JerryPara

What are you looking for a relationship or extras?

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

There's nothing quite like the soothing flow of the bum gun once you've finished the sports pages..It surely is an invention of the Gods.

Personally, I prefer the new Bidet's that are being rolled-out world wide. Not only do they come with a remote control to adjust pressure level and type, you can programme it to run your home theatre.

The Japanese have perfected this "Bidet" to a rocket science... well water JET science. Fully adjustable, self cleaning, it extended in the toilet then full retracts unnoticeable, the seat is fully cushioned and even warmed (it is cold in Japan). I had to see how it worked without actually trying at first ... so I defeated the "a person is sitting on the seat" sensor while standing off to the side. The dam_n thing sprayed up and out of the bathroom all the way to the closed across the room's hallway.

I have a colleague that swears by it and bought one for his house back in Farang land.

A lot of good ideas here. I saw a working system at Cabana, a resort in Chumphon. It used the grey water from the rental units but fed that in the open air through a series of ponds with a matrix of grasses that help filter the water.

I don't know how electrically minded you are but and easy way would be to a make a circuit that would only go on if there is a certain minimum Voltage.

A Voltage divider circuit on the 220V might do this, rectify the AC with a full wave rectifier to some(adjusted to the zener) Voltage but DC now. Adjust the resistors to give you a threshold of 10% below 220V(a typically variation) when rectified to DC this would give you some DC voltage, Again you have to play around to find the right combination of resistors in your voltage divider network to match your Zener diode. Buy as zener diode that will only conduct if it has this specific voltage.

From WIKI:For example, a diode with a Zener breakdown voltage of 32 V will exhibit a voltage drop of 32 V if reverse bias voltage applied across it is more than its Zener voltage.

You could use this to turn on the coil to a SPDT or SPST relay. The relay controls the AC power to the water pump. If the voltage is high enough it turns the relay on if not the relay shuts off. If the voltage comes back the relay goes back on again.

You can find the parts at in the BanMore shops in Bangkok, near chinatown.

BTW: the low voltage in a brown out is bad for any motor including refrigerators. I happens all the time even in Bangkok.

Jerry

Water turbine Power: Where to find in Thailand

David2UP: There is a great guy in ChangMai has his PHD in ME named Thanad. His company is called EngineO

http://www.engineo.co.th. He speaks english is a just a really nice person willing to help.

Good luck.

And please let us all know how you do.

Good thing they banned Jacutin. It can kill asthmatics and is carcinogenic. It has already been banned in much of the world. However, I find the suggestion for lindane cream odd. Jacutin is lindane.

Also, as long as we are talking about critters, body lice, head lice, and public lice are different bugs and usually require different medicines to kill.

http://www.cdc.gov/lice/

Also, body lice are kind of rare in modern times and more often seen in people who never change their clothes. Head lice and pubic lice very common.

In general, advise from Thai pharmacists is at your own risk. You are even lucky to get good advise from a doctor here. Pharmacists just sell what they sell.

=============

Great Advice! thanks. FROM CDC link above

1. Lindane shampoo 1%;
   Brand name products: None available
   Lindane is an organochloride. Although lindane shampoo 1% is approved by the FDA for the treatment of head lice, it is not recommended as a first-line therapy. Overuse, misuse, or accidentally swallowing lindane can be toxic to the brain and other parts of the nervous system; its use should be restricted to patients who have failed treatment with or cannot tolerate other medications that pose less risk. Lindane should not be used to treat premature infants, persons with a seizure disorder, women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, persons who have very irritated skin or sores where the lindane will be applied, infants, children, the elderly, and persons who weigh less than 110 pounds.
   

http://' target="_blank">

Which medicine is best?

If you aren’t sure which medicine to use or how to use a particular medicine, always ask your physician, pharmacist, or other health care provider. CDC does not make recommendations about specific products. When using a medicine, always carefully follow the instructions contained in the package or written on the label, unless the physician and pharmacist direct otherwise.

When treating head lice

1. Do not use extra amounts of any lice medication unless instructed to do so by your physician and pharmacist. The drugs used to treat lice are insecticides and can be dangerous if they are misused or overused.
   
2. Do not treat an infested person more than 2-3 times with the same medication if it does not seem to be working. This may be caused by using the medicine incorrectly or by resistance to the medicine. Always seek the advice of your health care provider if this should happen. He/she may recommend an alternative medication.
   
