Hey guys! Im just starting my 2nd year on the grader and so far i havent been having much luck i the fine grading department. Im wondering if you guys have tips that can help me out. i know that the big things are to keep a blade full at all times and work your windrow from one side to the other and back again. ive been trying this over the past two years and it has not given me the best results. I had a forman tell me that i am moving my blade to much when im trying to fine tune. Is there such a thing as moving your blade to much? Should i be leaving my blade alone once i get going??
I really should not ask for more tips since my old post about fine grading has lots! the biggest question is about the blade movement. Is there anyway to edit these threads?? Id like to move this to my old fine grading thread
My philosophy is, set the blade and don't adjust it unless your grading a super turn. Set it, go the whole length of the road in a low gear and don't touch the controls, just focus on steering straight. If the blade is cutting, you know its a little high there, if the blade isn't cutting but skipping over the stone, you know its a little low there. The only moving I do is when cutting and there isn't enough stone at one part of the blade, I try to rotate the blade a tad to shoot some stone to that end. Thats it.
I wasent sure if that was the way to go or not. I figured if the road ahead of you wasent perfectly level that this wouldent work !!!
Hi Daniel, what do you mean by moving the blade to much? Moldboard angle, tilt, up & down or a combination of all? When you're fine grading you will at times have to adjust your moldboard angle if you want to carry your material to a low spot for example. Once you have your blade set there isn't much adjusting that you have to do. Go in low gear and as said previously keep your grader going straight. When you have to adjust the blade up or down, do it a little bit at a time. Remember when you lift the point up to aggressively the heel will cut in more as well. The opposite is also true. This will throw a wrench into your fine grading job. I've seen operators work themselves to death trying to fine grade a road. Relax, go slow, minor blade adjustments, and have fun.
Its mostly up and down on the outsides that im moving to much acording to him. And i am one of those guys working themselfs to death trying to fine grade a road lol. But thats just my nature i guess.. im praying it will pass with time! I will try and leave the blade alone unless i need to!
I trained a guy a couple of years ago, that had the same problem. He thought that he needed to adjust the blade all the time , he said that he wasn't, but I was blading with him and could tell it. I finally told him set it and if you can't stop the playing the leavers, just take your hands off of them and drive. When finishing, there is a point you get too that you don't need to touch nothing, just carry a small roll back and forth. You will know when you get it right, brakes in the grade will be staight as an arrow.(in a sraight away)lol
Lots of good advice in this thread. Don`t try to out think the blade.Set your blade and let it do the work. If you are steadily changing your cut up and down or in between your bluetops,you are working yourself to death and not getting a correct finished product.Set it and carry your grade uniformly.
Dont know if this is good advice or not, but on some parking lots I have found cross-blading to be helpful at times. Even though things looked good to me going the same direction I still found a few very minor cuts/fills needed by cross-blading.