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Had a weirdly smooth day on the cutter suction dredge in Mobile Bay
Last Tuesday, we were pulling up a ton of old timber and I was sure we'd be down for hours clearing the pump. My lead, Carl, told me to just ease back on the swing speed and let the cutter chew through it slow. We cleared the whole section without a single clog and moved 15% more material than the day before. Anyone got other tricks for dealing with woody debris without stopping?
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joelh6418d ago
Wait, you moved MORE material by going slower? That goes against everything I've ever done on a dredge. How does that even work without killing your production numbers? I've always been told to power through and just deal with the clogs after. Your lead might be onto something I've completely missed.
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simonh7418d ago
It's about the type of material. We were in a thick clay layer last week. Pushing hard just made a solid plug in the pipe every ten minutes. Slowing the cutter head let it break up properly.
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alicecooper16d ago
Honestly, I read a whole thing about this from a dredge operator up in Canada. He said with sticky stuff like clay, going fast just smears it. It's like trying to spread cold butter. You don't get a clean cut, you just make a mess that jams up the works. Slowing down lets the teeth actually grab and break off chunks. It feels wrong, but you spend way less time stopped, clearing a solid pipe. Tbh, it changed how I run my machine in certain spots.
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