The first ever product manufactured by Maschio was a rotavator in 1964. Since then the Maschio name has become synonymous with rotavators throughout the world and the company now produces what is arguably the largest range available. The Jane Bed Tiller is the latest evolution of the Maschio rotavators, targeting root crop, vegetable, fruit and flower growers to intensively till soils and form beds prior to establishment of the crop.
The Jane is based around Maschio’s Panterra rotary cultivator and is designed for use on high horsepower tractors (between 200-380Hp) in arduous conditions. The robust double ‘A’ frame headstock, heavily built chassis and twin folding rams come into their own when the Jane is used for bed forming. They ensure the working sections of the machine are held precisely in place and allow firm downward pressure to be exerted by the machine’s rear hoods to create the beds.
The maximum working depth of the Jane is 27cm and depth can be simply adjusted by a series of cylinders located on the rear of the bed-forming hoods, keeping the shape and depth of the bed constant during the pass.
The main rotor and bearings feature a Duo-Cone sealing system which ensures the ‘Jane’ is low maintenance, whilst guaranteeing reliability and maintaining a completely waterproof or ‘amphibious’ bearing housing. Coupled with the oil-immersed gear drive for each rotor this keeps the system fully enclosed and protected so that it will keep working in all extremes, from dry and dusty, through to becoming fully immersed in water. A proven system for the most demanding working environments.
The Jane bed tiller is offered in a range of working widths from 4.28m to 6.28m. The width of the beds produced is specified at the time of order but can be adjusted by removing or fitting additional wedge kits as necessary. It can be specified to form 3, 4, 6 or 8 beds by adjusting the wedge bed formers, which gives a range of bed widths between 130mm (8 bed, 420 model) and 1680mm (3 bed, 620 model).
The Jane on display at LAMMA 19 will feature two new options recently introduced by Maschio. Firstly, a quick-fit blade system using one bolt to fit two blades at a time. Unlike quick fit blade systems on power harrows, which do not use any bolts, Maschio discovered that rotavator blades need to be firmly fixed to eliminate rotor wear and maximise effectiveness. This new system halves the fitting time for replacement blades but keeps them firmly in place to do the best job possible.
In addition, the Jane on display will have a new internal hood fitted that is now available on many of the larger rotavator models in the Maschio range. The new Anti-Clogging liner inside the hood is made from high density polyethylene, which dramatically reduces the amount of soil that sticks to the inside of the hood. This has a direct impact on the horsepower and fuel required, significantly reducing running costs, improving forward speeds and therefore work rates.
