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Switched from running the cutterhead at full RPM to dialing it back. Huge difference.

Used to just crank my 14-inch cutterhead to max speed every time, figured more power meant faster work. Then about 3 months ago on a job near Biloxi, I was chewing through this nasty clay mix and kept clogging the damn pump. Old timer on the crew told me to drop the RPM by like 40% and let the suction do the work. Lo and behold, production actually went up and I wasn't burning through wear parts every shift. Anyone else find that slower is sometimes better for certain materials?
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3 Comments
ericw93
ericw9319d ago
Haha yeah that trade mag is spot on. Running it slower lets the material shear clean instead of turning into a muddy paste that just clogs everything up.
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stellat46
stellat4619d ago
Read a piece in a trade mag a while back talking about this exact thing. They said running at full RPM just pulverizes the material instead of letting the cutterhead shear it cleanly.
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baker.christopher
Is the trade mag maybe talking about a different type of material though?
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