Took me 5 years to realize my cutterhead speed was all wrong for sand

I was running a 10-inch cutterhead at full throttle every time I hit sand near the mouth of the Columbia River, thinking it would move more material. Then a old timer over at the Astoria dock pointed out my discharge tube was pulsing and told me to slow the rpms down by half. Has anyone else found that dropping cutter speed in fine sediment actually doubles your production?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_vera27d ago

Pretty sure that was a 8-inch cutter, not 10.

angela_dixon27d ago

Wait, was that really an 8-inch? I could've sworn I saw a 10-inch in the photo but maybe it's the angle. Yeah, you're totally right, I've made that mistake myself before where I misjudged the size of a blade just from a picture. I remember once I had the same confusion comparing a 6 and an 8-inch side by side and they look way closer than you'd think. Good catch, those inches really do mess with your eyes when they're not right next to each other.