Grade the ditch

Running a Ditching job on the Grade screen: Start and what can stop it, the Auto Grading Active banner, reading the Grade / Depth Guide, the map chevrons and the profile chart, coverage, Hold and Resume, Raise and Lower, Stop, and the banners that hold the blade.

Full Automation Kit
Guidance Only Kit
Ditch Assist Lite

In the app Sidebar › Grade › Start

Once the design is implemented, the Grade screen takes over. You drive; the Ditch Assist® system raises and lowers the blade to hold it on the target, and the screen tells you how close you are. This page explains everything on that screen in Ditching. Simple Grading uses the same screen.

Before you start

A design is implemented and the Grade screen is open (Ditching), or you've resumed a saved job (Resume a job)
Calibrated on your benchmark, if you're working from an older survey or design, or the base has moved (Do I need a benchmark today?)
The machine has RTK Fixed: the most accurate GPS position. The GPS button at the top of the screen shows a green RTK.
Full Automation Kit: Raise and Lower move the implement the right way (Check the hydraulics)

Time: as long as the passes take. Starting, holding and stopping take one tap each.

The Grade screen at a glance

Numbers across the top (the stats bar). The map in the middle. A tall white column right of the map: the Grade / Depth Guide, your blade against the target. The chart along the bottom: the whole run from the side. The buttons you tap are in the column down the right side of the screen.

Grade screen in Ditching before Start: stats Current, Target, Design and Nudge across the top; the map; the Grade / Depth Guide column with a readout box at its foot; the chart along the bottom with an Edit Design button; and the right-hand column with Start, Reset, an Auto-Nudge box, Raise and Lower — **Stats bar.** **Current (ft)** is the blade's elevation, **Target (ft)** the elevation it's aiming for. **Design** shows while Auto-Nudge is on or a nudge is set. **Nudge** is how far you've moved the target.

**Readout.** How far the blade is from the target, in inches.

Before you press Start

Three checks stop the blade diving the moment you tap Start:

On the route. The tip of the pink machine arrow sits on the dotted orange survey line on the map. Beside the route, the app still aims at the grade on the route.
Same base setup, or calibrated first. Same day, base untouched since the survey: nothing to do. Base moved, or another day: calibrate on the benchmark before you start (how).
Nothing changed since the survey. Don't calibrate to a benchmark between surveying and grading: calibrate before you survey, not after. Set the blade height before you survey and leave it alone until the survey is saved.

Blade dived anyway? Tap Hold or Stop, lift the blade, then see The blade dives at Start.

Grade a pass

Lower the cutting edge to the ground

Drive to where you want to start. Lower the cutting edge onto the ground with the tractor's hydraulic lever. With a Full Automation Kit you can also press and hold the red Lower button, at the bottom of the column on the right (press and hold). Raise, the green button above it, lifts.

Grade screen before Start: a green Raise button and a red Lower button at the bottom of the right-hand column — **Raise and Lower.** Hold down to move the implement (Full Automation Kit).

Tap Start

Start is the big green button at the top of the column on the right, under Home. Tap it. Ditching starts straight away; there's no Ready to Start? window (that's Manual Grade).

Grade screen before Start: a big green Start button at the top of the right-hand column, under Home — **Start.** Top of the right-hand column.

Start won't go while the GPS isn't good. It tells you why: No GPS fix or GPS: STALE — position not updating. It needs a control module (Ditch Assist Lite: the Reach; or the simulator). A Bluetooth GPS can't start grading.

Drive the run

You should see a red Auto Grading Active banner at the top of the guide column. The blade moves by itself. Drive at your normal grading speed and keep the machine on the surveyed line.

ON GRADE on the map means the cutting edge is within 1 in of the target. Coverage paints behind you on the map. Start and Reset have turned into Stop and Hold.

Auto-grading: a red Auto Grading Active banner at the top of the guide column, ON GRADE on the map, coloured coverage behind the machine, and Stop and Hold at the top of the right-hand column — **Auto Grading Active.** The system has the blade.
**ON GRADE.** Within 1 in of the target.

