Directional Drill Tooling and Parts

Locator Systems

One of the most valuable tools used in directional drilling is the locator system. There are different manufacturers of these systems but they all serve roughly the same purpose; to show depth, direction, angle and heat of the directional drill head. Without a locating system; you could not accurately drill though the ground and directional drilling would be impossible.

Types of directional drill locator systems

Drill Rods /Stem

Drill rod or drill stem are specially designed to have a certain amount of bend to them and allow the drill head to be pushed or curved around obstacles and in and out of the ground. It is said that with enough drill stem and a strong enough machine you can drill out from the machine and do a complete circle back to the machine. I have never physically seen this but i have been in situations where the bend of the rod went well beyond specifications to achieve an extreme amount of curvature.

Specifications and types of directional drill rods.
Wear of rods
Threads of rods and copper kote
Replacing rods.
Rack systems.

Drill Head

Drill heads are connected to the first rod by a starter rod and they contain the spot for the sonde which is part of the locating system. The drill head also is where different drilling bits are attached to match specific types of soil conditions. The head also contains holes to release water to help in the drilling process and keep the head cool. The drilling locator will always monitor where the head is in the ground and various other things such as pitch, yaw, clock and temperature.

Types of drill heads
Types of bits
Sonde placement

Sondes

Sondes are sensitive electronic cylinders that are placed in the drilling head. These sondes relay information back to the locator box with a varying degree of information. From the information provided by the sonde the drill locator can figure out the direction the drill bit is heading, what depth it is in the ground and the clock or direction of the bit, and the temperature of the head. There are various types of sondes that go to different depths and provide various information depending on the locating system.

Types of sondes.
Keyways and care of sondes.
Temperature problems with sondes.

Water tanks and mixing systems

Water plays and important part in the drilling process; keeping the head and sonde cool, loosening the dirt and lubricating the hole that is being drilled. Sometimes water alone will not provide enough lubrication or stability in the soil and certain chemicals have to be mixed in depending on soil conditions. The chemical mixtures that need to be mixed provide better viscosity, stabilize soil, better flow of fluids and other reasons. Mix systems provide a way to keep your fluids mixed to your certain specifications and maintain your water flow.

Water tanks.
Mixing systems
Water trucks and combo packages

Reamers

Reamers play and important role when pulling back the package(commonly whatever conduit or pipes your are installing); the reamer can increase the hole size to allow for bigger diameter pipes or conduit or even multiple pipes at one time. There are many different types of reamers that each serve a specific purpose or soil condition. After a drill head has reached the desired location it is often removed and the reamer is attached to the starter rod. Once the reamer is attached the package is attached to the reamer and the process of pulling back the product will begin.

Types of reamers
Recommended reamers for different packages.
Clevises

Common Replacement parts

Hoses

Replacing major parts

Cylinders
Scorpion tails
Water pumps