international
construction
january-february 2015
DRILLING
46
Critical equipment
Drilling equipment can often be on the critical path for
construction projects and quarry operations, so reliability
and productivity of thesemachines can also be vital.
Chris Sleight
reports.
Critical
equipment
airport runway reopened eachmorning.
Two key machines were two dowel pin drills fromMinnich
Manufacturing, an A-1C-48, and an A-2C-48, equipped with
an optional dust collection system.They were used for drilling
the 36mmdiameter holes in the existing slabs for dowel bars to
be inserted before pouring the fresh concrete.
TherecommendationthatMinnichdrillswouldbetherighttool
for the job camedown from themanagement team atdistributor
Volumetric, which has worked with Minnich Manufacturing
for some five years.This was founded on impressive service and
support from theMinnichManufacturing sales teamwhich has
seen the relationship blossom to a point where Volumetric is
the exclusiveMinnich equipment distributor for all ofAustralia.
“We were able to drill the holes that we needed in existing
slabs in about 45 seconds per hole for the single drill unit, and
twoholes in the same amount of time for the double-gang unit.
Not only were theMinnich drills efficient, but safety also came
into play for us – we really didn’t want our guys down on the
D
rillingequipment and its applicationsmightbeviewedas
something of a niche activity in the construction sector.
However, thesemachines can often be a vital link in the
chain on construction projects and in aggregates extraction.
For example, repairing sections of the 1950s-era runway and
taxiway at Sydney, Australia airport was a challenge for Antoun
Civil Engineering for a number of reasons.The airport handles
300,000 aircraft movements and 37 million travellers per
day, and although the repairs were urgent, replacement of the
damaged slab areas could only be carried out during the normal
runway shutdownperiodof 11.00pm–4.30 am eachnight.Of
course, should the runwaybeunable to reopenon time, Antoun
Civil Engineering would face massive
penalties.
Efficient equipmentwas key toworking
around this time constrain on the cycle
of demolition, removal, pouring and
achieving structural strength before the
Bench remote is a new remote
controlled operator station fromAtlas
Copcowhich can remotely control up to
three surface rigs at once.
The PowerROC
T50 is a new
surface rig
designed and
built by Atlas
Copco in China.
It is designed to
be a simple, yet
powerful and
robust machine.
