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Back in '19 on the Columbia, we'd run the cutterhead at full tilt for every bottom type.
After chewing through a set of teeth in under a week on some nasty basalt, the old foreman told me to throttle back the RPMs for harder material. Now I adjust speed based on the core samples, which saves a ton on wear parts. Do you guys run a constant speed or vary it with the bottom?
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nathan2892mo ago
Remember hearing that same advice early on. I mean, running full tilt on basalt or granite is just asking for trouble. We dial it way back for the hard stuff, sometimes even drop the RPMs by a third. It feels slower but you're not changing out teeth or buckets every other day. Found a sweet spot for softer clay though, you can actually ramp it up without much extra wear.
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skyler_white952mo agoOG Member
Tell me about it. Learned that lesson the hard way on a granite slab last year. Honestly felt like I was paying for new teeth more than I was getting paid.
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