Ran a 10-inch cutter head through some nasty clay on the Columbia last month and found that a 5-degree increase in swing speed cleared the pump better than anything else.

We were fighting constant plugging until the old timer running the winch suggested we 'make her dance a little faster', and after we bumped the swing from 12 to 17 feet per minute, the production logs showed a 15% drop in downtime over the next three days, so has anyone else found a sweet spot for swing in heavy material?

3 comments

3 Comments

kellyjones10d ago

My buddy had the same issue with sticky gravel up in Alaska. They cranked the swing speed and it was like night and day for keeping the line clear. Sometimes the old school tricks just work.

fiona98510d ago

We hit 85% swing speed on our Idaho site and the clogging stopped.

clairen859d ago

We had a similar fight with thick blue clay on the Missouri. The foreman kept telling us to slow down, but it just packed the line solid. Finally, we ignored him and pushed the swing to about 20 feet per minute. The extra speed kept the slurry moving and stopped it from settling in the pipe. It felt wrong to go faster in heavy stuff, but the pump just hummed along happy after that.