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What One Should Know About A Lime Spreader

By Paul Turner


A spreader refers to a farm equipment used commonly to spread lime on a piece of land. Besides spreading lime, the device may also be used to spread other substances such as seed, sand, fertilizer, or ice melt among others. A lime spreader usually acts as an alternative to drop spreader in that, instead of dropping its contents, it spreads them over a piece of land. Other names that may be used to refer to the equipment are broadcast or centrifugal fertilizer spreader.

There is a lot of variance in different aspects of these devices. Sizes vary a lot. There are small units which can be carried in hand when working, which others are very large that they need a tractor to tow them. Those that are towed are used for commercial purposes. They can spread material on large pieces of land within a short time. Hand-held versions work best on small pieces of land like lawns and private gardens.

A hopper is incorporated in hand-held devices for containing lime. Hoppers vary in capacity from a few liters to several liters. Hand-held devices work through hand cranking. Push units are slightly bigger than hand-held models. Push models contain spinning disks that get powered by gearing to wheels. The largest models in this category of machines are commercial spreaders. These ones are usually connected onto utility farm tractors. They fit onto a three point hitch on the tractor and are powered by the powered take-off shaft of a tractor.

Spreaders, regardless of the size, work in almost the same way. The device contains a material hopper that is positioned over a horizontal spinning disk. The disk contains between 3 to 4 fins attached to it. The fins throw the lime that is dropped onto it from the hopper out and away from the equipment. This mechanism is more common in smaller brands of the machine.

Mid-sized commercial spreaders work in a slightly different manner. They rely on pendulum spreading mechanism. This mechanism supports improved consistency in the spreading of material. Hence it is more preferable. Directional fins on the disk also allow material to be spread in a particular direction according to the preference of the user. Users have controls for regulating direction.

The spinning of the disk requires a power source. Hand-held models incorporate hand cranks that spin gears. In tow-behind models, the gears are rotated by a shaft which is in turn rotated by wheels of the device. The disk is in turn rotated by the gears to spread material.

In tractor-mounted models, the driver operates the spinning of disk because of a mechanical power take-off shaft that is linked to the tractor. In some cases, a 12-volt motor may be incorporated in the spreader. The motor spins the disk, which disperses the contents of the hopper. More modern working mechanisms are being incorporated in modern models to improve efficiency.

The hopper is for holding material and it is made from various materials. Among the most commonly used materials are plastic, stainless steel, and painted steel. The strength of stainless steel makes it preferable for use on hoppers on commercial models. Besides strength, stainless steel is also resistant to corrosion from granular fertilizer.




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