Pneumatic hammer drilling gives drillers an advantage in all but the most extreme soft ground conditions says Josh Marcus, senior product specialist of Atlas Copco Secoroc down-hole tools. And when weighted drilling fluid is not required to control the formations, hammer drilling should be the favored technique.
“A conventional triple drill rig is great for drilling with the QL 120 hammer,” says Tom Weller. “Hydraulics give perfect control on the break. You can control it with fast reaction to weight on bit and maintain a constant feed rate.”