Singapore - Trenchless International

dRILLING eqUIPMeNt
October 2010 - Trenchless International
48
the year of the hdd rig
by Bob Martin, General Manager of HDD Broker Inc
Despite a challenging year for the vast majority of the world, affecting both contractors and
manufacturers, a few new developments survived – such as the horizontal directional drill (HDD) rig.
“May yOu LIVe in interesting times.” It’s
an old curse that has certainly held true
for many people and companies over the
last year.
2010 has been a challenging time for
the vast majority of the world. the global
economic downturn has affected both
contractors and manufacturers alike in a
manner unseen for decades. Equipment
development has certainly suffered as
dealers reallocate research and development
budgets to other areas in order to
remain solvent. Fortunately, a few new
developments have survived the recession
to emerge this last year.
Vermeer introduced its new D20x22FX
series II directional drill back in January,
which was designed specifically to tackle
the newly emerging geothermal market.
these machines are based off of their
standard D20x22 drill platforms, but feature
a boom capable of drilling from
18 degree to 90 degree entry points. Built
for vertical and steep angle geothermal
loop installations, the D22x22FX also
functions as a HDD that can install horizontal
loops and conventional utilities.
At the same time, Vermeer released
information on their new line of fluid recycling
systems to go hand in hand with their
maxi rig lineup. Vermeer’s line of large
directional drills spans pullback capacities
ranging from 330,000 pounds to over
one million pounds, launching them into
an arena previously dominated by only a
few other manufacturers. With the need
to service the demands of these machines
for fluid pumping and recycling, Vermeer
launched their new line of recycling systems,
which is currently seeing the first
units delivered to anxious buyers.
the rumour is also out that Ditch Witch
is poised to test the first of their new line
of maxi-sized directional drills in the coming
months. these new machines are the
result of an existing partnership between
Ditch Witch and tu Xing sun No-Dig tech
of Beijing, China.
this development is truly pivotal, as
its success could open the floodgates
to Chinese equipment being accepted
in North America as a viable option to
compete against locally manufactured
equipment. to date, Chinese equipment
has met with enormous opposition by
contractors due to its reputation of unreliability.
Chinese equipment has already
found huge purchase in developing countries
such as India, and its introduction
into North America, particularly as it is
backed by a well known name, shall be a
very interesting development to watch in
the coming months.
Ditch Witch also surprised the entire
industry when it acquired the Earth tool
Company and its Hammerhead product
line in April.
Earth tool was formerly strongly allied
with Vermeer Manufacturing. this development
basically hamstrung Vermeer’s
pneumatic downhole tool program,
and put Ditch Witch in a very strong
Vermeer’s D20x22FX Series II Flex-Angle Drill geothermal installations.
Chinese rig manufacturers exhibiting at an international show.
position to dominate that market through
its well-established dealership network and
Hammerhead’s proven line of tooling.
universal hdd
Another interesting development in the
HDD rig arena is the emerging line of drilling
machines manufactured by Universal
HDD based out of Lake Zurich, Illinois.
While it is too early to say exactly how well
these units will hold up under demanding
drilling conditions for the long term,
short term results seem to show that the
Universal lineup is holding its own – particularly
when taking into account their lower
pricing versus more well known brands of
HDD rigs.
Contrary to the trend of the larger manufacturers,
Universal HDD has taken a
different approach to building rigs, and
that is to build them simple and build them
cheap. While a new drill from the major
manufacturers may feature such wonderful
options as automatic rod loading, infinitely
variable torque, or wireless accessibility
for diagnostics, Universal has elected to
build their machines with simple electric
over hydraulic construction with a minimum
suite of sensors and no low voltage electronics
to malfunction at the jobsite. Again,
the ultimate reliability of the machines is yet
to be put to the test and only time will truly
tell how well they hold up in the long run.
hard rock drilling
there is an interesting tendency within
the industry in the tooling front as well.
Hard rock drilling has always been a lucrative,
if chancy subsection of horizontal
drilling. In the past there were two main
drilling methods used to tackle hard rock,
those being mud motors and the wellestablished
Ditch Witch At rock drilling
system.
Mud motors require large output pumps
and recycling systems capable of processing
the larger volume of spoils, while the At
system uses proprietary pipe and specific
At-capable drilling rigs. Both options are
costly.
A newly emerging trend for hard rock
drilling involves the use of pneumatic air
hammers. the technology has been out for
a long time, however it is not until recently
that pneumatic downhole hammers have
seen more widespread use, due in part to
many well-known manufacturers accepting
the technology and offering it along with
their machines. these systems require
only the rental or purchase of a large
capacity air compressor, something that
is easily rented and readily available all
Bob Martin, HDD Broker.
over the world. Pneumatic systems have
equivalent or superior penetration in pure
hard rock conditions, but do fall short
when going through softer formations or in
mixed soils.
a look into the future
the coming years will be interesting
ones to watch. Of particular interest to most
contractors will be the development of new
technologies incorporated into HDDs, or
perhaps the simplification of the same drill
platforms to compete with potential international
competitors in the marketplace.
At any rate, it can be stated with certainty
that drills will continue to evolve to satisfy
the needs and wants of the marketplace.
China is emerging as a potentially huge
competitor in this arena like so many others
it has already entered. the quality of their
products is increasing in order to fill the
needs of international buyers, and while
the pricing is certainly cheaper for now,
there will come a point where quality and
cost will even out.
Whether that point is one that still allows
the current major players to compete in a
competitive manner is yet to be seen, but
you can be certain that just like their equipment,
these manufacturers themselves are
destined to evolve as well.
dRILLING eqUIPMeNt
October 2010 - Trenchless International 49