Yair . . . What do you blokes reckon about this any comments? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siLdFrIpcYY Cheers
Either benching for a dragline or backfill.
Looking at it again, I'd say he's stripping the overburden off for the drill, seeing how its sitting right there and he's obviously on hard material.
I agree. looks ready for more drilling.
Yair . . . and you reckon he's doing okay then? Cheers.
Don't know, but then I always find it's a mistake to comment on a couple of minutes of YouTube film without knowing the the full story of why something is being done a particular way. But perhaps that's just me.
He's got alot of confidence in the edge, glad it's him not me
look how deep that canyon is. wow..
Well the thing is, with overburden, everyone says you have to slot to get production. But the top of the hard rock formation has so many peaks and valleys, that it makes it difficult to slot, so while this isn't ideal, its likely the best way. Mind you this is only my experience from a D8 and our quarry. But that would apply here as well I'd hazard to guess.
Yes he is benching for a drill.He's doing OK , still on the top side.
That material have already been busted as can be seen by how it falls off the high wall. There is little big rock boiling off the blade and the ripper isn't being used at all. All the black in the spoil indicates to me that it is some part of coal mining operations, possibly backfill from another part of the pit. The drill would be working away from the drag lines so I would guess that it is working its way toward the camera. If the dozer were leveling for the drill there would have been lots of busing rock sending off high pitched screams and dust. I couldn't get a sense of where the working drag line was in the video. I'm going to guess that the dozer is smoothing a bench for the drag line to travel down to get to where the drill is currently working. From that spot the dragline would pitch the spoil back into the slot where the dozer was pushing spoil. Just a guess.
I think you are correct, John. The dragline in the background looks like the Anthracite King in Pennsylvania. It is Bennettshovel's video, I think he lives near there. I was a visitor to that mine many years ago, I remember they were pushing over the highwall with a D-11 then.
Yair . . . Ben46a is with what I'm on about . . . and I hear what he's saying about uneven caprock. That tractor is doing a full back-up every pass . . . it is not unreasonable to think that whole bench has been cut with that technique. The operator is smooth and confident working around the Highwall . . .obviously experienced but yet is using poor production methods. Beats me. I see this all the time. I've said it before on here and I'll say it again . . . and I'm probably being generous when I say that less than ten in a hundred operators know how to set up a job and get best possible production from a dozer. Cheers
he knows, but there is a time clock in the mix. think about it.
Yair . . . oldirt You're not being a cynical O/B too . . . surely not? LOL. Had the same thoughts at times myself when I see some of the B/S that goes down. . . Happy New Year to you. Cheers.
+1 It's not right to proclaim someone incompetent or ascribe nefarious motives of time wasting when you don't know the full story. It's Bennettshovel's video, I would ask him. He lives in that area and has uploaded hours and hours of footage of the PA coal mines, he would know better than us. I was a vistitor in that mine 12 or so years ago. You think that highwall looks big on your monitor? Go to the mine and see it for yourself-it's a monster!
Operator does a fine job of going left to right. Wonder if he can go right to left?
cheers back at you, Scrub Puller! I also imagine he is the poor shmuck who drew the short straw and nobody is going to yell at him to go faster.
Yair . . . I suppose it gets old me always nerping on about dozing techniques but seriously, its what I did for a large part of my working life and it annoys me to see machinery not utilised to best advantage. As I see it there is no point in having good high productive gear held back by indifferent or disinterested operators. . . or time clock considerations. Without proper supervision it is very easy for operators to lapse into the methods shown on that video . . . don't get me wrong though, there could be good reasons he is working like he is . . . that thing is not working, perhaps if he sticks it to it the darn thing over heats? Who knows. Under a normal bulk pushing scenario I would expect that tractor to be taking at least four to five foot deep cuts every pass . . . that is to say he should be working a slot at least the depth of the push arms . . . I certainly don't expect to see the bloody rollers every push! He should back up about two tractor lengths, lower the blade and load up with nice smooth ramp cut down to his floor, back up and do the same again and proceed with both blade fulls to the face. If he can't do that the material needs ripping. Working as he is he's just burning fuel taking a shallow slice off the top of the cut each pass . . . it might look okay but the tractor is working at far less than its potential. Cheers.
I think he is trying to make a bench for the dragline or the drill, so maybe that's why he's not sloping the cut downhill. So he is more grading than hogging. I have never worked in a coal strip mine, but I have been to that one, it's a double cast mine, one dragline is down on a bench and casts spoils to the side, then another one higher up bails that material away.