3. Do not use different head lice drugs at the same time unless instructed to do so by your physician and pharmacist.
   

ALSO the same link recommends:

1. Pyrethrins (pie-WREATH-rins) combined with piperonyl butoxide (pie-PER-a-nil beu-TOX-side);
   Brand name products: A-200*, Pronto*, R&C*, Rid*, Triple X*.
   Pyrethrins are naturally occurring pyrethroid extracts from the chrysanthemum flower. Pyrethrins are safe and effective when used as directed. Pyrethrins can only kill live lice, not unhatched eggs (nits). A second treatment is recommended in 9-10 days to kill any newly hatched lice before they can produce new eggs. Treatment failures can be common depending on whether lice are resistant to pyrethrins in the patient’s geographic location. Pyrethrins generally should not be used by persons who are allergic to chrysanthemums or ragweed.
   
2. Permethrin lotion 1% (per-meth-rin);
   Brand name product: Nix*.
   Permethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid similar to naturally occurring pyrethrins. Permethrin lotion 1% is approved by the FDA for the treatment of head lice. Permethrin is safe and effective when used as directed. Permethrin kills live lice but not unhatched eggs. Permethrin may continue to kill newly hatched lice for several days after treatment. A second treatment often is necessary in 9-10 days to kill any newly hatched lice before they can produce new eggs. Treatment failures can be common depending whether lice are resistant to permethrin in the patient’s geographic location. Permethrin is not approved for use in children less than 2 years old.
   

I will be in Manila for a few days later this month.

What are currently the most popular bars/discos that cater to the local middle-class single females?

I'm not looking for bars that offer PROS.

They're all "pros" in Asia...any unaccompanied woman (or a same-sex flock) "hanging out" at a bar/disco on a weeknite is almost certainly on the game. The good girls go home (often to mom & dads) to bed as they have jobs to go to in the morning.

You might try the Hard Rock in Glorietta Mall or any of the upmarket bars/restos there or in the adjacent Green Hills Mall. Also Havana Bar in Ermita might be good. Must be some places up in Quezon City too but I don't know that area.

Try Makati area. I recommend the Hard Rock or Shanghai La Hotel restaurant, there are some other nice places in a circle near the Hard Rock. Good luck

We had our place broken into several years back. These window grills that came with the house, a thin 10mm by 2mm thick banding welded into diagonal pattern. They knew exactly how to quickly break through it by using a wrench to snap the welds. I recommend 10mm x 10mm with good welds.

Good luck

It was suggested to us to first prepare the ground that you plant in using lime. Also there are chemicals you can use. Take a look at this link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=U5dezH9_e...5&ct=result

Hi all,

Could anyone knowledgeable let me know where I can buy rubber tree seedlings and the rough cost that I should pay

for seedlings about 100mm in length. I am looking to buy 2 containers worth on a regular basis.

It may be worth mentioning that I am in Udon Thani.

Mike

Mike you should spend some time to read through all the information on this forum. You will find a lot of helpful information. You can find Rubber seedlings in Nong Khai, Ban Dung and I am sure places closer to Udon also. They cost about 15 baht ea. In Ban Dung I understand they will even plant them for you.

Soundman, any idea on the cost of the post hole digger you found? Thanks

Not near my office today, however, from memory I was quoted 27500B -40% = 16500B for the 1.8hp model including 1 x 20cm 1m drill.

Extra drill bit was 6000b - 40% = 3600B.

Intend to buy this unit early next week. Then I can report on how good it actually is or isn't.

Cheers.

Thats good buying mate, that model retails at $1000 in NZ which is about 25,500 Baht.

Oleo-Mac used to sell a top of the range twin deck ride on mower in Oz,it was a good machine.

Anyone have a tractor 3 point linkage mounted unit? I am about to start looking and would appreciate comments

Here are some pics... give me a week or so and I should be passing by there and can get you a price.

Pseacraft,

That Kubota link that you have provided is a gem! I don't read Thai, but I can get a pretty good idea as they have pictures and prices. It answers a whole load of "other" questions regarding prices that I was thinking about asking you guys!

Interesting link with regards to the solar powered pumps. I fear that even their highest capacity system wouldn't come close to providing enough water though, but interesting nonetheless. Pumps is clearly something I need to some serious research on!

