I went with a manual chart over the new digital load moment indicator on a big job in Tulsa

Everyone on site was pushing for the new digital LMI system, saying it was safer and faster. I had to pick between trusting the screen or sticking with my old laminated load charts and a pencil. I picked the charts. The digital system had a glitch on day two, showing a wrong radius reading while we were setting a 15-ton HVAC unit. My spotter caught it, but if we'd gone by the screen alone, we would have been way over capacity on the boom. I know the tech is supposed to help, but it adds a layer between you and the steel. That job took an extra half day because I was double-checking everything manually, but we had zero close calls. Has anyone else had a digital aid fail and made you go back to basics?

2 comments

2 Comments

jenkins.spencer4d ago

Our GPS grade control on a D6 in Phoenix froze at a 2% slope, would've cut a 4-foot trench. The foreman's old string line saved the whole pad.

craig.grace4d ago

Man, that's wild. My buddy's GPS went rogue on a site in Nevada and tried to carve out a whole creek bed. His guy caught it because the dirt just looked wrong. Sometimes the old ways are the best backup.