Drilled solids do not stay the size they were cut. Every circulation — through the bit, the pumps, the tools and the shaker — grinds them into progressively finer particles. This video explains degradation, why it is the hidden engine behind rising low-gravity solids, and why the first pass is the best chance you will ever get to remove a particle.
Once solids degrade below roughly 8 to 10 microns, no mechanical device can remove them — not the shaker, not the cyclones, not the centrifuge. They stay in the system, drive plastic viscosity and gel strengths up, and can only be diluted out at three to four times the fluid volume. That is why ‘remove early, when they’re large’ is the single most valuable habit in solids control.
