Table of Contents
Drilling, also known as boring, is skillfully performed by utilizing technical equipment called rock drills.
1. Types of Drills
The most commonly used types of drills are:
a. The hydraulic drills
b. Electric motor drills
c. Pneumatic rock drills
These three contain some of the most essential tools in a variety of projects such as soil nailing, micro-pile, mining, and tunneling job sites.
Industry professionals choose hydraulic drills because of their specific benefits compare to other types of drills. Some of these benefits contain their light weight and ability to run on hard rocks without utilizing a large compressor.
2. Parts of a Rock Drill
However, in the industry, all types of rock drills have a definitive design that is a variety of changeable attachments. The most essential parts of a standard rock drill possess the following:
a. Drill bit
This is the tip of the rock drill that first makes contact with the ground during boring work.
b. Drill stem
This is the long frame that dig the ground during boring and whose end houses the drill bit.
c. Drill rod
This is the hollow part of the drill stem that attaches the motor of the rig to the drill bit. The drill rod is also liable for sharing the cutting force with the drill bit to allow the rock drill to dig the ground.
d. Carbide bits
These are particular types of drill bits utilized in rotary and percussive drilling that contain carbide tungsten coated onto them at an angle.
3. How Rock Drills Work
During soil nailing, micropile, mining, or tunneling processes, rock drills dig the earth either by rotating or making continuous impact blows.
Rotary drills are the most familiar and used for cutting and flushing out rock fragments, while percussive drilling breaks rocks by making impact blows.
Some contractors prefer to integrate both methods which are especially useful for functions on medium to hard rocks.
The method of drilling also relies on the type of hole a contractor plans to bore into the ground. The two commonly selected holes are the cored holes and the open holes.
Cored holes have an outlet whose diameter is already known before a work. In this case, cored holes need a stem with outer tubes to spin the drill bit.
On the other case, open holes have no predetermined diameter. The drill bit digs directly into the earth at the time of work.
4. Types of Drill Bits
There are three major types of drill bits that are used in boring open holes. These possess rock roller bits, wing bits, and down-the-hole hammers.
a. Rock roller bits
It is also known as tricone bits and has teeth-like steel cones. These cones cut and flush rock fragments outwards through the drill rod.
b. Wing bits
It is also known as drag bits, is made of carbide tungsten, and is suitable for soft ground surfaces.
c. Down The Hole Hammers
Air core hammers have three sticking-out blades that slashed rock at the time of working and utilize compressed air to flush out fragments on the surface.
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