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Cutting corners on cutterhead teeth is costing you money
I've been noticing guys running way too long between tooth changes on their cutterheads... like they're trying to squeeze every last inch out of worn-down teeth. Last month on a job near the Port of Houston, I saw a crew lose almost 4 hours of production time because their worn teeth couldn't break through a clay layer. The pump started surging and they had to pull the whole ladder to swap out. Has anyone else tracked how much downtime you're actually saving by stretching those teeth?
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grant_hart7d ago
Cheap insurance compared to pulling the ladder on a hot day" - that's exactly right. I started tracking it a couple years ago after a bad clay layer cost me nearly a full shift. I made a simple log in my phone, just downtime versus tooth cost. What I found was swapping teeth halfway through their obvious life saved me about 30% in overall downtime across the season. Your mileage may vary with different ground conditions, but for me the numbers just added up better when I changed earlier. That pump surging is no joke either, it puts stress on the whole system.
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sandra_anderson28d ago
Have you actually tracked the cost of that downtime against the price of new teeth? I mean, I've seen guys brag about running the same set for three jobs straight, and then they hit one hard layer and lose half a shift. The math just doesn't work out when you factor in the pump surging and the wear it puts on everything else. Idk, maybe it's just me but a set of fresh teeth is cheap insurance compared to pulling the ladder on a hot day. I'd rather swap early and keep production moving than try to squeeze every last dollar out of something that's clearly done.
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