Rock drilling is a technique which uses rock drills to penetrate through the rocks. This is done for many purposes like; digging up a well, to explore the minerals from under the earth’s surface and preparation of foundations. To operate the rock drills, and do the rock drilling, one needs to be adequately trained for the purpose.
Drilling through the rocks is a difficult task, and requires much harder drill bits to do the same because the conventional bits are not designed to withstand the forces that they have to take while drilling a rock. Here is a brief list of rock drill components that are used in the process.
- Material: They are made of significantly harder material. One of the materials that are used in them is the industrial diamond. Diamond provides much more thermal stability than any other abrasive material.
- Lubrication: While cutting through rocks, drill bits undergo significant wear and tear because of the friction. To avoid the damage, they are fitted with the lube and cooling system.
- Air Blower: While a drill bit is inside the hole and is going even deeper, the chips that are there can damage the bit. Thus, an air blower is featured on along with the bits so that the dust comes out of the drilled holes as soon as it happens there. Like others, this a rock drill safety equipment as well.
Some other rock drill components that have an application in the industry are the hydraulic rotary drill head, hydraulic power unit, hydraulic drifters, and clamps and breakers.
Excavator Rock Drill
When it comes to drilling in the confined environment, the rock drill excavator attachments do the work. They have a 360-degree lateral movement and are capable of reaching the most challenging drilling locations.
Some of them are used where the longest possible strokes are required to get the task completed.
An excavator rock drill is more economical than a pneumatic rock drill and crawler rock drill. It is a versatile platform available for rock drilling operations and earth retention.
What is a Drill Rig
When the drilling has to be done at deeper levels, rock drills can be attached to the drill rigs. The operator controls them manually through the throttles. They are commonly used to bore the Earth’s subsurface for oil and gas extraction wells.
A word about the RPM
While it is necessary that a proper tool is used, the thing that has to be kept in mind is its usage so that it lives its whole life. For this, the workers have to understand that higher rpm does not mean fast drilling.
Yes, that is right. The harder the object to be drilled is, the harder you pull, but the rotation needs to be slow. They sometimes spin 40-50 drill bit rpms thinking that it is being done faster. The reality, however, is that they are tearing up the motor at a much faster rate, while the drilling is at its usual pace.
Improve the durability of tools
While working at slower rotations help increase the life of the tools, maintenance has a vital role in it as well. With the advancement in almost field, the tools that lasted about 30 to 40 hours now live up to around 200 hours.
Some safety tips
In any field, safety is, as must be of top priority. You can only work if you are safe enough to do that. People working in the field of rock excavation and drilling must adequately protect their eyes, ear, and skin. To do this, they need to use facial shields and earplugs. These devices protect the workers against the noise and the dust.
Final Words
So, this was a guide telling you what precisely rock drilling is and what tools and measures can be used to make it more all the more economical and safer at the same time. Patience is the again the critial factor. Pushing the tool way too harder and at the higher rotations is going to make the task even more challenging. All this has to be kept in mind before and while working on any of the projects related to the rock drilling. Doing so, you will be able to save some extra dollars for yourself.
