That's a hell of a first day I don't know it I would of wanted to come back the next day one of my experiences wasn't much better. We where digging a hole in Irvin, CA there are pics of it in the TGIF. And the hole was so wet the material I was loading into the bellies with the hoe was getting stuck in the trucks, and the trucks where getting stuck in the hole on the haul road. I shut down, but the 2 loaders couldn't keep up with loading the truck and pushing them out. I got on the blade and tried to fix the road. My first pass the trucks where backing up and left it in 3rd tried to blow through it. I made it worse, one of the loader operators called me and jumped all over me so I helped them push the trucks out. Once the line was gone I stopped the truck up top and fixed the road the right way after that it went ok, but I had to constantly maintain the road.
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First poster
- Thread starter Blademan
- Start date
Deas Plant
Senior Member
A Lotta Levers, Huh?????????
Hi, Folks.
A LOTTA levers onna grader, huh? About ten years ago, I was running a Cat 130G on a sub-division job in Cairns in North Queensland, Australia. One day, one of the labourers climbed up in the cab with me and said, "I just want to see what you have to do to make this thing work."
He rode with me for about five minutes and then he wanted to get off, saying there were too many levers for him. I stopped him and asked him, "You play a guitar, don't you?" I didn't have a clue whether he played a guitar or not but, as it turned out, he did. I then asked him, "How many frets on your guitar stem?" He couldn't tell me. What's more, I didn't know either but I said, "Well, let me assure you that there are a lot more frets on your guitar than there are levers in this cab."
I have since done a little research and it turns out there are either 18 or 24 frets on most guitars - - - - and folks reckon running a grader is complicated.
And then there are 88 keys onna 'pianner'. And God knows how many onna 'pianner' accordian.
May kup yer minds.
You all have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
Hi, Folks.
A LOTTA levers onna grader, huh? About ten years ago, I was running a Cat 130G on a sub-division job in Cairns in North Queensland, Australia. One day, one of the labourers climbed up in the cab with me and said, "I just want to see what you have to do to make this thing work."
He rode with me for about five minutes and then he wanted to get off, saying there were too many levers for him. I stopped him and asked him, "You play a guitar, don't you?" I didn't have a clue whether he played a guitar or not but, as it turned out, he did. I then asked him, "How many frets on your guitar stem?" He couldn't tell me. What's more, I didn't know either but I said, "Well, let me assure you that there are a lot more frets on your guitar than there are levers in this cab."
I have since done a little research and it turns out there are either 18 or 24 frets on most guitars - - - - and folks reckon running a grader is complicated.
And then there are 88 keys onna 'pianner'. And God knows how many onna 'pianner' accordian.
May kup yer minds.
You all have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
Tigerotor77W
Senior Member
Interesting points -- but on how many instruments do you have to worry about the location of the instrument and whether it's actually moving the way you want it to at the same time? 
Not disagreeing with you, but man, I think blade operators (fine-dozing and grading both) must be some of the best hand-eye coordination activities out there as a reasonable profession. (That is, there aren't that many professional pianists working for a living.)
Not disagreeing with you, but man, I think blade operators (fine-dozing and grading both) must be some of the best hand-eye coordination activities out there as a reasonable profession. (That is, there aren't that many professional pianists working for a living.)
Deas Plant
Senior Member
Hand-eye co-ordination, etc..
Hi, Tigerotor77W.
Not disagreeing with you either but in all of these cases, musicians and artists with machines, anticipation also plays a big part. With a musician (Possibly excepting jazz musicians who make a lot of it up as they go along when they're jamming.), he/she knows exactly where he/she is supposed to be going next 'cos he's/she's either practised it a squillion times or he's/she's reading it from a page as it goes along.
For an operator, they know what the finished product is supposed to look like and can work towards that goal with some reasonable degree of certainty. The seat of their pants also tells them a fair bit about what to expect next too if they are really tuned in.
I agree that the tricky part is when it is time to put on the finishing touches but even then experience and anticipation play their part in the overall process. I found very early in my career that it was easier to largely ignore what the machine was doing and concentrate on keeping the blade where I wanted it, using the feedback from my eyes and my broad butt to help in this process. You do have to position the machine in such a way that you CAN get the blade you want it so steering plays its part there.
Bull-tilt blades and 6-way blades made this process both a little easier and a little more complicated as they came on the scene but most of us coped pretty well - I think.
The whole art of earthmoving boils down to one thing - being able to position the cutting edge to take the material from where you want to take it and place it where you want to place it in the condition that you want it to be in when it gets there.
I also suspect that people like Eldridge Woods (Tiger to you.) may have pretty fair hand-eye co-ordination too - in their own way - just as operators have in their own way.
Catchyalater.
You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
Hi, Tigerotor77W.
Not disagreeing with you either but in all of these cases, musicians and artists with machines, anticipation also plays a big part. With a musician (Possibly excepting jazz musicians who make a lot of it up as they go along when they're jamming.), he/she knows exactly where he/she is supposed to be going next 'cos he's/she's either practised it a squillion times or he's/she's reading it from a page as it goes along.
For an operator, they know what the finished product is supposed to look like and can work towards that goal with some reasonable degree of certainty. The seat of their pants also tells them a fair bit about what to expect next too if they are really tuned in.
I agree that the tricky part is when it is time to put on the finishing touches but even then experience and anticipation play their part in the overall process. I found very early in my career that it was easier to largely ignore what the machine was doing and concentrate on keeping the blade where I wanted it, using the feedback from my eyes and my broad butt to help in this process. You do have to position the machine in such a way that you CAN get the blade you want it so steering plays its part there.
Bull-tilt blades and 6-way blades made this process both a little easier and a little more complicated as they came on the scene but most of us coped pretty well - I think.
The whole art of earthmoving boils down to one thing - being able to position the cutting edge to take the material from where you want to take it and place it where you want to place it in the condition that you want it to be in when it gets there.
I also suspect that people like Eldridge Woods (Tiger to you.) may have pretty fair hand-eye co-ordination too - in their own way - just as operators have in their own way.
Catchyalater.
You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
digger242j
Administrator
AMEN, Brother Deas, Amen! Preach on... :notworthy
Deas Plant
Senior Member
Not THAT Reply
Hi, digger242j.
Now that is one reply that I DIDN'T expect. LOL.
You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
Hi, digger242j.
Now that is one reply that I DIDN'T expect. LOL.
You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
digger242j
Administrator
It is an art, and it does all boil down to what the cutting edge is doing. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Grader4me
Senior Member
Pretty much sums it up :notworthy