Rugged high quality rigs with very low inputs - quick two man set-up and
operation; they cover the entire range of materials, with nothing extra to buy
if the ground is harder than you thought. Machines are permanent, long life and
maintanable, using high quality components.
At their heart is the engine & winch combination; we use our own highly successful
design of clutchless freefall drilling winch and good quality high torque engines.
They are suitable entry-level equipment for contractors and NGOs producing typical rural water
wells for hand pumps. Faster and cheaper than hand digging for rural development
programmes - not stopped by boulders, and a profitable commercial investment for
drilling water wells, site investigations, window sampling, remediation wells and
other environmental drilling. Can be used for setting drive points, hydraulic
(jet) percussion drilling, peizometers & insitu testing, geothermal drilling, and
prospecting.
WATER WELL DRILLING
Forager-55/1250 trailer-tripod cable percussion rig drilling in UK for a private water
well. 6-inch temporary steel casing was employed for this 100 metre (328 ft) well finished in the
chalk (Cretaceous limestone) aquifer. Temporary casing was used to cut off several
layers of sands and gravels above the weathered chalk. A site welded low carbon
steel permanent casing was driven 60 metres through the weathered material to the hard fissured
chalk of the main aquifer. The well was completed as an open hole 40 metres
into the hard chalk. No added water or mud was used for this well, one of three
replacements for a large country house. A major attribute of this equipment is the
ability to handle, place, drive and recover steel casing. This is the same machine
pictured above, and has a potential of 125 metres (410 ft) in such conditions.
The freefall winch has a direct pull capacity on a bare drum of 1250 Kg (2750 lbs), and the
tripod is capable of 9,000 Kg (19,800 lbs).
The Consallen Forager-55/1250 is intended for contractors and NGOs, and may also be
used for prospecting, surveying for groundwater and site soil investigation. These rigs
can be used to undertake work-over duties such as bailing silt from existing borehole
casings & screens, and handling pumps. It is canoe portable, and can be mounted
on barges or pontoons for over-water work. See below.
Shell & Auger drilling method involves a clay cutter as the main drilling tool.
This has come to replace the traditional auger, although the method is still called
'shell & auger drilling'. The clay cutter is the 'universal' drilling tool, and
the ways it can be used, are illustrated on the page under the following link.
CLAY CUTTER
See also the BAILER or shell
BAILER
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PROSPECTING
The rig is shown being used to determine the volume of overburden that will need
to be removed prior to open cast mining of rock salt in Saudi Arabia. Each hole showed
the overburden depth and after penetrating a short way into the rock salt, an
SPT was performed to estimate the overall thickness. In the background a rotary
rig is core drilling at wider spacing to confirm the estimates.
The Forager-55/1250 is being employed to quickly and efficiently provide large
amounts of data over a wide area, with little support or consumables required.
Drilling is normally just a two-man job, but a training session was in progress here.
The standard rig is shown being used here, but a PROSPECTOR version is available
with a light aluminium engine and a completely demountable shorter and lighter
tripod, but similar capability. The PROSPECTOR version is suited to economical Placer
(alluvial) sampling.
link to PROSPECTOR version of the rig
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SITE SOIL INVESTIGATION WORK
Set up on a floating platform (pontoon), the Forager-55/1250 rig is shown being
used for site soil investigation over water, in advance of a Civil Engineering project
in Poland.
6-inch temporary casing is being used to support the holes, which were nominally 30 metres
deep. The method allows the taking of both undisturbed (U100) and bulk samples.
Standard Penetration Tests (SPTs) can also be performed at any required depth.
An adjustment to the layout would allow the rig to drive piles.
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TOWING
The rig, when folded, can easily be towed by a small car or pickup. The balance of the
machine - with the weight of the tripod counterbalaced by the engine and winch -
and weighing only about 450 Kg, means that it can be wheeled easily by hand between
drilling sites. In extreme situations, the rig's own winch can be used to pull it
into and out of a site or through streams. The rig can be dismantled into sections
no more than 3 metres long, and is then canoe or raft portable.
Shown here with a Lister-Petter diesel engine, with non kick-back crank handle
starting, and direct Vee-belt drive. The PROSPECTOR version of the rig has an
aluminium Yanmar engine whcih is about half the weight of the cast iron Lister-Petter.
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The main component of this drilling system is the Consallen free-fall winch. The
standard version is belt driven, from the engine and provides 1250 Kg (2750 lbs)
of hoisting capability and 38 metres (125 ft) per minute of bare drum hoisting speed.
The winch is clutchless, being based on an internal epicyclic gearbox, and is
operated and controlled by two external band brakes. A foot pedal operates the drum
brake and a hand lever controls a second brake, which causes the drum to reel in
when applied. Relaxing the hoist lever allows the tool string to fall freely for
maximum impact in the hole. The foot brake can be locked 'on' with simple device.
Having no clutch, and using band brakes and an internal gearbox, no part of the
winch is subjected to thrust loading. All band brake loads are balanced and provide
no additional bearing loads. The design ensures long life and robusness.