Read CUT, FILL and the arrows

When the blade is more than 1 in off, the map shows the distance and CUT (blade above the target) or FILL (blade below it), with big arrows either side of the machine. Down arrows say the blade needs to come down; up arrows say up. One arrow for each 3 in off (rounded up), up to four.

Grading at the end of the run: the map reads 2.0 inch CUT with a big green down arrow either side of the machine; the guide readout reads Current Tgt +2.0 CUT — **2.0" CUT.** The blade is 2 in above the target.
**Arrow.** Down = lower. More arrows = further off.

The inches per arrow are a setting (Inches Per Chevron, in Settings under GRADING). Want a tone when you're on grade? Turn on Grade Alert, in Settings under ALERTS.

Tap Hold to take over for a moment

Coming up to a culvert or a crossing? Tap Hold, the grey button under Stop. The blade stops where it is and the app stops sending it targets. Hold also saves the job.

Grading: a grey Hold button under the red Stop button in the right-hand column — **Hold.** Grey, under Stop.

While the app has put itself on hold (no RTK, stale GPS), the Hold button is greyed out. That kind of hold releases by itself.

Lift over the obstacle

You should see an orange HOLD — Manual Control banner. The guide keeps reading. Lift with the tractor lever, or press and hold Raise and Lower at the bottom of the column on the right (Full Automation Kit).

Grading on hold: an orange HOLD — Manual Control banner at the top of the guide column, an orange Resume button where Hold was, and Raise and Lower at the bottom of the right-hand column — **HOLD — Manual Control.** You have the blade.
**Raise and Lower.** Still work while held.

Tap Resume

Past the obstacle, put the cutting edge back down and tap Resume, the orange button where Hold was. The system takes the blade back.

The orange Resume button under Stop in the right-hand column — **Resume.** Back to automatic control.

Tap Stop at the end

Stop is the red button at the top of the column on the right. Tap it. The hydraulics stop at once and the job saves itself (you may see Saving job…).

Grading: a red Stop button at the top of the right-hand column, above Hold — **Stop.** Ends grading and saves the job.

Tap Start to carry on, on this pass or the next.

Leaving the Grade screen while grading

If you tap Home (top of the right-hand column) or the wrench button (top right of the stats bar) while grading, a window called Stop Auto-Grading? asks first. Stay keeps grading. Stop & Navigate (red, bottom right) stops grading, saves the job and goes.

Stop Auto-Grading? Auto-grading is active. Navigating away will stop the controller and halt hydraulics. Your progress is saved automatically. Buttons Stay and Stop and Navigate at the bottom right — **Stop & Navigate.** Stop, save and go. Stay, to its left, keeps grading.

Read the Grade / Depth Guide

The guide is a column on the right of the map. The tip of the black triangle is your cutting edge. The yellow band is FINAL TARGET, the design grade. When a nudge or an Auto-Nudge pass sets a target above or below final, a blue CURRENT line shows this pass's target. Work the triangle onto the line you're grading to.

Three views of the Grade / Depth Guide side by side. Left: the triangle on a blue CURRENT line above the yellow FINAL TARGET band, readout Current Tgt 0.0 ON GRADE. Middle: readout switched to Final Tgt +0.3 ON GRADE. Right: the blue CURRENT line below the FINAL TARGET band, readout Current Tgt 0.0 ON GRADE. Each readout lists Current, Current Tgt and Final Tgt elevations — **Triangle.** Its tip is your blade.

**CURRENT.** This pass's target. Only there when it differs from final.

**FINAL TARGET.** The design grade, with no nudge.

**Readout.** Tap it to switch between the error to **Current Tgt** and to **Final Tgt**.

**Elevations.** Blade, this pass's target and the final target.

Readout	Meaning
+2.0" CUT	Blade 2 in above the target. It needs to come down.
ON GRADE	Within 1 in of the target.
−1.5" FILL	Blade 1.5 in below the target: cut too deep here, or a hollow.
Target	Label when there's no nudge and no pass offset (current and final are the same).
Current Tgt / Final Tgt	Which target the number is measured to. Tap to switch.

Collapse it: tap the guide and it shrinks to a thin GRADE rail, giving the map more room; the Auto Grading Active banner moves onto the map. Tap the rail to bring it back.

Work the tip of the triangle down to the blue CURRENT line on each pass. The last pass ends on the yellow FINAL band.

