setups. A typical list price for a complete kit with six frames is $5575. Additional frames are $960 each. Kondex KX7 concaves are available to fit most CaseIH and John Deere rotary combines.

To enable end users to maximise the potential of this ARP line, Mitsubishi has adapted three high performance insert grades. The new MC7020 CVD coated designation is available for machining stainless steels over prolonged periods. This grade achieves outstanding tool life and consistency that is credit to its cemented carbide substrate and is coated with a TiCN base that extends tool life when machining a wide variety of stainless steels. This base is then coated with a micro grain Al2O3 that further improves the wear resistance. This final layer is an ultra smooth coating that prevents abnormal damage such as weld chipping.

“It’s hard to quantify the benefit of quick change concaves because the setup is so configurable. You can run different concaves simultaneously. There are so many ways to set it up.”

“A farmer who’s cutting a couple thousand acres of wheat wants a setup to optimize the combine in that crop. And he wants a different setup if he’s cutting lentils or canola or dry beans. Again, he wants the concaves that are most suited to the crop and the conditions.”

“The flexibility of the concave design allows for minimal changes between these crops, giving farmers the ability to easily configure the concave to optimize performance in all crops.”

For machining difficult-to-cut materials with a high level of accuracy and efficiency, Mitsubishi Materials has now launched its new ARP series of round insert milling tools.

These significant gains have been achieved by developing an extremely accurate insert seat that realises minimal change of run-out accuracy when indexing the inserts. Furthermore, the ARP delivers an exceptionally strong seating configuration that has a two side location face to prevent inserts from moving during cutting.

And that in itself can create a problem, he added. With so many combinations, how does an operator know he’s got the right mix? Is it all trial and error, or sheer luck?

“In the case of a John Deere combine we have six half-width frames with seven inserts that are bolted into each frame. There’s a lot of ways you can configure that. For each region, we’ve developed recommended combinations suitable for the crops and conditions there.

“The MaxRound is a gentler insert that promotes additional separation. You’ll notice again that the bars are at an angle and they sit high, above the frame. This creates a few more edges, which encourages better separation, especially in high moisture conditions. It gives the crop mat just a little bit of an extra shake.”

The Kondex booth at the recent Big Iron show in Fargo had a constant line of farmers stopping to check out the inter-changeable concaves. Built in Wisconsin, the KX7 is a modular design with a series of different inserts that fit OEM combines.

Strong clamping system This robust positioning is complemented by an innovative insert geometry design that has a special rake face on each quadrant of the inserts to generate smooth chip flow and reduce cutting resistance. This development creates an even chip flow whereas conventional inserts compress the chips toward the centre of the insert. When these features are combined with the course, fine and super fine pitch cutter bodies, increases in efficiency beyond 20% can be realised.

The 42nd Big Iron Farm Show was held in Fargo, N.D., the second week of September. Many of the innovations on display at prairie farm shows make their debut at Big Iron a year earlier.

Because KX7 is half-width, the operator has double the number of options in configuring for different conditions and different crops, according to Kondex representative Andy Theisen, who was on site to answer questions about the KX7.

The Kondex booth at the recent Big Iron show in Fargo had a constant line of farmers stopping to check out the inter-changeable concaves. Built in Wisconsin, the KX7 is a modular design with a series of different inserts that fit OEM frames.

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“Deere test data shows a performance benefit in the magnitude of 20 percent with our concaves. I’ve also had conversations with PAMI up in Saskatchewan, but we haven’t formalized a testing agreement yet.”

Multitrade Distributors Multitrade Distributors is a wholly owned South African company that supplies tungsten carbide cutting tools as well as holding tools to the engineering and manufacturing industries.

To suit a diverse range of machining applications, ARP are available with cutter bodies that include an arbor type in diameters 40, 42, 50, 52, 63, 66, 80 and 100mm. These bodies offer course, fine and super fine insert pitches with a choice of 4 to 11 insert seats per tool depending upon the diameter. For machining smaller surface areas and intricate forms, Mitsubishi has also launched a shank type that is available in standard and long lengths for processing difficult to reach cavities and forms. These standard and long reach tool bodies are offered in diameters 25, 32, 40 and 50mm with two to five insert seats to meet a vast range of machining applications. In addition, screw-in type tool bodies in diameters 25, 32 and 40 are also available.

For the machining of heat resistant alloys, Mitsubishi is offering its PVD coated MP7100 and MP9100 insert grades. With multiple coating layers, these grades stabilise machining performance and prevent cracks and edge chipping from penetrating through to the substrate. This extends tool life and consistency on particularly difficult materials. In addition, the respective insert grades are offered with three individual chipbreakers that focus on edge sharpness through to uncompromising edge strength. The variety of geometries enable the end user to apply the ARP series to everything from precision finish machining through to medium machining applications and even heavy interrupted cutting.

“We have two main box designs – the MaxThresh and the MaxRound,” said Theisen, the engineer who led the development of the KX7 concaves.

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Founded in Port Elizabeth in 1983, the main objective of the company is to introduce and maintain total tooling solutions to these Industries. Since inception Multitrade Distributors has been the sole distributor for Mitsubishi Carbide products in the Southern African regions, and later introduced various other product offerings to its range, such as SsangYong Ceramic Cutting Tools, NT TOOL Corp, KOMET Group, ARNO Werkzeuge and Kintek.

“In northern North Dakota and Montana and through the southern prairie provinces, most farmers cut all their small grains with three or four rows of the MaxThresh and two or three rows of the MaxRound. When they transition to the more gentle, easier threshing crops, they switch to two rows of MaxThresh and four rows of MaxRound. We also offer a small hole version of the MaxThresh for the toughest threshing conditions.”

Quick-change modular concaves allow producers to custom-tune 
their threshing setup with a variety of mix and match options