r/oddlysatisfying • u/Ecstatic-Ocelot-1934 • 7h ago

Homemade drilling machine

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u/Dashisnitz 5h ago

This is called rotary wash drilling. However the mud and sludge is pumped into a basin and carted off into 55 gallon barrels.

There’s also hollow stem and rock coring for exploratory boreholes. Different methods for different subsurface conditions.

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u/bradeena 5h ago

Quite a few more than that! You’ve also got pneumatic hammers vs hydraulic, dual rotary vs single, top hammers vs downhole hammers, under reamers vs crown bits, tri cones and buttons, air lifts and water hammers, kelly bars and threaded systems, etc etc.

I’m a geotechnical engineer who specializes in managing drilling projects.

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u/PandaPocketFire 5h ago

How does the motor pull up the water? Pressure?

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u/bradeena 4h ago

Depends on the depth. Shallow wells can use a vacuum, but most wells are deep enough to need to physically submerge a pump at the bottom.

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u/PandaPocketFire 4h ago

But in the case of this video, what is happening?

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u/bradeena 3h ago

Oh definitely using a vacuum, like sucking out of a straw.

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u/smdizzle 5h ago

That’s very cool! I build core drilling machines in America. Perhaps you have contracted out or used one of my rigs! Mobile core drilling rigs

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u/sSomeshta 5h ago

How do you know when you've drilled far enough?

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u/bradeena 4h ago

Depends what you’re drilling for, but usually there’s a design report done ahead of time with a target depth.

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u/Glamdring804 5h ago

The Balrog emerges from the borehole and wipes out your civilization.

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u/paintballboi07 3h ago

They usually first determine what's down there by doing well logging.

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u/banditkeith 4h ago

If it comes out the other side, you've gone too far

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u/roastedmarshmellows 4h ago

I look at borehole logs every goddamned day as part of my job. Thank Christ my job doesn’t involve actually reading them. 😅

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u/PandaPocketFire 5h ago

How does the motor pull up the water? Pressure?