You read my mind about the harvesting. Everyone I spoke to told me that they get in a "gang" who harvests the fields for them, here's one of the guys harvesting their field:-

I printed out some pictures from some of the websites of harvesters and showed them to a few of the local farmers, they had never seen them before! They had seen tractors and the implements they use, but they had never seen them working. Apparently there is a large state owned farm about a couple of hours drive away where they have as many as 30 tractors, but no harvesters. I may take a drive one day to see if I can't see what they're using. Nine times out of ten, whatever the Government does here is hugely inefficient though, not sure I would want to base my ideas on their business model!

With all the useful information regarding prices and sizes etc. it gives me the ability to put it all down on paper and see what my options are, I appreciate the help with that.

Cheers!

WRT: tractor pricing, I don't know if you are thinking of Thailand Tractor places, but there is another Kubota tractor place ~3 kilometer from the link provided above. I went to both places and compared prices. This other place is just off the Udon outer ring road toward town on the left. I think the name is Vichit. His prices are much less. I got my L3408 for 350,000 with a front blade and 4 blade plow it was 400,000 even. I just purchased a Rotary tiller from him for 32K when it was around 45K for the same model above. He did not have the correct blades for the same Tiller but the more expensive place above did. They seem very organized there.

Amount of water needed: We are growing rubber. I asked a consultant who told me it is 10liters/day per tree.

I would be interested if anyone has any other numbers.

So i am planning a 25,000 liter ground level tank for the 30 rai of rubber, ~2500 trees. I have been working on the same no power water pumping issue as you. I also have a 750w submersible 220v pump. BTW, the locals stole the wire off of it so I had to pull the whole thing up and out 4 (4meter)lengths of 1.5" galvanized, ouch ... not sure if you have that problem in Cambodia. See also, "Boreholes", another Farming Forum topic regarding water.

Solar is good but not cost effective now, with all the development going on maybe in a couple of years. There is another method using a solar collector and a sterling engine(about 25-30% efficient, compared to solar ~8%) but I have not found any systems on the market yet. There are plans though and they should have residencial models in about 2 years too.

We have a 8KW portable generator for welding and such. But I used it to test the gas usage and it used 1-liter of gasoline to pump 2300 Liters of water ~40Meters [pumping height] to a water tower.

Anyone have any other consumption figures?

It took about 80 minutes to do that. To get the 25,000 liters I want it will take about 8 hours or 340 baht(42ß/L) every day to supply 10 liters to each tree in the dry season. I'm not sure how much water you are looking at but this can give you an idea. for 6 months thats ~62K baht to get maybe a 30% increase in productivity. Is it worth it? Maybe a smaller gen'tr and a ground lever tank would make it more reasonable.

Any body want to check my numbers please , please do.

After you get it set up I would be interested to know how much gas yours uses? I am not there often so supplying the gas day after day or a large storage is not viable for me. A smaller generator would do fine but you have to take into consideration the starting current will be more the 750watts. If I remember correctly, I think the starting current is 3x the nominal. A big store in Udon town also suggested to use a 2200w Gen'tr for a 750w pump. For your 5 pump - 5KW gen'tr situation if you start each of them at different times you should be OK. Another consideration maybe to see how far the nearest house is that has power and run it from them with your own meter. For me it is 1.7Km is the nearest and I am considering this as an option. Still worry about the electric line and poles growing legs and walking away though, so we may route it along the road ... more visible.

Good luck ... Would like to hear what you finally do ..Ps there is some great underwater electrical tape available if you have to make a pump connection in the bore hole.

Sorry, its late ... looks like I confused where you live Myramar with Cambodia.

Pseacraft,

That Kubota link that you have provided is a gem! I don't read Thai, but I can get a pretty good idea as they have pictures and prices. It answers a whole load of "other" questions regarding prices that I was thinking about asking you guys!

Interesting link with regards to the solar powered pumps. I fear that even their highest capacity system wouldn't come close to providing enough water though, but interesting nonetheless. Pumps is clearly something I need to some serious research on!

You read my mind about the harvesting. Everyone I spoke to told me that they get in a "gang" who harvests the fields for them, here's one of the guys harvesting their field:-

I printed out some pictures from some of the websites of harvesters and showed them to a few of the local farmers, they had never seen them before! They had seen tractors and the implements they use, but they had never seen them working. Apparently there is a large state owned farm about a couple of hours drive away where they have as many as 30 tractors, but no harvesters. I may take a drive one day to see if I can't see what they're using. Nine times out of ten, whatever the Government does here is hugely inefficient though, not sure I would want to base my ideas on their business model!

