Had a long talk with the night shift guy about silt settling

Been running the same cutterhead for three years on the same river bend. Last week the night shift guy asked why I bother with a slow swing speed. Said he runs his at full speed and lets the silt settle in the discharge pipe. I told him he's probably leaving half the material behind. He didn't believe me until I showed him his reject pile from the week before. Has anyone else run into operators who think fast is always better?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_torres25d ago

Actually slow swing cuts cleaner because fast speed just stirs everything up again before it settles.

thomas_torres25d ago

Oh man, that reminds me - my buddy tried to impress his dad by swinging fast at a fallen branch and ended up spraying mud all over his own face instead of cutting it clean. Took him like 20 minutes to realize slow and steady actually worked.

spencer_coleman25d ago

Yo, "stirs everything up again before it settles" is exactly what I never thought about. I used to think faster was better for a clean cut, but you're totally right. That makes so much sense now.