I went with a manual chart over the new digital load moment indicator on a big job in Tulsa

Everyone on site was pushing for the new digital LMI system, saying it was safer and faster. I had to pick between trusting the screen or sticking with my old laminated load charts and a pencil. I picked the charts. The digital system had a glitch on day two, showing a wrong radius reading while we were setting a 15-ton HVAC unit. My spotter caught it, but if we'd gone by the screen alone, we would have been way over capacity on the boom. I know the tech is supposed to help, but it adds a layer between you and the steel. That job took an extra half day because I was double-checking everything manually, but we had zero close calls. Has anyone else had a digital aid fail and made you go back to basics?

3 comments

3 Comments

jenkins.spencer2mo ago

Our GPS grade control on a D6 in Phoenix froze at a 2% slope, would've cut a 4-foot trench. The foreman's old string line saved the whole pad.

ross.william1mo ago

String lines can fail too, they just fail quieter. GPS errors are at least loud and obvious.

craig.grace2mo ago

Man, that's wild. My buddy's GPS went rogue on a site in Nevada and tried to carve out a whole creek bed. His guy caught it because the dirt just looked wrong. Sometimes the old ways are the best backup.