When you’re striping with a walk-behind—or self-propelled—machine, you put a lot of faith in the settings and automation. Once you’ve locked in the measurements and started moving forward, there’s no looking back. Or is there?
If you notice alteration or “wobble” in your skip lines, stop and reset.
You don’t have to live with unevenly spaced markings that may or may not get full pay from the client or prime contractor. Look at your control panel’s screen and ensure your measurements are on target.
If everything reads the way it’s supposed to, your next troubleshooting step is to check tire pressure. Both back tires of your striping machine need to be within 1-2 pounds of each other. (Basically, if you have 58 psi on the rear tires, you want both to read 57-59.) If one is “flatter” than the other, your calibration is off. Take the time to fix it.
Inflate the problem tire and recalibrate the machine. Now you’re ready to get back to making money.
Extra Tip: Keep an eye on your tire tread, too. You’d be surprised how problematic a rock in the tread can be for painting straight, evenly spaced lines. And if you’ve been letting paint dry on your tread, those layers are changing the tire’s circumference. Make sure you’re keeping the tires nicely maintained.
Get tips like this delivered directly to your inbox each week when you sign up for Toolbox Tips.