Devon firm TT Engineering and Fabrication has produced an air-suspended crimp roller after being contacted by a customer struggling to get good results with their fixed-frame roller.

The crimp roller machine features three roller sections, each of which articulates independently and has an air bag for adjusting the amount of pressure they put on the ground.

See also: Driver’s view: Danny Milazzo’s Fendt Rogator 645 sprayer

According to the firm, the problem with fixed-frame rollers is that they only function properly on billiard-table-flat fields.

When they’re put to work on more undulating ground, one end of the crimper can be cutting into the crop and doing a good job while the other is riding over the top.

TT-Engineering’s version gets round this by mounting each roller section on a ball joint so that it can move in all directions.

There’s also a linkage connected to an air bag that allows the operator to adjust the amount of weight transferred to the crop.

Large diameter 400mm tubes are used to reduce rolling resistance, and these are fitted with chevron blades at 100mm spacings to give a fine chop.  

CNC-profiled blade edges also ensure pressure is even across the width of each roller.

Machines are custom built to order, with working widths  ranging from 3-6m. The 3m model weighs roughly 1.7t and costs about £18,000.