CornfedHusker - 3/24/2018 20:40

I have 2 augers and a wintex. My wintex works awesome when the ground is just right. Too wet, the core sticks in the probe and won't come out, too dry and the dirt just falls out of the probe.The wintex really struggles to reach the same depth sample after sample in ground that is quite firm. If the ground is hard the vehicle will lift up until the wintex finds its "target depth" and triggers the cycle. yet the probe only went in 4-5 inches one time, maybe 8 the next. If the ground conditions aren't "just right" we have to use the augers.

Maybe, the reason your probe samples are running 30% lower than auger samples is that the probe is getting too deep. Also when a push probe goes in that core compresses. THen a guy puts 8" of plugs in the bag. It seems certainly plausible there could be 30% deeper sample. 30% more on a 8" sample is a 10.4" sample. In a loose, pure sugar sand environment, I could imagine where the hole would keep collapsing and running more sand from the top inch or so into the auger hole but even a little moisture should keep integrity of the hole for a few seconds to get the sample.

If I was designing a sampler or putting in an order.

The unit i want would be an auger. It needs to work in many different ground situations. wet, dry, clay, sand, loam and muck. Reliably maintain 30 samples an hour auger life of 10,000 cycles, maintenance life of 70-100K cycles per year and a rebuild/replace at 500,000 cycles.


Depth variance with probing could contribute to the difference for sure. But that degree of inaccuracy from an extra inch or two of depth seems drastic. Regardless, what if the unit had dual capability to probe when conditions are right, and was capable of converting to an auger/drill unit easily (say 1/2 hour with a few bolts/connections). Just spitballing here, I don't see adding an auger/drill capability as too difficult with my design. Would that be more appealing to you? Or would you prefer exclusively drilling style units? Thanks in advance.