Individual row shutoff for Case Ih Cyclo 955 corn planter

Hey there! Has anyone done section control on a Case IH Cyclo corn planter? I’ve got ideas of how I’d like to do it but I thought I’d throw it out there see if someone else has done one already.This is how the metering system looks.

IMG_2775


And here’s a system that my ideas are based on:

https://slectro.com/row-shut-off.php

Except this system doesn’t have individual row shutoff, it only goes down to 2 rows at a time.

I am in the process of setting up rate control for
liquid fertilizer on this planter as well, for which I’m using an RC11 board, with 8 section relays on the board.

Not going to be much help to you but… I’ve been wanting to do the same to my cyclo. I run pneumatic downforce and would run the pneumatic shutoffs. They are physically smaller and i think would be less amp draw overall. I’ve read the electric solenoids pull quite a few amps. Especially with the electric solenoids, i think the solenoids are physically too large to run individual shut-offs. That and the aspect of rigidity to keep the arm lined up to run on top of the dimple, might require a complete redesign of the selctro system.

Now that my debbie downer moment is over, i think shutoffs would be great. Even 2 row shutoffs would be a huge improvement. I’ve also looked into electric drive for the modules. Graham had a kit to retrofit electric to the cyclos. It was pricey. The specs i could find were 120rpm epd motor with a 15 tooth sprocket on the motor. They want a 3:1 to 4:1 reduction for proper torque.

I would love to hear about updates along the way

I have never been around a cyclo planter so I am no help but I saw this video a while back and thought it was really cool. If you scrub through the video there are a few places you can see the mechanisms working. I think whoever made it is probably a member on the discourse as well, maybe @kansasfarmer ?

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I still have it. But not using it anymore

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I like the look of that setup! @kansasfarmer , do you remember where you got those wheels? I couldn’t find that style on Amazon… just the ones with a thin rubber lo-profile tire. Did you need to modify the seed manifold so the seed didn’t catch on the back edge when a section was off?

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This website, servo city, has foam wheels like that. They also have their “gecko” neoprene wheels, I think would also work good for what you are doing. I ordered their solid wheel with a rubber tire to use on the steering motor to drive the steering wheel in my sprayer.

I think they are a RC car wheel. Not sure where I got them anymore. No I didnt modify manifold, it was never an issue

Yea the ideas are rolling now​:sunglasses: How about spring tension to hold the wheel against the drum and then a short electric actuator to push the wheel arm up away from the drum? All that has to fit within a 1.5” wide space… this could get interesting :sweat_smile:

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my wheels were pretty narrow. I would have to look, but i think i had room to add rows. Although on mine i was running 8 rows from two drums of 8. therfore i had two rows width for each wheel

Yea exactly. I’ve got 8 rows on one drum

Just a little update on this project. I got 8 actuators like this to engage/disengage the row shutoff wheels.


I ordered the wheels from AliExpress, and they are supposed to arrive early January. I probably won’t be able to work on brackets much until I have those and can measure them myself and hold them in place, see where everything will fit.

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Went for a short vacation and when I came back today the wheels for the section control had arrived while I was gone!:ok_hand:


I guess I know what project I’ll be working on this Saturday!

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Doing some prototyping here!

I’m thinking extension springs will work the best for the spring applied system.

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Extension springs mounted on this bar is now my plan, then add a bar where the actuators go through so they can float when the row is engaged and planting.

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This is how the wheels are mounted on the arms


I will be bolting a piece of angle iron to that flat bar and to the original seed release wheel housing that will have holes in it where the actuators will go through, that way they can float along when the wheels are engaged. My hand shows the approximate place of the angle

Got the section control relays working yesterday evening!

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Nice work, I have a John Deere 7000, but this is an interesting project to follow. I am working on variable rate drive for my planter this winter through AgopenGps.

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That sounds like neat project as well, I would be interested in seeing some of it if you get the chance to document.

Nice! I’m putting a liquid fertilizer system on this planter as well right now. At the heart of that is a hydraulic drive pump, to be driven by the rate control app and the RC 11 rate control module.
I’ll probably do the seed eventually as well I the planter