I used to think you could just eyeball the ladder angle on a cutterhead dredge

I mean, we'd set it by feel for years on the old machine in Mobile. But last month, the new foreman insisted we use the inclinometer on the ladder every single time. After three weeks of that, our production jumped by about 15%. It turns out we were running it too shallow half the time, just chewing up material instead of cutting it clean. Anyone else have a simple tool that made a bigger difference than they expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_stella2mo ago

Our torque wrench story is just like @the_alice's laser level, a real face-palm moment.

the_alice2mo ago

Same with a laser level on our grading crew.

lucasw822mo ago

You guys are making me think about the time we finally broke down and bought a good torpedo level for setting up our conveyor belts. My mileage varied a lot less after that.