As the decade of the 1990’s began, a handful of companies led the advancement of a new trenchless construction method known as horizontal directional drilling. One of the early pioneers, StraightLine Manufacturing (later to become StraightLine HDD), launched the first of a series of innovative steerable boring machines in 1989. The market was quick to recognize … Continued
Allen Rakers, long-time owner/operator of Lil Rock Electrical Contractors, knew about Source: HDD through his brother. “But I’ve never had the need to buy anything,” recounts Rakers. That changed recently as Rakers’ company was awarded a substantial contract in Pensacola, Florida. Like many contractors, the Carlyle, Illinois-based company had a well-entrenched custom of relying … Continued
StraightLine HDD, Inc. recently expanded its hole opener offering with the introduction of the XL-I Series. Designed from the ground up for the horizontal directional drilling market, the XL-I Series is positioned as a cost-effective alternative to “split-bit” hole openers. “With the XT-I Series, every element is optimized to give the user a powerful new … Continued
Two members of the custom fabrication team in action. This custom reamer request falls under the “if you can dream it, we can build it” category. In this case, a customer contacted the custom team with a specific request. Along with a standard set 20-, 28- and 38-inch Maxi Barrel reamers, the customer specified a … Continued
In the world of HDD, a “routine” bore is a rarity. In such cases, tapping a team of tooling professionals can be an invaluable asset. Custom reamer solution during fabrication. This was the case when a Colorado contractor recently contacted the StraightLine HDD custom solutions team. Taking the call at 6:45 p.m., the team spent … Continued
The business of horizontal directional drilling is inherently risky. When the job involves installing large-scale utilities, risk scales up quickly. That’s why so many contractors rely on StraightLine HDD. See more stories about StraightLine reamer solutions. This custom reamer solution was built for a contractor who required aggressive push/pull capability to execute a series of three … Continued
The year was 1990, StraightLine Manufacturing (later to become StraightLine HDD) was just a year removed from launching its DirectLine steerable boring machine. Demand for the game-changing machine was intense. In the frenzy to meet growing demand and to advance the technology, StraightLine engineers began to realize rig technology was outpacing down-hole tooling. The deficiency … Continued
When operating in a state where the official moniker is, “The Granite State,” it’s safe to assume that most jobs will have a heavy dose of rock—really hard rock. For Chichester, New Hampshire-based DBU Construction, moving from sand, to clay, cobble and then to 30,000 psi granite—all in a single shot—is a typical “day … Continued
When it comes to drilling holes in the ground, unpredictability is the norm. That’s why StraightLine maintains a team of professionals dedicated to building custom solutions for the toughest HDD challenges. The team was recently put to the test with a rush order for a large diameter tool on a very short (i.e. “I need … Continued
Editors Note: This story will appear in the January/February issue of Canadian Underground Infrastructure magazine. Tapping Partners’ Expertise Critical To Success By Joe Phillips, StraightLineHDD, Marc St.-Onge, HDDPlus, Inc. and Tyler Gordon, Marathon Drilling Company, Ltd. As the old saying goes, “two heads are better than one.” Nowhere is this truer than in the world of … Continued
