Corn Seed Disc Meter

Make a high-rate brush meter work for dryland corn.

Local growing conditions called for only 8,000–10,000 seeds per acre, while the available brush meter was designed for rates above 100,000 seeds per acre.

Sixteen working discs had to be ready within five days so planting could begin as soon as the seed arrived.

Tune the pocket count, then turn prototypes into a production run.

I modeled the disc in Fusion 360 and used six seed slots to target the required population. PETG provided a durable, economical material for contact with the brush meter.

Two prototypes established the working geometry before the sixteen-disc production run, which required 47 hours and 12 minutes of total print time.

Planting started on time with consistent seed delivery.

The final disc achieved 90% singulation with zero observed skips. Each part cost $1.80, and the completed set let the planter enter the field when the seed arrived.