NA Chilean mine rescue

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
I have been trying to find photos of the drill bit they are using/learn more about it.
Presumably, to accommodate a 21" dia. rescue cage, the bit must be 25" or so? Everything I read, including the company lit. says the Schramm T130XD can handle a 8" bit so I am wondering how it can handle such a large bit. The rock is reportedly very high psi and a bit of that dia must require immense torque and hammer pressures.
Henning has probably done all this, any answers Hen?

Anyway - may God bless those guys.
 
Are they still down there? Jeez... can you imagine the smell? As for drilling that big of a hole, I've got no experience except in short holes with an auger. Potentially they are drilling adjacent holes and then will blast out the webbing. That's how I would do it if all I had was an 8" bit.
 
I think the Schramm is a pull down rig with about 40,000# of capacity (it can put 40K on the bit). I believe they opened up a pilot hole to get the desired diameter.

Going to a larger diameter isn't that big of deal on that type of rig. It does slow down the drilling but there isn't any type of equipment handling or clearance problem.

From what little I've seen they weren't using an air hammer but were using a rotary rock bit. Not certain of course but that was the impression I got.
 
Henning said:
Are they still down there? Jeez... can you imagine the smell? As for drilling that big of a hole, I've got no experience except in short holes with an auger. Potentially they are drilling adjacent holes and then will blast out the webbing. That's how I would do it if all I had was an 8" bit.
Click to expand...

Hope they established a "pee corner"
 
I'd heard they were drilling 3 separate holes, just in case of any failures. The hole they are using now was drilled twice, a smaller diameter pilot hole, then the large diameter main shaft.

The last decision was whether or not to line the shaft with a casing. I guess, according to the news a couple minutes ago, that in about 12 hours or so they'll start hauling them up.

--

Question for the divers out there: I don't know exactly how deep they are, I think the rescue shaft is about 1/2 mile, but I don't know how vertical it is. Is there any decompression issue here?
 
I hope they reinforced the roof of that rescue vessel, can you imagine even a small rock falling 2000' onto it?
 
Matthew said:
Question for the divers out there: I don't know exactly how deep they are, I think the rescue shaft is about 1/2 mile, but I don't know how vertical it is. Is there any decompression issue here?
Click to expand...

I think the air pressure at that depth would be equivalent to roughly 10ft of water - I wouldn't think it would be a problem, even after a few months. After all, we routinely change altitudes by more than a mile without any danger of getting the bends.
 
Henning said:
Are they still down there? Jeez... can you imagine the smell? As for drilling that big of a hole, I've got no experience except in short holes with an auger. Potentially they are drilling adjacent holes and then will blast out the webbing. That's how I would do it if all I had was an 8" bit.
Click to expand...


The smell is far better then what is smothering Washington DC. :hairraise: :hairraise::D

Ben ' smart ass' Haas..............:thumbsup:
 
Matthew said:
Question for the divers out there: I don't know exactly how deep they are, I think the rescue shaft is about 1/2 mile, but I don't know how vertical it is. Is there any decompression issue here?
Click to expand...

No, they are still in air and the weight of the extra air column is not sufficient to cause problems.
 
Henning said:
No, they are still in air and the weight of the extra air column is not sufficient to cause problems.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I thought about that after I asked. I keep hearing on the news about the concern over pressure differences, but I don't know the details.

I live at 1000MSL and when I visit my folks at 8500MSL we go through that transition over the course of a 9 hr drive. And, in a plane with a 500fpm climb rate, I can make that change in minutes vs hours.
 
The company was on the news here in Philadelphia yesterday, as the drilling company that manufactures those is based in suburban West Chester, outside Philadelphia.

They drilled a 5 inch diameter pilot hole first, and then increased the bit diameter twice IIRC to the diameter needed for the cage.
 
I turned on the TV last night just in time to watch them lower the basket the first time, then pull out the first guy.

Pretty good drama - but most of the entertainment was having to listen to CNN's Anderson Cooper try to fill time on the air during all the dead-time - such as, "Doctor, how will the miners cope with the temperature change between the mine and the surface?" (I dunno, wear a jacket?)
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Did it say how they remove the drill waste as it advances?
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Henning said:
I would assume that it is falling down the pilot shaft and is being cleared out of the way by the miners.
Click to expand...
I heard the same thing- the miners are removing the tailings. As I heard this on a news broadcast, I take it with some salt considering how often the press gets almost anything about aviation correct.
 
here is a pic of the drill bit. It twists and hammers, and shoots air out the center of each hole to clear the path.
Built in Pa, took 3-4 weeks to build and 10 days to get to the site, per report I saw.
 

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  • drill bit.JPG
    drill bit.JPG
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Hope the US gets a shout-out for all the help.

We have a crappy name in LA for a number of reasons. Our aid should hopefully show that we're not all a-holes.
 
Rob Schaffer said:
The company was on the news here in Philadelphia yesterday, as the drilling company that manufactures those is based in suburban West Chester, outside Philadelphia.

They drilled a 5 inch diameter pilot hole first, and then increased the bit diameter twice IIRC to the diameter needed for the cage.
Click to expand...

Update

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704763904575550523192294114.html

The rescue of the Chilean miners gave two small Pennsylvania drilling-equipment companies a priceless opportunity to display their products on a global stage.

The drilling rig that blasted though more than 2,000 feet of rock was made by Schramm Inc. of West Chester, Pa., near Philadelphia, and the drilling bits came from Center Rock Inc. of Berlin, Pa., 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

"We just happened to have the right rig in the right place at the right time," said Frank Gabriel, vice president of sales for Schramm.
 
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