Excavator attachments - auger drills
1、 Material Innovation: A Leap from Wear Resistant Alloys to Composite Materials
The core combat effectiveness of a spiral drill depends first and foremost on its material. In the early days, ordinary steel was used for drilling rods, which wore out extremely quickly during operations in gravel layers, requiring replacement after an average of 300 hours. Nowadays, mainstream products have been fully upgraded:
Drill rod blades: Made of high-strength alloy steel substrate, with tungsten carbide coating welded on the surface, the hardness is increased to 500HB (Brinell hardness), and the wear resistance is more than three times that of ordinary steel. When using a 23 ton excavator for construction, the service life of pebble formations exceeds 800 hours.
Drill tip structure: embedded with hard alloy teeth, combined with a nitrogen treated articulated pin shaft, improves the impact resistance of the 15 ton excavator by 40% when drilling in frozen soil, and maintains stable output at 30 ℃ environment.
Breakthrough in lightweighting: Carbon fiber composite materials are applied to the main body of drill pipes, reducing weight by 30%. Actual tests have shown that when a 15 ton crawler excavator is equipped with lightweight drill rods, the stability of slope construction is significantly improved, and fuel consumption is reduced by 15%.
2、 Technological Breakthrough: Intelligent Control and Structural Optimization
Hydraulic system upgrade
Adaptive flow control: The electrically controlled proportional valve dynamically adjusts the oil pressure based on soil resistance. When the crawler excavator operates in the silt layer, it automatically switches to energy-saving mode with a fuel consumption of ≤ 8L/h; When encountering weathered rocks, there is an instantaneous increase in pressure, and the drilling speed remains stable at 1 meter per minute.
Shock absorption and anti torsion design: The telescopic oil cylinder is equipped with multiple sets of shock absorption springs, effectively absorbing construction vibrations. When applied to a 23 ton excavator, the vibration amplitude of the cab is reduced by 70%, and the wear rate of the oil cylinder is reduced by 60%.
Quick Change and Anti Entanglement Revolution
The 30 second quick change joint enables seamless switching between the spiral drill and the excavator bucket, allowing a single 15 ton crawler excavator to complete drilling and backfilling tasks in a single day.
Hollow rotary joint technology completely solves the problem of oil pipe entanglement, and hydraulic oil is transported through the center of the drill rod to ensure the reliability of continuous rotation operation of the 23 ton excavator.
3、 Development process: from extensive modification to professional integration
Spiral drilling technology has undergone three generations of evolution:
1. First generation (before 2015): Mainly self modified on construction sites, welding hydraulic motor brackets after removing the excavator bucket, with defects such as oil pipe entanglement and poor positioning accuracy. The failure rate of 15 ton excavators is as high as 35%.
2. Professional integration period (2016-2020): Modular drive head was introduced, with output torque increased to 75000Nm. After matching the 23 ton crawler excavator with a high torque drilling rig, the granite drilling efficiency was reduced from 1 hour/meter to 20 minutes/meter.
3. In the era of intelligence (2021 present): 5G remote control and AI pre inspection systems have been put into use. The operator can remotely control the crawler excavator to drill holes, and the sensor monitors in real time that if the drill rod is unevenly worn beyond 0.1mm, an alarm will be triggered. The monthly equipment failure time has been reduced from 42 hours to 9 hours.
4、 Maintenance points: Full cycle maintenance strategy
hydraulic system
The first time to replace hydraulic oil is 150 hours, the second time is 300 hours, and then every 1000 hours thereafter; The filter element is checked every 500 hours, and if it is clogged by more than 20%, it should be replaced immediately.
23 ton excavators in cold regions need to be equipped with oil circuit insulation covers to maintain an oil temperature of ≥ 60 ℃ and prevent hydraulic oil from solidifying.
Drill pipe maintenance
After every 50 holes of operation, lubricate the bearings with oil and keep the drill rod rotating to ensure penetration.
Drill pipes with a depth exceeding 8 meters must have their straightness checked every 100 hours, and any bending deformation exceeding 3 ‰ must be corrected.
Storage standards
Long term idle storage and spraying of anti rust coating vertically can cause deformation of the drill rod. A Shanxi project resulted in the scrapping of drill pipes worth 80000 yuan due to illegal flat placement.
5、 Fragile parts management: the core of cost control
Four key component replacement standards:
1. Drill tip alloy teeth: Replace if the wear height exceeds 50%, and forced use will damage the drill rod substrate.
2. Blade edge plate: If the crack length is greater than 3cm or the wear gap is greater than 10mm, it needs to be replaced, and spare parts should be kept on site.
3. Hydraulic motor sealing ring: The primary point for oil leakage inspection, with a unit price of less than 500 yuan but can avoid tens of thousands of yuan in repair losses.
4. Central shaft bearing: Abnormal noise is a precursor to scrapping, and continued use may result in overall damage to the drive head.
Case warning: A 15 ton crawler excavator in a mining area in Yunnan Province was shut down for repair due to neglecting the warning of filter blockage, resulting in damage to the main pump suction. The cost of maintenance exceeded 200000 yuan.
Future vision: Green manufacturing and unmanned construction
With the tightening of environmental regulations, biodegradable hydraulic oil has been applied in the Nordic market, combined with electric crawler excavators to achieve zero emission drilling. Domestic enterprises are simultaneously promoting two innovations:
Hydrogen power adaptation: The 23 ton hydrogen powered excavator with a spiral drill has entered the testing stage, with a range of 8 hours and a 60% reduction in noise.
Digital twin maintenance: By simulating the wear cycle of drill pipes through virtual models, it prompts the replacement of vulnerable parts 30 days in advance, reducing unexpected downtime by 40% compared to traditional maintenance.
From material innovation to intelligent operation and maintenance, the spiral drill has evolved from an auxiliary accessory to a "profit multiplier" for 15 ton and 23 ton crawler excavators. The new generation of drilling tools that integrate alloy steel, adaptive hydraulic, and predictive maintenance are quietly reshaping the efficiency boundary and cost logic of pile foundation engineering.
