As we discussed last week, nearing the end of paving season in parts of North America puts the pressure on to complete jobs before the snow flies. Have you noticed workers speeding through tasks that they might otherwise take time to get the details right on? Take a look at milling and paving speeds not only for quality at the job site, but also for quality at the plant.
Tom Chastain spoke of the importance of milling speeds to get material sized correctly and to get a tight, consistent pattern behind the machine. Let’s look at another reason you want quality control right at the job site as it affects what’s happening back at the plant.
According to Chastain, a good pattern behind the machine can be achieved when you mill around 30 feet per minute. Milling speeds above 90 fpm can present all manner of trouble on the job, as we discussed last week, but can also create issues with sizing the material.
“We’re trying to use that RAP material,” Chastain said. “The slower feet-per-minute we go, the tighter the pattern, the smaller the RAP material. The faster we go, the more coarse the pattern, the larger the RAP material. We have to screen that RAP, we may even have to crush it, too. So, we’ve added a process simply because we like to mill fast.”
No matter how crunched for time last-minute projects might be this time of year, watch those milling best practices to keep speeds—thus patterns, safety and efficiency—under control.
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