The harder the rock, the faster it drills

Fencequip had a few of our customers in the United States get in touch, saying their ground is so hard and un-fractured that our Rock Monster Augers were drilling the hole but taking roughly 45 minutes per hole, which was getting painfully slow.

To solve this problem, our only option was to look towards the quarry/mining sector for an answer. The cost-effective solution was to add a ‘Down-the-Hole Hammer’ (DTH Hammer) to our Rock Spike/Auger Units.

This has been done before by fencing contractors, but it has come at a high cost and with a range of headaches. Fencequip has developed a setup that simply and quickly attaches to any of our existing Post Drivers. The DTH Hammer attaches where our Auger Extension is, allowing the user to change from Auger to DTH Hammer easily in a matter of minutes.

The DTH Hammer requires a 185-250CFM Air Compressor that can be towed by the Tow Hitch on our Side Mounts. This provides the air that operates the DTH Hammer and removes the rock chips. There is a gate that spring latches to the mast, allowing the user to control the bottom of the Hammer when starting the hole.

The DTH Hammer had its soft launch at the New Zealand National Fieldays in June 2024, displayed on site. Then in August, it was onto the USA launch at the ‘East Coast Fence Rivalry’ held in Virginia and hosted by Derrick Cox. This was a great location with plenty of rock around for demonstrations and customers to see it in action.

Since the launch of the DTH Hammer we have had very positive feedback from our customers, including comments such as “the harder the rock, the faster it drills”. In good conditions, customers can now drill a hole 1 metre deep in around two minutes.

Our standard DTH Hammer setup can drill a hole 90mm – 150mm in diameter with a range of sizes in between.

The type of rock the DTH Hammer suits includes Quartz, Granite and anything that is exceptionally hard and challenging, where our ‘Rock Monster’ Augers start to drill slow.

We are excited for this next phase of Post Driver development. For more information on the Down-the-Hole Hammer, contact Troy Knudsen on 0800 362 747.

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