OT - bore hole drilling by hand

Bradley,

I remember there was one here in Townsville years ago that used two different size drills. The first one was about 50mm and the second about 140mm. Both were powered by a small electric motor ex washing machine. Each bit of shaft was about two metres in length and were attached one at a time whilst holding the ones down the hole with a clamp system. The small drill went down first to about 10 metres and withdrawn and then the large one was sent down.

The whole thing used water as a jet through the three quarter pipe extensions to clear the hole and assist with the drilling. The weight of the motor, frame etc was suifficient to force the drill down.
Great invention and worked well. I used it on two occassions with great success.
Bore was drilled after around six to ten stubbies.

Wish I knew where it was now as I could do with a bore at our new residence.

Pooley
www.bycompass.com

Brad, many years ago (well, about 20) I needed 4 anchors for the guyropes of a radio mast I planned to put up in my back yard. To do this I made a post hole borer out of rolled mild steel, and a welded in part bottom which had sharpened stainless blades for cutters. 2 horizontal blades were on the bottom and 4 vertical ones on the borer rim. It had a diameter equalling 20 litre oil cans, about 300mm diameter I think it was. This I turned with a bar made of 1" steel water pipe & tee piece, the shafts also were the same pipe with couplings to extend. This contraption managed to cut through smallish roots.
Each bore hole was lined with 3 of the steel cans which had their bottoms & tops knocked out and then a star picket was concreted into this.

Anyway, the boring progressed quite nicely in the sandy soil here but I doubt my manual efforts would have worked in rocky soil. With holes deeper than the 4' ones I drilled it may get progressively more difficult to lift the loose dirt out. The borer I made held about a shovel full in the bottom and had to be lifted clear of the hole every two turns or so.

Good luck with your drilling.

Klaus

Hi Bradley,
Have u thought of an excavator with an auger attachment you can hire small ones that can be towed behind the 4by........ or bobcat with auger. Maybe a dingo?
7metres using a 300mm auger would take a little while. but could be done with patience....

Hi Bradley,
One of my worst memories is my wife and I trying to dig a bore in the middle of summer with a manual drop sludge remover. We got down 40 feet, took three weeks and found silt clogging up the hole. You can hire the equipment from most hire places. What we used was a tripod with a series of pulleys to raise and lower the tube which has a large ball bearing in it to seal when you pull it up.
Good luck!
Steve

Hi Bradley

Tough old blokes(or maybe tough younger blokes) used to move around the outback drilling for water by hand is years gone by.

They used an auger not dissimilar to a post hole digger and could get down a fair way. Bloody hard work though. They wouid carry enough rods with them as each one screwed on to the other. I think that 100feet in depth was not uncommon.

Go to your local newsagency and see if they stock Grassroots Magazine(Australian). Sometimes you may see classified ads for these types of tools.

Google is also your friend. try this www.doreng.com.au/

Cheers

You might talk to a local soil testing company. The ones who test soil for design of footings for buildings. When I had some work done they had an extendable hand auger that took a core sample about 50mm across. They went down about 8 feet. Not sure if the same item can be extended to go down 20 foot, of it the hole would be big enough to case, but a couple of phone calls would reveal if this is worth pursuing.

I drilled a bore in Townsville many years ago. used a post hole borerer and pipie extensions. Went to a depth of 11 m. I dug it beside the steps of a high set house so that someone could stand on the top landing and guide the extension pieces as I pulled it up from the hole. Lined it with rigid plastic pipe with diagonal slots cut into it for the bottom couple of meters. Worked well and pumped water for several years.

Have a look at this site...

www.fdungan.com/well.htm

Not sure how practical it is; but may be worth trying if cost is a major consideration.

Bradley.
Make a drill from a coil spring, by welding a plate with a pipe socket on one end of the spring and then sharpening the other end of the spring. use lengths of pipe with a "T"as the driver, the spring will hold the dirt so you can get it out of the hole. use stainless wire to weld the spring. Eric

Willem talking about the extended post hole digger is pretty right. I have worked on a bore or three in my life and they used to go down 40 feet or so. Now with 400 that is a joke.

You would need a bailer too to drop down the hole with a cutter at the bottom and a ball to hold in the sludge. If you have a reasonable source of water near by you can use a spear point to open up the hole. Just a water jet at pressure washes the dirt out of the way and up out of the hole. Have used them to put in post holes even drilling through gravel tracks.

Remeber that if you go talking to drillers that have been pretty well regulated these days and insprectors are on the watch to see where they may be working.

cheers guys, its fairly sandy based soil in the area so i'll try to make up a post hole digger with attachments, and see how it goes. unfortunatly its about 4 1/2 hours drive from home so i wont be towing a dingo or similar :-((..

Thanks again for the ideas.

cheers Brad.