With all the useful information regarding prices and sizes etc. it gives me the ability to put it all down on paper and see what my options are, I appreciate the help with that.

Cheers!

WRT: tractor pricing, I don't know if you are thinking of Thailand Tractor places, but there is another Kubota tractor place ~3 kilometer from the link provided above. I went to both places and compared prices. This other place is just off the Udon outer ring road toward town on the left. I think the name is Vichit. His prices are much less. I got my L3408 for 350,000 with a front blade and 4 blade plow it was 400,000 even. I just purchased a Rotary tiller from him for 32K when it was around 45K for the same model above. He did not have the correct blades for the same Tiller but the more expensive place above did. They seem very organized there.

Amount of water needed: We are growing rubber. I asked a consultant who told me it is 10liters/day per tree.

I would be interested if anyone has any other numbers.

So i am planning a 25,000 liter ground level tank for the 30 rai of rubber, ~2500 trees. I have been working on the same no power water pumping issue as you. I also have a 750w submersible 220v pump. BTW, the locals stole the wire off of it so I had to pull the whole thing up and out 4 (4meter)lengths of 1.5" galvanized, ouch ... not sure if you have that problem in Cambodia. See also, "Boreholes", another Farming Forum topic regarding water.

Solar is good but not cost effective now, with all the development going on maybe in a couple of years. There is another method using a solar collector and a sterling engine(about 25-30% efficient, compared to solar ~8%) but I have not found any systems on the market yet. There are plans though and they should have residencial models in about 2 years too.

We have a 8KW portable generator for welding and such. But I used it to test the gas usage and it used 1-liter of gasoline to pump 2300 Liters of water ~40Meters [pumping height] to a water tower.

Anyone have any other consumption figures?

It took about 80 minutes to do that. To get the 25,000 liters I want it will take about 8 hours or 340 baht(42ß/L) every day to supply 10 liters to each tree in the dry season. I'm not sure how much water you are looking at but this can give you an idea. for 6 months thats ~62K baht to get maybe a 30% increase in productivity. Is it worth it? Maybe a smaller gen'tr and a ground lever tank would make it more reasonable.

Any body want to check my numbers please , please do.

After you get it set up I would be interested to know how much gas yours uses? I am not there often so supplying the gas day after day or a large storage is not viable for me. A smaller generator would do fine but you have to take into consideration the starting current will be more the 750watts. If I remember correctly, I think the starting current is 3x the nominal. A big store in Udon town also suggested to use a 2200w Gen'tr for a 750w pump. For your 5 pump - 5KW gen'tr situation if you start each of them at different times you should be OK. Another consideration maybe to see how far the nearest house is that has power and run it from them with your own meter. For me it is 1.7Km is the nearest and I am considering this as an option. Still worry about the electric line and poles growing legs and walking away though, so we may route it along the road ... more visible.

Good luck ... Would like to hear what you finally do ..Ps there is some great underwater electrical tape available if you have to make a pump connection in the bore hole.

and died suddenly.

The Next day

Gary, you seem to have a lot of problems with thieves. Have you been able to identify them ? Local kids? Passer by ? or more organized people ?

It's anyone's guess who is stealing. The local cops don't go out in the country at all and they blame most of the thievery on dope and kids.

The fish won't be a problem again because no way will I put anymore in the pond. The major reason we decided to grow rice is because it is hard to steal. That said, one more lost crop from lack of rain and the whole thing will be planted with eucalyptus trees. I have enough water supply for trees.

Gary, We are having the same problem. They stole our UKA before we cut it all out and now bamboo. It's only a year on now so we have just started having sprouts large enought to steal. They come in and cut the young bamboo sprouts to eat. I can only make it to the farm 1 week a month. So we have hired people to stay on the farm. They watch it and do some work we ask. We've had a few turnovers of people especially now when there is so much work else where. Anyway,they were the first to warn us other people were stealing from us. I don't care if they take it and allow them to grow whatever, where we are not. We went and had a long talk with the village master and that seemed to help. We have had no more freshly cut shoots since then ... this may change, so far so good.

• We put a barb wire fence all the way around, only 3 wires now and plan to go to 6 later.
  
• We have a metal gate and lock where you enter.
  
• When we cleared the land I saved the bamboo which was the Barbed kind(nam). It was very hard to cut though with a knife so I thought it make a good wall. We planted it along the border as a second fence. I figure it will take years to make a good wall, but it's a start.
  
