Old foreman swore by running the cutterhead at half speed in mud. He was dead wrong.

Worked a job in Baton Rouge last summer, dredging a silted-up canal. Foreman kept yelling at me to drop the cutter RPMs to 12 when we hit soft mud. Said it would keep the pump from cavitating. I listened for a week and got maybe 30 yards done a day. Swapped back to 18 RPM on my own and production jumped to almost 80 yards a day. Pump never cavitated once. Anyone else get bad advice from someone who just refused to update their methods?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_patricia3d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of my uncle who insisted on greasing the track pins every single shift no matter what. He'd chew me out for skipping a day, but the manual said every 50 hours. I followed his way for a month and went through a whole bucket of grease, no real difference in pin wear. Some old timers just dig their heels in on stuff that used to work but doesn't hold up anymore, you know?

kaid593d agoMost Upvoted

@the_patricia you got a point but that manual probably assumed clean dry conditions, mud changes everything.

maryt622d ago

Had a boss once who swore by doing it every 10 hours in winter. Tried his way for a couple weeks, just wasted grease and time. Manual was right in my case.