New CONVIO FLEX 1530 draper cutterbar with 15.30 m working width for LEXION combine harvesters from CLAAS

Following a successful market launch in North America and Australia, CLAAS is now making the new CONVIO FLEX 1530 available to European LEXION customers. The flexible draper cutterbar has an effective working width of 15.30 metres and is equipped with a flexible knife bar as well as all the features and automatic functions familiar from the CONVIO FLEX series.

CLAAS CONVIO and CONVIO FLEX draper cutterbars have proven themselves in numerous conditions of use and threshing crops worldwide since their launch in the 2020 season. In addition to their outstanding performance, the cutterbars impress with their ease of operation. For the European sales region, the product range is now being extended upwards with the CONVIO FLEX 1530 for LEXION high-performance combine harvesters.

Versatile and practical with full rapeseed suitability
While the CONVIO with a fixed knife bar is primarily used for conventional crops of cereals and rapeseed, the CONVIO FLEX with its flexible knife bar and ACTIVE FLOAT contact pressure, which can be infinitely adjusted at the touch of a button during operation, also achieves maximum performance when harvesting threshing crops close to the ground such as soya, peas and grass. When operated in FLEX mode, the cutterbar knife bar automatically adapts to ground contours by up to 90 mm upwards and up to 135 mm downwards in order to always achieve a uniform cutting pattern with minimised header losses. The hydropneumatically suspended stabiliser wheels fitted as standard keep the cutterbar stable and ensure improved ground contour following with a more even cutting height across the full working width. This ensures smooth cutterbar guidance at all times, even at high driving speeds or on uneven ground.

The CONVIO FLEX 1530 works with a split, triple-suspended reel spider and a two-part knife bar. The two cutter bars are each driven by a powerful planetary gear and move synchronously in opposite directions for optimum smooth running.

The power train of the CONVIO FLEX 1530 is divided into two areas. The mechanical section with gearboxes and PTO drive shafts drives the intake auger and knife bar, while the hydraulic section drives the side belts, centre belt, reel and rapeseed knives. Overload protection reliably protects the entire power train from damage. Like the smaller working widths, the CONVIO FLEX 1530 is fully suitable for rapeseed harvesting. The optional rapeseed equipment includes conveyor augers on the right and left with a diameter of 425 mm in the upper area of the cutterbar rear wall and rapeseed knives that can be attached and removed without tools. In order to keep header losses to an absolute minimum, especially in rapeseed and similar types of crop, specially developed rubber lips on the CONVIO and CONVIO FLEX completely seal the side belts to the front knife bar and the rear cutterbar rear wall as well as to the centre belt. Raising the rear wall of the cutterbar also reliably prevents grain spray losses.

State-of-the-art automatic functions: More power, more comfort.
The CONVIO FLEX 1530 is equipped with a wide range of practical automatic functions for optimum performance with maximum driver relief. AUTOMATIC BELT SPEED automatically adjusts the belt speed to the driving speed of the combine harvester and thus the volume and mass of the crop flow. The crop flow is equalised, especially in heterogeneous crops. Thanks to the slip and standstill warning of the belts, the operator can intervene early if there is a risk of overloading and thus avoid critical conditions, even in poor visibility due to dust or at night.

In combination with a FIELD SCANNER, the DLG silver medal-winning CEMOS AUTO HEADER is now also available for all CONVIO and CONVIO FLEX draper cutters from model year 2026, whereby the vertical and horizontal reel positions are automated in addition to the speed of the conveyor belts, further relieving the operator. This allows the operator to concentrate fully on monitoring all machine functions and overloading during operation, as well as keeping a focussed eye on the crop in front of the combine harvester.

Two-section reel spider with tractive force control
Introduced in 2019, the unique flip-over concept reel spider with its innovatively shaped cam track enables optimum crop flow in all conditions. The reel tines pick up the crop in front of the knife bar and lift it before it is cut, which is particularly important in lodged grain to minimise header losses. Thanks to the flip-over cam track control, in which the tines in the upper area of the reel spider move gently and slowly out of the crop, this also effectively prevents the crop from wrapping around the reel. The reel spider is driven hydraulically. Thanks to the automatic tractive force control, the reel tractive force is automatically increased in difficult harvesting conditions such as lodged grain or very dense crops.

Automatic height control of the reel spider, which is based on preset and adjustable values for pressure and sensitivity, also prevents the tines from dipping into the soil to maintain crop flow.

Cutterbar and intake reversing: Powerful and gentle.
The reversing function of the CONVIO FLEX 1530 offers two modes. At the touch of a button on the CMOTION multifunction handle, the centre and side belts reverse during operation to eliminate small problems in the field directly and easily.

In the event of blockages, the reel, centre belt, intake auger and intake chute can also be reversed under load using a toggle switch in the armrest of the LEXION, whereby the reversing of the intake auger and intake chute is carried out mechanically and powerfully with a high starting torque. Once the blockage has been successfully removed, the infeed can be slowed down and restarted gently to avoid load peaks, completely thresh out the accumulated material and avoid causing another blockage.