A Horizontal Directional Drill in action
I bet you always wanted to see a Horizontal Drilling Machine in action. I know I did and when the crew set up on my road, the opportunity presented itself. I took some pictures so you get the idea. The video lets you watch the crew work without having to stand in the rain. As it happens, the owner/operator is a cousin of fellow beekeeper/photographer, Mureen Walker in the county to the south of me, the only connection I can claim that has anything to do with bee keeping. 🙂
Starting the drill bit and aligning the path
Adding another 10 ft. rod extension. The machine unscrews one end, backs up, another rod is lined up perfectly, it screws in tightly and carries on.
Remote Guidance System…The one on the left shows the pitch or slope of the bit, The one on the right (YAW) shows the side to side movement.
The rod rack holds four rows of rods 11 deep. That’s enough for 440 feet (134 m). This distance is about 380 feet (115 m), plus there are a few roots along the way. This is going to take a while, I better get some deadlines done.
You might think it would be easier just to dig a trench, lay the conduit in, and cover it back up, but there is a city water main here too.
This pole is about 50 or 60 years old. The wires criss cross with the wires of another utility. A big storm could bring the whole thing down in a dangerous way.
Thank you, power people for taking care of this BEFORE it happens.
The crew and drill in action…
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Well, now I can die a happy woman!
and me a happy man 🙂
Hallo again, I was reading your Independence Day account and spotted the link to the horizontal drill story which I had never noticed before. It caught my eye because at the new place where we will one day live…. three houses down the road from us live people with vans in their driveway with SBB Horizontal Drilling……? on the sides. I had noticed them last week sometime on an extremely early walk 04:30 am! I was curious about the company but not so that I really made a proper study of what it was etc. Then tonight lo and behold but three years further along I get all the ‘know how’ from you. So even though those guys had to put up with all your questions etc. for me you provided in a beautifully informative way the answer to my question “Now I wonder what that might be….?” when I saw the text on those company vans. Thank you Very Much and also to the guys who let you film them….
I’m always interested in what people do to make a living, especially when it involves interesting looking machinery. It was nice of these guys to let me point the camera their way. Am glad you enjoyed it too.
How are your bees? We’ve had major losses here…not just me, but some long time beekeepers too, like 80% losses.
Hi!
This is such an interesting blog post. I recently emailed you about this particular post and the linked youtube video below. Do you think we can chat more on this particular post?