Chazel
New Member
My first post so bear with me!
I work for an oil and gas pipeline company and have been digging for about 5 years. Not to long but long enough to get a handel on it. We run Deere 230 and 270 and Cat 325.
While the 270 has more digging power then the 230 the 230 cycle times are noticably quicker and seems to be a much more controlable excavator. The only good thing about the cat is the quick attach bucket lol.
So u asked about how to dig fast so this is what i have observed buy watching some pretty damn shiny operators and a few things i have figured out:
1. How long is ur Set? While u have the rech to dig say a 15' set before repositioning thats doesent mean u should! As mentioned earlier ur hydraulics have a sweet spot where u have max power and reaching out to max extention to start ur set isnt it! Iusually make my sets about 3/4 the length of my tracks therabouts and have noticed this allows for quicker digging.
2. Dig from the top down not the other way around. Take light cuts along the length of ur set. Say about maybe 1' at a time or so. This will vary of course depending on the size of ur hoe. Typicaly in the 230 it takes me 4-5 cuts to get 6' depth. Also dig with ur bucket more or less parallel to ditch bottom as others have said curling at the end to fill bucket to max capacity. Filling ur bucket 3/4 full doesent help u to dig faster lol!
3. Put ur dirt more or less right beside where it comes out. This i have found more then anything speeds digging tremendously. The less time spent swinging means more time digging. If ur spoil pile is ending up close to the cab at the end of the set u are doing it wrong.
4. If ur ditch needs to be sloped to stand do it as u go down. If u have to stop digging and spend a bunch of time sloping ur holdin up production.
5. It seems u get the most production when ur engin stays at a constant hum. if ur jerky and ur engin is revin then bogging out production will be down.
6. I dont know if this makes u dig faster or not but for the love of god dont bottom out ur bucket and stick rams Every Single Time u dump ur spoil or extend to start ur next cut!
Its hard as **** on ur machine and makes u look like a complete rookie no matter how nice ur ditch is or how long u been doin it.
Just my 2 cents here and the things i could think of. The variables on how much ditch u can get in a day are neverending but these are the big ones i could think of.
I work for an oil and gas pipeline company and have been digging for about 5 years. Not to long but long enough to get a handel on it. We run Deere 230 and 270 and Cat 325.
While the 270 has more digging power then the 230 the 230 cycle times are noticably quicker and seems to be a much more controlable excavator. The only good thing about the cat is the quick attach bucket lol.
So u asked about how to dig fast so this is what i have observed buy watching some pretty damn shiny operators and a few things i have figured out:
1. How long is ur Set? While u have the rech to dig say a 15' set before repositioning thats doesent mean u should! As mentioned earlier ur hydraulics have a sweet spot where u have max power and reaching out to max extention to start ur set isnt it! Iusually make my sets about 3/4 the length of my tracks therabouts and have noticed this allows for quicker digging.
2. Dig from the top down not the other way around. Take light cuts along the length of ur set. Say about maybe 1' at a time or so. This will vary of course depending on the size of ur hoe. Typicaly in the 230 it takes me 4-5 cuts to get 6' depth. Also dig with ur bucket more or less parallel to ditch bottom as others have said curling at the end to fill bucket to max capacity. Filling ur bucket 3/4 full doesent help u to dig faster lol!
3. Put ur dirt more or less right beside where it comes out. This i have found more then anything speeds digging tremendously. The less time spent swinging means more time digging. If ur spoil pile is ending up close to the cab at the end of the set u are doing it wrong.
4. If ur ditch needs to be sloped to stand do it as u go down. If u have to stop digging and spend a bunch of time sloping ur holdin up production.
5. It seems u get the most production when ur engin stays at a constant hum. if ur jerky and ur engin is revin then bogging out production will be down.
6. I dont know if this makes u dig faster or not but for the love of god dont bottom out ur bucket and stick rams Every Single Time u dump ur spoil or extend to start ur next cut!
Its hard as **** on ur machine and makes u look like a complete rookie no matter how nice ur ditch is or how long u been doin it.
Just my 2 cents here and the things i could think of. The variables on how much ditch u can get in a day are neverending but these are the big ones i could think of.