one of my clients / friends has very generously offered to let me get some seat time in his motorgrader. I have exactly zero experience with a blade, but an opportunity to spend a couple days with a CAT 14m and a 60 acre piece of relatively flat dirt before they get to scraping and hauling. Can anyone point me towards some basic theory or advice on learning the basics of cutting dirt with a motorgrader? I’ve picked up a couple hundred hours in a skip loader with a Gannon but I’m assuming all the principles and concepts are nothing alike regarding those two machines.
A 14M sure would be a nice machine to learn on...have fun.
Couple things I told newbies when you pickup one side of blade other side will go down , roll blade couple inches ahead of cutting edge helps roll and mix material. With joysticks sometimes when adjusting blade lift you will turn wheels they called my father in law "Weaving Willie' when they put him in a M.
Be aware that you can put the blade through a tire, front or back. Don't fixate on one corner because that's when it happens. It is designed to do it's job, you don't have to play yourself out moving the moldboard slight adjustments are usually enough. Don't grade with the mb strait up and down. Roll it ahead some. Once you engage the ground, you can play with the ahead and back position to find that sweet spot where the material starts to cut nice. This will change as you cutting edge wears. If you feel like she's going to spin, roll the mb back to take some pressure off. Rolling the mb ahead and back will raise and lower it some so you don't have to adjust the side to side position. When you are spreading material, if it's in a big pile, split the pile, don't drive over the top of it. Nothing plays you out faster than spinning on top of 40 tons of crushed.. If you are putting material on thick with a bunch of trucks, let ten or 15 dump ahead of you so you have something to work with. It's not a dozer, don't Do load per load unless you are doing 3 or 4 inches and you have a bunch of poor dumpers. A good dump man can be a big help. If you have one make sure you let him know what you want. Remember that you are in charge of the show, not the trucks, the owner operators will overrun you if they are on by ton mile. A person could write a book, and other guys would still have methods I have never tried before. Oh and when someone does the wavy hand at your job, just remind them that you are still making more money than them
Take some time to look at the job, then picture the finished product in your head. Use every pass to get to that goal.
How did you ever make out as a blade operator on your project?
I wasnt working on a project, it was literally just free time and free space on a machine to get some experience. I very quickly realized why good bladehands are hard to find and very expensive. it was a learning experience, and looking forward to doing it again soon.
That's good to hear you had a good time and are looking forward to running one again, its a learning curve that just takes time, I learn every day.