Keep Mill Speed Steady for a Cleaner Milling Pattern

As we mentioned last week, the clean, consistent pattern behind the cold planer is the goal for the profit-minded milling crew. While you have to train your mill operator for best performance, you need to talk with your truck drivers on the day’s job as well. They need to know how the crew plans to execute the job today. Does everyone know the speed at which you’ll be moving? The speed at which you mill affects what’s left behind you. 

Poor milling patterns, varying depths and other mistakes creep into the layer you leave for the paving crew if you change speed often. 

The untrained mill operator may think the paving crew will merely cover up mistakes with the layer of asphalt, but that layer of asphalt is a costly Band-Aid® and some commercial contractors are being “taught” to only use the exact tonnage bid for a job, letting mistakes carry from the subbase to the top layer in favor of saving profit. 

It is more advantageous to the GC to get the surface right so the asphalt mat goes down on a proper surface without having to “fill in” holes, pavement gouges and/or dips, without the rolling team having to guess where the thin areas are to avoid overcompaction. The mill operator is better off running at a slower, consistent speed throughout the shift. This gives a more precise pattern to the cut, and that works in the GC’s favor to reduce operating costs. 

The mill operator gets to determine the final success of the paving project if he works to his best ability. 

• He should set the mill’s depth and slope according to the project specs. 
• He should communicate with the project foreman and trucking foreman to ensure the right number of trucks cycles on the job. (The foreman must balance the number of trucks with a consistent milling speed and volume.) 
• He should set and maintain a consistent machine speed—running fast to fill up a truck and then slowing down to stop and wait for the next truck changes the texture of the cut. 

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