People are running their cutterheads way too shallow in soft silt and it's killing production.

I watched a crew on the Mississippi last month digging at 15 feet when the silt layer went down to 25. They were just skimming the top and making a mess. You need to drop that head and take a full cut, otherwise you're just stirring up mud and wasting fuel. What's the deepest cut you've taken in soft material?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor1417d ago

So when you say a full cut, what's the actual target depth in that silt? Like, are you trying to get the head down to 20 feet in that 25 foot layer, or even deeper? I've seen guys get nervous and just tickle the bottom because they're scared of overloading the pump.

bennett.aaron17d ago

Ever think about the silt's own weight, @taylor14?

alex_johnson14d ago

Totally get it. Saw a pump choke out once because nobody respected the weight like bennett.aaron is talking about. You just gotta commit to the cut.