Digging with a backhoe for years and then running a trackhoe now. having trouble lining up the machine to dig straight. As for painted lines on ground for footers , pads etc. I think i'm trying to bring the bucket to me instead of bringing it to the side of me. Constantly moving the machine to try to keep on the line. Just trying to be better. Thanks.:
Is there a secret to lining up the machine????
some machines boom are off- center, which causes problems. I usually track the hoe down the line in a straight line following the paint or flags. I then extend the bucket out and pull it toward the machine to see it is close to being online, adjust it needed. The on thing about a trackhoe is the swinging motion WILL rotate the tracks also. this will turn the machine slightly off course. That is the reason I track out a little way so I have a visual reference as to where I should track to on the next move.
When I dig a footer the footer guy lay-out all the walls. They spray paint the outside of the wall wherever I have to dig. Now most of our footers are 24" so I use a 24" bucket and line up the second tooth in from right to left. Reach all the way out and line up the tooth then stick in and as long as the tooth stays on the line you will dig a straight ditch. Once you track forward though you have to redo the whole prosess over. When digging with a 48" bucket or any bucket that is the same with as the inside of your tracks you can just line up the inside of your track.
Dont quite understand the 2nd tooth in ??? Whatdo you line it up with???
The painted line on the ground. The line represents the outside of the wall. I line the second tooth in so that I know there will be equal footer on either side of the wall. My bucket has 4 teeth so not the teeth on the outside but the next one in.
I am curious as to why the lay-out guy wouldn't just paint either the inside or outside of the footer.
Because he lays out the hole house that way. The formed part of the footer is usualy between 18"-22". They get 24" in the trench because thats how wide my bucket is. So now being there is two different footer withs it's alot simpler to just layout the out side of the wall then measure off that line for either the drop footer or the form boards.
They do that because their plans had dimensions to the face of the wall. As long as you know what the paint mark is, it's no big deal, you just have to be mindful that it's not a centerline.