Heavy Equipment And The Art Of Motor Grading

Motor grading is a job that can sometimes be considered boring, you spend hours just driving up and down, skimming a little of the top at a time. The reality is that good motor grading is actually an art form and the best heavy equipment motor graders are those with many years experience.

With blade work, there is so much in the way of repetition, going over your work till you get it to the right grade. Sometimes it takes a lot of time. Even for some one with a lot of hours up is can seem boring and frustrating. That is the life of a heavy equipment operator.

Patience and a good eye and feel and being able to anticipate what the machine is going to do in advance is one of the special skills that is developed over time and with experience. Along the way you also learn where your material must be and where it will end up once you have completed each pass. With heavy equipment operation, a lot of the skill is your intuition and what you are feeling through your hands and feet. In a way, you become one with the machine, feeling the slightest imperfections in the surface through your hands.

While not wishing to be too hard on new heavy equipment operators some from this generation have not learned patience – and that is the main essential for all types of motor grading, no matter what machine you are on. If the job needs another one, two or three passes to make it tidy or right, then that is exactly how it is.

Over the years all heavy equipment operators learn and develop these skills. The art of motor grading lies in the hands. However, you need to learn the basics of heavy equipment and motor grading operations before you can even begin to learn the finer art. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can give you that basic training to get you on the road to a great career. Check us out.