What technique do you use to build a stock pile? Depending on length and width, I always carried the cutting edge low to evenly spread the material.
I always try to keep the can low. When ejecting the material, a low cutting edge will force the material to the outside of the bowl which will help keep the rear tires in the same track as the front(if that makes sence). Here are a couple pics from last week. we had a couple operators(seat fillers) that didnt have any scraper exp. Me and my partner couldnt keep up with repairing the pile so the D6 had to help out a coule times.
Remember, always fill the edges first, so you keep it sloped in towards the middle so you don't fall off. Try to dump on flat or downhill. If your pile gets very high, you may be better off changing direction sometimes so you can dump downhill. Don't make it so steep that your machine struggles to climb it. You are more likely to go off the edge that way.
The thickness of the lifts depends on material some.
I totally agree with TDOZER I've built a few in my time and it is important to keep the edges higher than the center. Stops you from falling when you're building or reclaiming.
Yup build it as if you were building a slope, always keep the edges at least a foot or higher then the middle!
You all said it, "keep the edges higher than the middle". I also found that if you are trying to build a tight steep pile keep your lifts thin. Scrapers just perform better if they don't have to climb big ridges to get where they're going. If your pile is smooth you can climb some incredible slopes with a scraper.
I always found it was a good idea to lock the machine in 2nd gear (whichever way you want/can do it, I ran Cat 627B's and did it manually) and locking the cushion hitch down makes a uniform lift without "duck walking". If it takes one scraper dumping north to south, and one south to north, so be it. I'm not a big fan of dumping with the blind side to the edge. Occasionally dragging the pile to shape it up doesn't hurt and won't kill production, especially with 'green" operators "helping"....as long as you don't make an all day project out of it. If the pile does get tipped the wrong way, dumping a little heavy, after approaching the edge from the a lower area toward the center, and turning paraell to the edge as you dump wil help get material out to the edge. This may require several loads to "fix" the tip. Then I'd make a drag pass at the edge with the ejector back a little way, to carry some material, add weight and stabilize the machine, to tune the edge back up again. Can you tell I'm used to not having support equipment? In exteme cases, it may require a cut pass or two in from the edge to get the center lower than the outside. We've all been there...nothing like falling off the side of a improperly built stockpile!! Alan
and the most important thing if u do go over the edge turn the scraper down hill, if u try to turn up you will turn her over for sure!
Good experienced advice All good as I agree the responses so far If you work as if there will be no outside help to tidy up a mess, you won't let things get "out of shape"
Kman hit it right on the head...that's a hard concept for new guys, or people not in the trade, to understand. Most folks have never run anything articulated, especially where the joint isn't in the center of the machine, like a loader is. Most folks think what they were taught in driving, "steer into the skid" and all. You try and turn a scraper up hill, it will roll over on it's back for sure. Turning downhill usually scares the crap out of you, but mostly all that happens is you sit there with the nose stuck in the ground. Burying the can in the ground as hard as you can ain't a bad idea either, it anchors the scraper and gives you time to get out of the cab, and go steam clean your underwear, and gives you time to think up a good excuse why you fell off int he first place! Now, if the back slides off first, and you have a twin engine, you can idle the tractor, use the rear throttle to make the rar end slide around to where you have it straightened out, then back down the pile. Unless it's a pile as big as Tdozer posted. Then it's better to wait for help and a big ass tow cable!
And rule #1...if it has a cab, STAY IN IT! And wear the seatbelts..if nothing else, it's better to let the seat take a beating, intead of your back....this guy didn't... http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/2005/FAB05m15.asp http://www.msha.gov/FATALS/1997/FTL97M54.HTM more... http://mshasearch.msha.gov/search?q...oxystylesheet=MSHASearch&filter=p&getfields=*
Yeah those cabs dont give! I watched a 37 go off a 13 foot vertical bluff, hardly put a dent in the rops! I cant believecat doesnt put that in the owners manual, to point the noze down hill if you do happen to be in a roll over situation
Really? How do you build a stock pile? Go back to grading basic's 101.
Really? I was operating for 4 or so years before I had to think about how to build a stock pile with a scraper. And you can bet I asked before I just went to town doing it.:ban ointhead
Im willing to bet he dont know hot to build a stock pile!
remember that for every foot you go up vertically you need 3' of room horizonatally or what ever your slope ratio needs to be . Nothing kills production worse and becomes un safe than a bunch of scraper hands that build thier stockpile or pond dam more vertically before they go horizontally. they end up crowded at the top dumping one machine wide and then dozer or blade has to come up there and push off and start widening the fill. in the mean time the scrapers are all jumbled up below waiting to get unloaded. I see guys do this continually with farm pond dams. They get to thier vertical elevation quickly and dont realize that they still have to move 60% more dirt to fill thier slopes but now they have to haul it from the top and push off instead of laying it in lifts like they were supposed to out to thier toe stakes.
Uhhh or just add one or two wide at the bottom, build your edge up a little to keep an inside lean and build that new lift straight up the side? I guess you've never seen scrapers build out an exsisting slope? All you do is start a bench and then build it up beside the pile. :beatsme
^^^What he said^^^
There is no such thing as a dumb question(within reason). Everybody learned somewhere.
I would rather have someone ask the question than to run out and do it wrong. Besides, for a lot of people, this forum is their "grading basics 101"
TDozer, are you guys working off of rt. 70 in Ocean County? Just asking because I saw a 627 on a lowbed going east on 70 the other day, didn't catch the name on the cab of the truck, wondering if that was yours.
We do have a job on rt.70 in manchester with one 627B. The pictures I posted were on a job in Florence right off rt.130.
Here's how my guys do it. Start out good and straight with material that will stack at 1:1 keeping the outside pass high then they wait until it's about 10 ft. high and the material changes to sand. The next step is to leave the safety of their tire mark toward the outside and slide off then squirm around and get 90 degrees to the pile and can't back down because the scraper has them hung up so wait for a tow backwards off the pile. One would think that experienced hands could do better and know sandy material won't stack as steep as clay type soils. End Rant, no harm done
That or if you don't have the room have a dozer cut ya out a bench for the scrapers to dump on 1/2 or so up the pile. That leads to a lot of baby sitting of scrapers since you have a vertical to fill against for the first several feet. We had a very limited amount of space to build our very large stock pile on. After we made it we had to cut the ends/ramp off to make a 20' verticals. Then we built a road to the top of the stock pile and dumped that cut in circles on top. That was one very steep decent off the side of that pile and I'm glad I was on a dozer
Always use the driest material you have to build the beginning of the pile and to build the ramp portion higher. Put the best operator on the blind side and leave him there. Trim and pack it before it rains. Phil