• I have tilled the boundary road so I can see where their tracks are
  
• I go to check the fence every visit to see if the wires are moved and repair them. There are guys that come around shoot rats at night. We mean to keep them out also.
  
• We planted what I call sacrificial plants along the edge of the property. Just inside the barb wire ...a few bananas, bamboo, papaya along the fence. I am hoping they may be statisfied with these and not cross over the boundary road in the real crops.
  
• I am looking into a GSM camera that is triggered by a motion sensor and MMS's(send you a picture via GSM) hoping to catch them. These cost about $500 and even have solar panels to power them.
  
• We had a local guy as sort of manager helping us for a while. He is a Village master also, but at another village. We found out from the people watching the property he was coming in 2-3 times a week and steeling the sprouts also. I still have to deal with this.
  

Sounds like you got hit particularly hard. Hang in there. I think it's a slow but winning battle. I'll have to try the barb wire under the water idea.

NO,! not for me, all I need is a fuel pump overhaul and a new set of injector nozzles.

But I would like to source a second hand blower (supercharger ) to build an aeration system for our fish ponds. I have looked at paddle wheel aerators but most of our ponds are 40m long and paddles can create erosion in shortish ponds so I am going with the blower system.

Any leads would be much appreciated.

Probably to far from where you are but there is a shop in Nakorn Sawan that was selling them for B3500 last year. Also, try e-mailing Tilapia as he has a source for them. The Dept of Fisheries in your area may also be able to give you a lead as the 3 depts (Tak, KPP, and NS) I've visited all used them. Good luck.

rgds

Thanks for that mate, I will PM tilapia.

You all may know this already, but I thought I would mention that I found a wealth of information at the Thai government office, Ministry of Agriculture. Our local area office is in Udon. They have a book in english all about the pond oxygen dynamics and management, how to prepare your pond so algae will not grow in it and lots, lots more. It is a little technical but I tried to ignore all the formulas and still got a lot of worth while info. I took photos of the entire section of on fishing. Visit them or PM me for a copy if you're interested.

Hi to all

I am planning a trip to the phillipines, and want to stay first a week or more in manila.

can anyone give me informations about reasonable prized hotels in interesting areas there,

also about what to do, and what NOT to do in manila?

after manila, i plan to visit angeles city - and any information about there would be helpfull too.

cheers

I work and live, most of the time, in metro-Manila.

I used to stay at New World Renaisance Hotel a few years back but I expensed all the charges. It is nice but a little expensive. Makati is an oasis for Farangs{or butik which means white guy} in Manila and as such generally more expensive. Makati area has many international resturants like Hard Rock cafe, "Fridays", etc. Check out manilatonight.com, there is more than you want to know there.

I agree it is safer outside Manila City. Follow all normal traveling precautions as mentions by others and while in a taxis always lock all the doors so strangers can not open the door and get in. I understand there are certain areas they will open the back door and try to rob you in Metro-Manila. Go in a group and if alone don't look like a victim.

Yes, exchange your Baht for $ and $ to Pesos as others suggest or just the ATM. You can find them around everywhere... Citibank, HSBC and lots of local banks. FYI, not all places take credit cards especially local places.

I have a name & number of a local taxi I use 400 pesos for my trip from the airport to 1 hour south, if you are interested PM me. The Airport taxi charges are based on where you will go and costs 740 pesos for the same trip for me. You can negociate the prices. There are not many metered taxis.

Generally, the people are friendly, especially outside the big city. 80% of the people speak english.

I am told AC is much cheaper ... it is over by Clark air base.

Good luck.

On last trip I got a couple of tractors in to drop the side of 2 mountains by about 6 feet and do a couple of new road routes....great couple of guys .....2 days work and they only stopped for lunch...

9-00am start to sundown ...no complaints and cost me 10 K...

will get thm back again March again to do some drains and another road..

Now I need some bore holes....so.....

Attached thumbnail(s)

been quoted 700bt a metre......

About 3 years ago I dropped a borehole for water next to my then proposed house. They quoted me 13000 baht for a 100mm hole. They found water at 20 m but went down to 31 m. I dare say that price would be higher now due to price of diesel increasing. If I wanted a electric pump that would have been 7000 baht extra.

