TIL I was running my cutterhead way too fast for silt

For years on the Columbia River, I'd keep the cutter at a steady 12 RPM no matter what we hit. Then last Tuesday, the pump started bogging down hard in this thick gray muck. My deckhand, a guy who used to work on a Great Lakes dredge, just pointed at the discharge and said 'You're turning soup, boss.' He was right. I dropped the speed to 8 RPM and the slurry thickened right up. We gained almost 20 feet of production that shift. Anyone else have a simple setting they changed that made a huge difference?

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3 Comments

faiths127mo ago

Honestly, that sounds like pure luck, not a real fix.

8

paul_stone417mo ago

But what if luck is just a pattern we haven't figured out yet?

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palmer.ryan4mo ago

Tried that approach before, it failed until I locked down the process.

2