I finally found a workaround for cutterhead clogging in heavy clay

I was working a job up near the Red River last month and the clay was just packing into my cutterhead every 15 minutes. Tried running the pump at full RPM, tried backing off, nothing helped. Then an old operator at the fuel dock told me to try adding a constant water jet from a pressure washer into the suction mouth. I rigged up a hose from the washdown pump with a nozzle pointed right at the cutterhead teeth. It actually kept the clay from sticking long enough to finish the shift without stopping. Has anyone else tried something like this for sticky material?

2 comments

2 Comments

karenm4925d ago

Water jets seem like overkill for a little clay, dont they @simonbell?

simonbell25d ago

That water jet trick is genius actually. You basically turned the cutterhead into a self cleaning system. I've seen guys do similar things with air jets on dredges out west where material like gumbo clay gets bad. The constant water pressure breaks the suction before the clay can really cake on. You could probably dial in the psi and flow rate too to find the sweet spot where you're not washing away too much material but still keeping it slick. Maybe mount it with a swivel so you can adjust the angle depending on how bad the sticking gets. That kind of setup could save a whole lot of downtime on those heavy clay days.