Rockmore International has plans to unveil its new Vector Rod System to the North American market at the upcoming MINExpo 2016 exhibition in Las Vegas in September. The system is designed to improve performance and service life of extension drill tools in surface and underground percussive drilling applications.

“We specifically targeted to increase thread service life while enhancing drilling performance in extension drilling applications,” says Pejman Eghdami, executive vice president of Rockmore International.

After years of research and development, followed up with monitored field tests in various ground conditions, Rockmore engineers developed a new thread design, XT, for the Vector Rod System. The new XT design incorporates new guided cylindrical contact zones between the male and female thread joints. The guided surface features are located in the nose and rear of the thread connections and serve various benefits and improvements over traditional threads.

The XT thread profile is based on the traditional trapezoidal “T” thread design and is compatible with industry standard thread types such as T38, T45 and T51.  Drilling contractors can interchange and connect standard “T” style threaded components with the new XT thread. For example, a T45 threaded bit or shank adapter can be connected to a XT45 threaded rod with full compatibility.

In order to achieve the full engineered benefits of the XT thread, Rockmore points out that contractors should consider the drill string as a system of connections between the shank adapter rods, and the bit in extension drilling applications. The XT thread design employed in the Vector Rod System has been developed to enable many performance and reliability benefits leading to major overall cost savings in the drilling cycle.

The dual cylindrical contact zones in the nose and rear of the XT threads increase the lateral support between thread joints and stabilize the connections with more rigidity to provide better energy transfer. The enhanced thread support and geometry extends thread life and increases the overall component service life of the shank adapters, rods and bits with XT threads that comprise the Vector Rod System.

Because the XT thread guide feature improves thread alignment, the impact duration when rattling rods, as required in uncoupling connections, is minimized. This leads to lower wasted energy transmission, cooler couplings on rods and ultimately to longer rod life. Thread grease is also better retained on the thread pitches resulting from the new XT geometry, further increasing thread life in all XT components.

Another key advantage of the new rod system is straighter holes and minimized deviation, which is critical in modern drill and blast techniques. The guided XT thread feature increases the rigidity and stability of the connections between the shank adapters, rods, and bits so significantly that overall rod bending is minimized and hole straightness improved. Rockmore says this improvement allows for larger and deeper blastholes to be achieved using existing rod diameters, but only by converting to XT threaded components. In underground mining long-hole and production applications where up to 30 rod connections are common, hole deviation can be reduced substantially by using Vector Rods.

“As a major breakthrough for extension drilling systems, we have significantly improved drilling productivity and increased drill string lifetime by introducing new design features in the XT thread configuration,” Eghdami says. “And just as important, the new XT design is fully reverse compatible with industry standard ‘T’ style threads, enabling the Vector Rod System to be truly remarkable, yet a practical choice for premium drilling tools.”

The Vector Rod System is offered in multiple configurations of button bits, MF rods and shank adapters. These drill string components are available in XT38, XT45, XT51 and XT60 thread types, designed to improve drilling productivity and reduce extension drilling operating costs in surface and underground percussive drilling. 

Rockmore International is a global manufacturer of rock drilling tools serving the mining and construction percussive drilling sectors for more than 65 years. To learn more, go to www.rockmore-intl.com.