The design incorporates two safety features. The arrangement of the power train
is such that either the engine will stall or the drive belts will slip in an
attempt to exceed the design load. A second safety feature is provided that prevents
damage to the winch in the event that the brake is applied while the drilling
tools are in freefall. This consists of a soft strut, which bends upon overload.
The brake is not incapacitated, but will slip immediately, untill the position
(hand or foot) is changed. The soft strut is easily replaced without needing to
dismantle anything. With a bent strut, the winch capacity is reduced, depending
on the severity of the bend.
NOTE that in its standard form the winch is not a lifting device, is only
intended for use as a freefall winch in a cable-tool drilling context and not
for any other lifting purpose.
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SPECIFICATION for the FORAGER-55/1250 'STANDARD' BUILD
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- Winch single line (bare drum) pull: 1250 kg (2750 lbs)
- Weight of drilling tools suggested: 250 Kg (550 lbs). [Up to 500 Kg. (1100 lbs) for rock drilling.]
- Drum capacity: 140m (460 ft) of 10mm dia. wire giving a net drilling depth of 125 metres (410 ft).
- Tripod frame hoisting capacity 8,250 Kg (18,150 lbs)
- Height under top sheave 5 mtrs. (16.4 ft.)
- Lister-Petter 10 hp diesel engine, mechanically driving the winch with multiple Vee-belts
- Road wheels (unbraked) & trailer towing gear - 50mm/2" ball
- Width over road wheels 1,300 mm (4'-3")
- Width after removing axle - 620mm
- Length on the road 6.6 m (21'-8") overall
- Towing weight (basic) 450 Kg (880 lbs). The wheel set capacity is 750 Kg (1650 lbs) allowing tooling to be carried
- 6, 8 & 10-inch temporary casing size suggested, for 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6-inch wells.
- Demonstrations can be shown at our works in UK and site Training Packages are available.
How to drill by Cable Percussion
An outline of the 'shell & auger' method of cable percussion drilling process - a PDF file.
NEW VIDEO:
showing setting up the rig and cable percussion (Shell & Auger) drilling - 20Mb file.
NOTE: A longer CD version of this video is available upon request; it
gives greater detail of more of the shell & auger processes; we will need a mailing
address for delivery.
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The following is a list of the set of drilling tools we supply as standard with rigs
intended for drilling holes - by normal cable percussion (shell & auger) method
- of about 6 inches (150mm) diameter without casing:--
- Drilling wire in lengths to suit the depth envisaged - available to order
up to 140 metres long. Supplied with swaged thimble eye one end and fused & tapered
the other of non rotating crane wire 10mm dia. working load 1250 Kg.
- Attachment shackle - bow type - 3250 Kg. (7150 lbs) SWL.
- Sinker bars standard 100mm diameter x 1.5 metres long weight 92 Kg each, threaded
M/F with barring holes top & bottom. Normally 2 no. required & supplied. Also
available in shorter half lengths, and by weight, to order. 50 Kg suits a two-man
crew and satisfies EU Health & Safety.
SINKER BARS
- Threaded swivel bail for top sinker bar.
- Tool joint spanner - set of 2 no.
- 140mm dia. bailer with clack valve and threaded removable shoe - capacity 20
litres (Available to order up to 50 litres capacity) - See details of the bailer via this link:
BAILER
- 140mm dia. Clay cutter with threaded removable shoe and threaded top to suit sinkers.
See page about the various uses of a clay cutter (the 'Auger' in shell & auger drilling)
CLAY CUTTER
- Basket catcher system for clay cutter comprising plastic catcher basket and
2 no. steel support rings.
- Stubber tool threaded to suit sinkers.
- Spade reamer - approx 180mm dia. - threaded to suit sinkers.
SPADE REAMER
- Cross bit 145mm dia. threaded to suit sinkers - with hard faced welding cutting edges.
CROSS-BIT
- Sliding hammer - light type - for driving cutting tools where required.
- Pair of snatch blocks to pull stuck tools - top one fits to tripod apex - working capacity 2500 Kg.
- Wire puller - 2000 Kg capacity for use with above snatch blocks.
- Universal shoe & shackle tool - used to remove shoes from bailer & claycutter and to tighten shackle pins
Other tools are available, including flush jointed temporary steel drilling
casing and attendant handling, driving and recovery equipment. See details under
the following link:
CASING
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An HYDRAULIC POWER OPTION allows the winch to provide hoisting capacity
of up to 1500 Kg, and speeds as high as 60 metres per minute for greater bailing
capability, by selecting alternative drive motors.
Hydraulic operation with a separate 10 hp power pack can be specified, with suitable
valves. A simple locking pin converts the winch into a lifting device providing
controlled power up and power down for hoisting pumps and other work-over tasks.
Removal of the locking pin restores the freefall facility.
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A HI-LO HYDRAULIC POWER PACK
with a 10 hp (7.5 Kw) diesel engine delivers either
high volume at low pressure for fast hoisting of tools, or low volume at high
pressure for maximum pulling power. The change-over between modes is in automatic
response to system pressure. Max. operating pressure is 210 bar (3000 psi) and
max flow is 50 lpm (6 USg/min).
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