ETTL News & Views
Volume 12 • Spring 2004 Newsletter
The new electronic version of ETTL's Newsletter … Keeping you up to date on
what's happening at ETTL Engineers & Consultants … typical current projects …
how we can be of service to you … links to our web site and people … and more!

Building up
the Cutting Edge of Augers

AN ON-GOING MAINTENANCE TASK
FOR ETTL'S DRILLING TEAM

As many of our readers know, ETTL owns a sizable fleet of drilling rigs - seven of them - operated by a busy staff of highly trained personnel. They work year-round to gather subsurface samples for our environmental and geotechnical staffs, as well as to install piezometers and monitoring wells. These same services also are provided to many ETTL clients on a contract basis. All this means that our rigs are almost continuously putting augers of various sizes to work (with the exception of our Geoprobe® unit, which primarily uses static force and a percussion hammer to advance tools into the ground). (Click here for in-depth web site information on ETTL's drilling fleet, our contract drilling services, and our capabilities in these areas.)

Needless to say, the augers used by our rigs often have to drill down through very challenging substrates. Their "flights" (or spiral cutting blades) perforce get plenty of wear. They need to be rebuilt at least once or twice each year -- a process we have found productive of many economies and which helps us keep our costs (and charges) down. Our staff's expert in this work, Vernon Willingham, an accomplished welder, also carries out many other maintenance tasks for our drilling service. He can rebuild the flights of up to two augers a day, when called upon -- a four-step procedure, as shown below:

Step 1: Vernon heats and bends a ½" diameter steel rod, several inches at a time, into place along the cutting edge of an auger's flight. It will serve as the base for a new cutting edge.
Step 2: Then he spot welds the partially applied steel rod in place. He repeats these first two steps until the rod is tacked in place along the full length of the auger's flight.
Step 3: Next he MIG welds the seams on both sides of the steel rod so it will be firmly secured in place atop the flight.
Step 4: And, finally, using a special welding rod, he lays a hardened surface (or cutting edge) on top of the entire rod, completing the job. The auger now is ready for further field service .

Our goal with this little article? To especially make the point that ETTL has the equipment and staff available to provide drilling services of an exceedingly high professional level, and has been doing so for nearly four decades, meeting environmental and geotechnical needs for clients over wide areas, in Texas and adjoining regions. (The home page of our web site has links to all of ETTL's pertinent services!)

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