I paid 5000 for a 4 inch Bore hole at 4 places and it was about 10K for a 5 inch place ... don't ask me why one more inch was twice as much. I know the normal house hole is 4" but we needed the larger one to irrigation at one farm. I insisted on the depth and lost that battle, but was guaranteed if it ever went dry he would be back to fix it. He is a local guy. The way I understand it is, they hit water then go a bit deeper. That is not a problem for they drilled a lot of hole and I expect they know a lot better than I do. I don't remember if they used slurry or not but there was a lot of red dirt and I know they pumped water down as they did it. I only worry the water level will change from dry to rainy seasons and the depth won't be enough.

As and aside, I had a well a our house stop pumping. It was in water but it was so deep the pump was not strong enough to pump it up. It was what they call "one line"[in thai]. For the deeper wells you need a "2 line" pumps. We bought a neighbors and it actually had two lines, one the water went up the other the water went down. They were different sizes lines also. One was about 1" dia and the other a little smaller say 3/4" made Italy.

If you are interested you should take a look at detailed explanation Maisefarmer gave in farming forum. They won't last long unless they use slurry to make the hole.

...You must have the most honest neighbours around - or doesn't anybody in your area eat Papaya Salad ?

My g/f's mum complains about the local kids who get up at 5:00 am and steal all the mangos that have fallen from her trees.

Our trees hang over the wall and they come in the open field next door and take them right off the tree

Good Online street map of Thailand

All areas.

Has anyone tried "PointAsia" it is kind of like Google earth, but better resolution. It is SW you download and can view see an arial view of any town in Thailand & other SE asian countries. I use it to look at some property I am thinking about buying. Great stuff really. Try it. look for the english tab. There is a sequence of installs you need to do. It is worth the effort.

Grateful for any advice for what can be used for different tasks.

Congrats on your purchase, I hope it gives you hours of fun. The back hoe would be particularly useful at this time of year in repairing paddy bung walls, river banks and drainage channels, wish I had one.

I got stuck last week too, but I was up to the axle in ants nests - horrible, the more I tried to get out the more ants came up. I used the front blade to lift me up and put wooden chocks under the wheels to get out, it should be even easier with a back hoe - for next time!

Pnustedt, About your comment "easier with a back Hoe" have you purchase one yet. I am in the market and was wondering what you may have done already, cost, issues, etc. I have a Kubota.

<br />... sorry, didn't see the picture with your first posting - and I am wrong about your pto speed - your model has a 540/560 pto rpm and now that I have seen the tiller pciture, all is fine because it is also a 540/560 rpm tiller<br /><br /><b>Depth control wheels </b>- put your depth control wheels back on: the horizontal square tube at the rear of the tiller that has a vertically welded tube section at each end – those tubes are there to hold a round bar which drops down to the ground and has a wheel on the end of it – which controls how far down the rear of the rotor will drop into the ground as it breaks the soil up. Probably weren't there when you purchased the tiller - replace them, or make up a pair.<br /><br />Do not use the rear tiller wheels to control the tiller angle – use only the centre hitch of the 3 point hitch<br /><br /><b>H-frame </b>that is located on top of the tiller – the centrally located adjustable support tube (in the photo it looks like half of it is white. The white section should have a thread turned inside it, into/out of which the other half can be screwed. Adjusting this will control the angle (as opposed to depth) at which the tiller drops into the soil. If this can't be adjusted then adjust the centre hitch which is the upper of the 3 point hitch mounting bars/tubes – the one that hold the tiller to the upper 3 point hitch mounting pin – it should also have a thread that allows length adjustment. You want to adjust either of these so that when the tiller drops to the ground it is horizontal with the ground – not tilted downwards from the lower 2 hitch pins, and not tilted up wards from the lower 2 hitch pins – it should be level. If it is not level then the spring loaded rear flaps will drag the soil back into the blades – this is when your fuel consumption will rise.<br /><br /><b>Lower hitch points </b> – ensure these are equal length. If one is longer, then the tiller will pull off its centre axis to one or other side of the tractor, or one side of the tiller will dig deeper into the ground than the other side resulting in a tilled bed that is either not straight or has a top surface that slant downwards to the longer side.<br /><br /><b>Blade Mounting </b>- make sure the blades are mounted symetricaly i.e. from the centre working outwards to each end, each blade on each side of the centre should be facing the same way as its opposite number. There is often a sticker on the tinwork of the tiller which will show you various blade setup patterns i.e. by changing certain blades to face from left to right or right to left, you can create a flat mound, or a rounded mound, or even 2 or 3 separate mounds – great for creating raised vegetable beds.<br /><br /><b>Blade Bolts </b>– on most tillers the bolt that holds the blade to the shaft is designed so that it can only be put on one way, but one some you can put the bolt on from left to right, or from right left. If the latter, ensure the nuts on each bolt are on the oppisite side to which the blade curves. Doing this prevents stones from being thrown against and damaging the exposed thread, so that when it comes to changing blades you do not have to cut the bolts<br /><br />Do not use the same depth year after year – this will result in a hard bedpan below the blade max depth resulting in no drainage – change the depth each year.<br /><br />Other than that, the rest is common sense:<br /><br />- check the ground for big rocks before tilling – big stones chew up blades.<br />- keep the drive chain greased or if belts make sure no tears<br />- make sure there is oil in the right angle gear box on the top of the tiller (any diesel engine oil will be fine).<br />- pick up broken blades – get quite sharp in use and can puncture tractor tyres.<br /><br /><br /><br />