Cutting edge. The tip of the triangle is your blade's cutting edge.
CURRENT. This pass's target. It only shows when Auto-Nudge or a nudge moves the target off final grade.
FINAL TARGET. The design grade.
How far off. From the blade to the target named on top. + means above it: cut more. − means below it. Green when close, amber to red when far above, blue below.
Tap it. While there's a CURRENT line, a tap switches the readout to Final Tgt, the distance to final grade (red while there's cut left). Tap again to switch back.

Read the profile chart

The chart along the bottom is a side view of the whole run: the ground you surveyed, the design, what's still to cut, the dashed PASS line for this pass's target, and the worked surface you've graded so far. The marker is you.

Make it bigger: put your finger on the short grey bar along its top edge and slide it up. Slide it down again to give the map back its room.

Grab bar. Slide it up or down.
Edit Design. Change the design mid-job (Edit the design).

The profile chart is a side view of the run, here partway through pass 1.

Surveyed ground. The route as you drove it (green).
Design. The target grade (dark orange).
Cut. The hatched band: what's still to cut down to the design.
PASS 1. This pass's target with Auto-Nudge, in bold dashes; later passes show as faint dashes. A nudge draws a dashed line labelled PASS.
Worked surface. Where you've graded, the green line drops to the surface you cut. The original ground stays as a faint grey line.
Fill. Blue: the ground is below the design.
You. The dashed line and the black triangle: your position and your blade.
START and END. The two ends of the survey. Distance along the bottom counts from START.

Read the coverage on the map

Each stretch you cover is coloured by how close to final grade it ended up:

Green: done, within 1 in of final grade.
Yellow, orange, red: about 1, 2 or 3 or more passes still to go, at your Max Cut Per Pass.
Blue: cut more than 1 in below grade.

To see the whole run, pinch the map: put two fingers on it and slide them together (pinch to zoom). Coverage is saved with the job. To hide it, turn off Draw on Map in Settings, under GRADING.

Map zoomed out over the surveyed route crossing two field roads, with an orange coverage strip behind the machine — **Coverage.** Orange here: about two passes still to go on this stretch.

Banners that change the blade

Banner	What it means	What to do
HOLD — Manual Control	You tapped Hold.	Tap Resume.
HOLD — No RTK Fix, with a red RTK LOST - AUTO HOLD label on the map counting the seconds	The fix dropped below RTK Fixed. The blade stays where it was.	Stop the machine and wait. It releases by itself once RTK is back and steady. More.
HOLD — GPS Stale	Positions stopped arriving.	Releases by itself when they come back. More.
Amber AUTO HOLD - WAITING FOR HDOP	RTK is back but satellite geometry isn't good enough yet for your RTK Sensitivity.	More.
Auto Grading (Commands OFF)	The Send Commands setting (in Settings, under DEBUG) is off. Guidance runs, but nothing moves the blade.	Turn Send Commands back on.
… from survey line — accuracy may decrease	You're more than about 100 ft (30 m) off the surveyed line.	Get back on the line; the target out there is a guess.

Red banner reading Auto Grading (Commands OFF) at the top of the guide — **Commands OFF.** The office-testing switch is off; the blade won't move.

Grading also stops by itself if the app goes into the background: the tablet's Home button (Home button), another app, or the screen turning off. Set a long screen timeout, then come back and tap Start.

On each kit

Full Automation Kit: everything on this page.
Guidance Only Kit: no valve, so nothing moves by itself. Start, and keep the triangle on the target with the tractor lever. Raise and Lower do nothing.
Ditch Assist Lite: Start runs guidance (Guidance Active); you move the blade. There's no Hold, Raise or Lower, and a lost fix shows RTK LOST — GUIDANCE PAUSED. Working in Ditch Assist Lite.

If something goes wrong

The blade dives as soon as you tap Start: Blade dives at Start.
Start is greyed out or refused: Start greyed out.
Auto Grading Active but the blade doesn't move: Implement won't move.
Resume does nothing: More.
Blade hunts or is slow to follow: Slow or chasing.
On grade on screen, but the ditch is too deep or shallow: Grade is off.
Grading stopped by itself: More.

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