Jason Carpenski with DBU Constuction tells why he prefers StraightLine’s All-Terrain Reamer to get through the tough New Hampshire ground conditions, including solid rock.
Air Hammer Directional Bore
Godley, Texas
September, 2009
Contractor: Pumpco, Inc.
The Challenge:
On a pipeline installation near Godley, TX, pipeline contractor Pumpco Inc, (Giddings, TX) was contracted to install numerous 12-inch steel pipeline laterals. The job took place in the Barnett Shale Formation, southwest of Ft. Worth, which is one of the most active drilling locations in central Texas.
On the last remaining bore Pumpco was faced with several challenges, a 640 foot bore that included 35’ of elevation changes, crossing a Santa Fe railroad track and Texas Highway 171. The challenge was further compounded by ever changing sub surface conditions, which alternated between unconsolidated soil and rock to solid shale and limestone formations.
A similar crossing had been completed with a mud motor less than ½ mile north of the Godley bore. The crew encountered extensive fluid loss and surface frac-outs in the unconsolidated and layered formations encountered. The frac-outs caused the inspectors considerable concern due to the threat posed to the sub-base integrity under the highway and railroad right-of-way.
We thought you’d enjoy a bit of a short video demo of one of our air hammer systems in action. Enjoy!
As the HDD industry has grown, so has our line of swivels. Our newest introduction to the family is an impressive 60-ton swivel available in either BOX X CLEVIS or CLEVIS X CLEVIS configurations. This Heavy-Duty swivel weighs in at 365-pounds, measures 10” in diameter and is 29” long.
In the process of developing industry specific swivels, StraightLine engineers led the way in the development of bearing and sealing systems that have proved to thrive in harsh underground environments. Over the years it has become evident that our original designs have stood the test of time and continue to deliver rugged reliability. So how do you deliver rugged reliability? 1) start with “angular contact” bearings, which are designed to handle both thrust AND radial loads, 2) the appropriate size and quantity of “angular contact” bearings are then assembled in a stack that provides safe performance at the rated load, 3) within the bearing stack each swivel must have two bearings that are positioned in the thrust (pushback) direction in the event that the product needs to be pushed backwards and finally 4) the sealing system must consist of 1 shaft seal and 2 lip seals with steel reinforcing rings to prevent soil and drilling fluid intrusion.
Our exceptionally crafted swivels are off the shelf available in 5-ton, 15-ton, 20-ton, 30-ton, 45-ton & 60-ton sizes. Quality, rugged-reliability and our commitment to continue to exceed industry standards – that says it all about StraightLine’s complete line of swivels.
Contractor: Sumter Utilities
Location: S. of Asheboro, NC
Equipment: Vermeer 24×40SII – Sullair 1150/350 compressor – StraightLine 4” Air Hammer System.
Drilling fluid type & flow rate: water @ just over 1-gpm.
Ground conditions: 10 foot minus blue granite boulders under the freeway in a sandy clay base material.
Project: placing 6” HDPE pipe to act as a conduit for power. Total bore length was 450’. The depth requirement under the highway was 16’ minimum and 5’ minimum under the exit side ditch.
Bore path: there was 10’ of elevation change from the entrance to the ditch on the opposite side of the highway. The hammer entered the ground at minus 18% slope held this pitch until the hammer reached the edge of the highway. At that point the operator began to steer upward until a minus 5% slope was achieved. A depth of 17 ½’ was maintained under the highway and 7’ 6” under the ditch. Once the required cover had been obtained the hammer was rotated to the 12 0’-clock position and brought out of the ground.
StraightLine is pleased to announce that our website now features online shopping for all of our non-custom tooling and drilling supplies. We’re excited to be the first in the directional drilling industry to provide this level of service and convenience to our customers! As of now, not only can you take a detailed look at every product we offer – from mud mixing systems to transmitter housings to drive chucks – you can also purchase it on the spot, wherever and whenever it’s most convenient to you.
We’re continually working on our website so that it will serve you quickly, efficiently, and completely. This is just one of many improvements we’ve made, and we have even more in the works. We’d love to know what you think! Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions or feedback you may have.
StraightLine is proud to announce the addition of Gregg Hayes to our sales and service team. Gregg brings with him over 10 years of knowledge and experience including soil condition analysis, drilling fluid design and down hole tool selection.
The ability to combine these three elements makes Gregg a tremendous asset to his customers with whom he’s earned a solid reputation as “the guy who will do whatever it takes to get the job done.” This new position will provide hand delivered products when and where they are needed. Gregg will be based out of Florence, SC and will serve the Carolinas and portions of Georgia and Florida.
We’re proud of our custom reamers and focus on making them the best in the world. Recently the fine folks at Trenchless Technology magazine came to visit us and learn a bit about a huge order of custom reamers we built for American Augers. Check out the article on their website, or grab a copy of the just-released November, 2008 issue of Trenchless Technology.
We’re pleased to announce the launch of the new StraightLine website. We’ve redesigned this site from the (under)ground up to provide you with easy access to detailed product information, pricing, technical documentation, news, and stories from across the country about how our products are being used by crews to tackle hard jobs.
Detailed Product Pages
Our new product pages are rich and informative. Where merited, each product has a detailed description of the product and/or its uses, and a gallery of images used to spotlight that product’s features, benefits, and – in some cases – even technical specifications.
Features Up Close
When you click on any of the gallery images, a larger view of that image is presented to you, which in many cases tells you something specific about a feature and benefit of the product you’re looking at. Many pages have multiple images and different views of each product so you can get a good feel for the excellence of each of our products.
We’ve re-vamped our site’s navigation to make it as easy as possible to get around. A familiar drop-down menu system has been implemented to make it easy to get almost anywhere in our site in just a single click.
Custom Reamer Quote
We’ve also made it very easy to get in touch or get a custom reamer quote. You can tell us what kind of reamer you want any time of day or night. All you have to do is choose the style, diameter, and threaded connections you want on your reamer. We’ll then contact you with the specifics and costs associated with your new reamer – it’s that simple.
Finally, we’ve introduced the “Fear No Ground” blog, where we post news related to StraightLine (like this announcement) or news concerning the horizontal directional drilling industry in general.
We’re really excited about this new website and the opportunity to make finding information easier and more intuitive for all our customers. But we’re not stopping here. In the coming months keep looking for more new features and continual improvements to this new site!
In response to customer demand StraightLine is proud to introduce our Performix D250 mud mixer. Powered by a 25Hp Lombardini diesel the D250 will deliver the rugged reliability that the Performix Family of Mixers have become known for. The D250 is a self contained skid with a small footprint that makes it easy to configure on any truck or trailer. The Performix D250 will inhale a 50-pound bag of bentonite and deliver a clump free mix in 30-seconds. For more information visit www.straightlinehdd.com.