Maisefarmer, Wow you really know your tractors. All great reading. 1500 Rai wow.

I just bought a rotary tiller for my L3408 Kubota. I would like to add that before you use a newly purchased Tiller you should check all the blades to make sure the bolts are tight. We had lots just fall off before we tightened them all. Also, when working on the tiller attached to the Tractor and lifted by the 3 point hitch, one should make sure it is blocked to it can't drop unexpectedly if the "lower lever" is moved by accident (on our model there is a lock) or if the hydraulic seals leak and it slowly lowers on you. I also use "Loctite" to keep the bolts from loosening. The local Tiller model I bought is a "SBK" that has a center gear box(uses 140 "straight weight" gear oil), left hand side gears(not belt) transfers power to the rotor shaft. The cover in the back does not have a spring as you mentioned, but adjusts to only a fixed position. I have adjusted it fairly high. Also, it does not have wheels on the side to measure the distance to the ground(I think this is what you were talking about the wheels are for) but sort of a "skid bar" on each side that drags along the ground to adjust the depth the tiller cut into the ground. Our tractor runs best at a 2300 RPM, there is even a little line on the RPM meter to indicate this, so I am confused when you all talk about 540 engine RPM. The 2 PTO speeds they are 540 RPM and 780 RPM as Gary A. mentioned earlier. I was not sure which to use and used the 780 for 4+ days. It worked well but because the ground was so wet it bogged down a lot so I had to raise the tiller to get the RPM back up and continue. I did not see anything about the correct PTO speed to use on the sheet metal or any other place. So I am still not sure what speed to use but will test the slower speed as everyone is suggesting. I am new to farming and it's great to find this forum... a wealth of Knowledge.

Jerry

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The title of your thread is incorrect, you have no proof the Police were stealing.<br />The thread should be renamed to:<br />I was wrong; they caught me; but I didn't want to pay the fine on the spot"<br />TH

<br />Since there are no unreceipted on the spot fines for traffic infringements, what would you say the police were doing if not stealing? I feel there is more than adequate proof.<br />

<br /><br />When there are as many as 30 police stopping traffic they normally have a desk set up for 'on the spot' fines.<br /><br />Personally I would have paid the small amount asked for especially as you were in the wrong.<br />

I agree, I pay a small fine, I have paid as little as 60 baht, but I prepared my wallet ahead of time with just a few bills to show them I only had that much. I smile and respectfully ask them to help me(chew-oi noi, chew-oi noi Krabp?). the fine is negotiable and I normally pay 100, but the fine actually is 400 Baht if you pay at the station. In that case, they also take you license for a few days, they give you a receipt you can show other police (that stop you again) without getting another ticket. Arguing won't help and just makes them dislike us more. Talking on your hand Phone is a big, big deal now so buy a wire microphone/ear set or blue tooth, wear a clear visor, don't speed in the right lane on the highway and you will be pretty safe. Cheers

Anyone looking for a tractor at the moment - I have a load of Kubotas and Fords - just out of the container from Holland this week.

Will be puting them together over the next couple weeks.

The 7 Kubotas ranging from 18 - 28hp, and the 6 Fords, all are 6XXX and 7XXX types - ranging from 85hp - 105hp, and one big 8XXX - but thats on its way to the sugar mill - unless I get a better offer.

Let me know if anyone is seriosuly interested - all are 4WD.

Tim

I am looking for a back hoe attachment for a Kobuta L3408.

Jerry