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| Trunk Boning Machine |
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| The MACPRO abt-5MT |
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Introduction
The abt-5MT trunk boning machine has been developed primarily for the mutton boning industry for processing: chilled or pre-rigor trunks, clearing backstraps from the spine and fleecing the ribcage. The product is produced as soft trunk sides, from which the backstraps can be pulled. The remainder can be passed on for trimming and shoulder bone removal.
General Description
The machine is a derivative of the abt-4MT four station trunk boning machine. It is loaded from the front and left-hand side (as the machine is viewed from the front.) The product and skeletal frame are ejected together to the left-hand side during the cycle, to be conveyed or lifted to tables for further work. Complete removal of the meat from the brisket and neck is dependent on carcass condition and pre-work.Some minor post-work may be necessary to achieve final separation.
After loading, the trunk is conveyed backwards, away from the operator, under the backstrap blades. These blades clear the meat from the vertebrae about 50mm either side of the centre-line. At the end of stroke the trunk is in position for the fleecing operation to take place. The fleecing blades are introduced either side of the vertebrae's dorsal projections in the area cleared just prior, and sweep around the ribs to remove the meat. A second set of knives simultaneously clears tissue from the base of the neck. The trunk support is then returned to the loading position. The frame is dropped to a tray and as the next trunk is being loaded. The product and bones are ejected to the left hand side of the machine.
Both chilled and pre-rigor product can be processed in the same machine, although optimum performance is achieved by tuning for product in either one condition or the other.
Operation
The production rate depends upon time taken by the operator to load the machine. Once loaded, the cycle time is approximately 12 seconds before the next loading cycle can begin. During this time the operator is expected to do some of the preparation work or follow-up processing.
Meat preparation requirements- Remove fillets
- Remove neck (preferred)
- Clear brisket end of ribs from the brisket to about 20 mm up the ribs (alternatively remove briskets completely)
- Mark either side of the spine about 60mm foward from the sixth lumbar vertebra
- Remove the trunk from the hindquarter at the join of fifth and sixth lumbar vertebrae
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