TECHNOLOGY
to improve our production by 80 hours in one month. In addition to vastly improved productivity, we also burn less fuel and the operator is less fatigued which has an important safety implication,” adds Roelofse.
Drilling bigger holes
With the conversion, Roelofse explains that his team is now able to drill holes from sizes of 114mm to 171mm. With a simple equipment change( drill rod and base on floor), the rig can reach a hole size of up to 205mm. Moreover, the rig delivers a penetration rate of between 65m and 85m per hour, which is more than double the standard rate of about 28m.
“ Our first response when Liyema Drilling approached us for an excavator and drilling machine was that we sell excavators not drilling machines,” says Mark Peterson, general manager at Kemach Equipment.“ JCB, however, recognised the potential of this project, and backed-up by Roelofse’ s extensive experience in the drilling business, decided that it was an exciting and worthwhile project to get involved in. It is Liyema Drilling’ s objective to have no injuries on site and this drilling machine certainly sets the safety benchmark to the top notch,” says Peterson.
Roelofse and Karl Meÿer from Liyema Drilling, locally designed, engineered and manufactured the bespoke drilling tower to fit the JS205 excavator. Eight years ago, Basie and Karl produced the first drilling tower on an excavator which is still operational.
The drilling tower incorporates an automatic rod changing functionality which enables the operator to automatically change the rods from the safety and comfort of his user-friendly ROPS / FOPS cabin allowing him to drill 5m from high walls. Not only is the operator protected from all risks and hazards during the drilling act, but a lot of time is also saved by the fact that he does not need to move away from the 5m area to change rods.
Ideal for a drilling machine
Roelofse immediately recognised the suitability of the JS205 excavator to convert into a drilling machine.“ The 20-ton excavator is exactly what is required for carrying the drill tower for efficient line
Kemach Equipment, Liyema Drilling and Integrated Air Solutions partnered to convert a JCB JS 205 excavator into a state-of-the-art drill rig.
The JCB JS 205 drill and blast rig is fitted with two separate independent triple action fire suppression systems from Fogmaker South Africa.
and 360 ° drilling – compact, mechanical, economical and uncomplicated,” he says.
The fact that the boom remains stationary reduces wear and tear and extends equipment life. The excavator’ s wider 600mm span tracks facilitate accessibility, allowing for drilling to continue even in severe muddy conditions to maximise uptime. Furthermore, the machine’ s convenient bolt-on system means no laborious welding is required.
The counter-weight at the rear of the JS205 has been replaced with a customised 14-bar ELGi compressor.“ In consultation with Kemach Equipment we had to shorten our 900cfm compressor from 4m to 3.2m to fit onto the new rig,” says Graham Russell, CEO at Integrated Air Solutions. Russell further explains that they also fabricated the custom sub-frame to house the compressor.
Bringing the JS205 and the ELGi compressor together is a win-win
22 _ QUARRY SA | MAY / JUNE 2018