Three months of running the cutterhead at 75% instead of full throttle

I switched to running my cutterhead at 75% power back in August on a job in Green Bay. The difference in fuel burn was around 12 gallons per shift, and the wear bars on the ladder still look fresh. Got the tip from an old timer who said most people just jam it wide open and waste energy. Anyone else find a sweet spot below max RPM that actually saves money?

4 comments

4 Comments

irismartinez11d ago

Wait, you're telling me you saw a real difference in wear bars too? I always figured running at 75% would actually make the machine work harder to chew through tough stuff, not save on wear. But I guess that makes sense since you're not slamming the cutterhead into the material at max speed. Twelve gallons a shift is no joke either. That adds up fast over a few months. How's your production rate been though? Has it slowed down much or is it just eating through fuel slower?

margaret_williams511d ago

And honestly the production rate barely changed at all, maybe 5% slower on a bad day but the fuel savings MORE than made up for that small hit. The key is that you're still keeping the machine fed at a steady pace so the material doesn't back up, you're just not REVVING the engine to the moon to do it. I ran it for six months like that and the wear bars looked like they had half the life of the ones I'd burn through running wide open.

the_charlie3d ago

You're wondering if running at 75% actually saves wear parts too? I've seen the exact same thing with my own machine, not just wear bars but belts and bearings lasting way longer when you're not screaming the engine at max rpm all day. The fuel savings alone paid for a whole set of teeth within two months, and I never lost more than maybe 8 percent on production, usually less. The key is what Margaret said about keeping the feed steady, that's where most people screw up and then blame the lower rpm. I'll never go back to running wide open now that I've seen how much less stress the whole drivetrain takes.

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daniel_walker3d ago

Man, you hit on something REAL there with the wear bars. I did the exact same thing on a job up near Milwaukee and the difference was night and day. Running at full throttle just beats the hell out of everything for no good reason, and that old timer was right. The fuel savings alone make it worth it but seeing those wear bars still looking good after months of work really drove it home for me. It's wild how many guys just assume wide open is the only way to go.