Moving from Fogarty Rd to the Lodden required less preparation as all the equipment had already been mobalized and used. New cutters were made and additional vacuum hose was obtained as this pit was the mother of all pits.
With bankrupcy by the Subcontractor imminent Leed Engineering were pressured to complete this bore.
The bore size 980mm and the lenght just under 90m. Boring began after a concrete bed and thrust wall were poured for the jacking frame. An excavator was used to lower the drill head and rods into the shaft or pit.
Work started in the begininng of Decamber 2007 and by February 2008 only 43m had been bored! The open cut excavating team had met on both sides of the Lodden creek and all that was needed was to complete the bore!
Frustrated with poor and untrustworthy leadership the last professional micro tunneller left site.
By this time the Subcontractor had gone insolvent and strapped for cash the X supervisor and two helpers with no experiance on this machine were left to opperate it.
With a promise and a handshake from the owner and X supervisor I was promised payment and asked to continue helping out with the machine repairs. Driven by enormouse hydralic pumps and poor cutting lubrication the rotation gearbox threw a bearing which as can be imagined caused other problems. In the space of a week all was repaired in our workshop and the tunnel borer ran for a shot time.
The giant vacuum unit then stopped sucking as all the filters were blocked. This made progress slow and eventually the head siezed in the bore. I was called in and with great ingernuety the head was recovered. The cutter was removed and modified to cut shale and soft sandstone in our workshop.
On returning from the Colorado School of Mines in The USA at the end of February Leed Engeneering requested that I stay on site to complete the bore. This was because the head had got wedged up the bore once again and retrieval had become an issue. When we eventually recovered it , the same confined space and integrity sage reared it's ugly head once again. Morale was at a low and only the reputed name of Leed Engineering was now at stake.
The head was modified to cut 1040mm diameter and the cutter had more pinacles fitted to it to help cut throught the sandstone. At our workshop in Melbourne I added PCD's to the outer edge to help with the abrasive sandstone. Detergents and mud additives were requested ,they were bought and a mixing plant set up.
To make sure we did not have to pull back out again the control box was modified and a very expensive camera was modified to work on the monitor system, all in our workshop in Melbourne.
After two days in which we drilled 46m futher the bore was completed on line and exactly on grade. In the photo's notice how clean the cutter is after it emerges in the recieving pit, yes detergents do work!
Microtunnelling is a science , and like many things in life if you don't have a passion for if you will always just be average. This bore taught me that passion along with the right Company can overcome almost all obsticles.
It was a pleasure to work with the GMA workshop staff, Asset manager , Leed Engineering project manager Tex in Bendigo, and rub sholders with their top Management from Adelade.
At the end there professionallism was the icing on the top of the cake.
The management at Leed Engineering were great gentlemen and hounered there finantial comitment promptly. The Liqidated Subcontractor and his side kick X made some more promises to honour there side of the expenses ,needles to say none of it came through.
This history has shown me that with the right attitude there is always a lot to be learned. Micro tunnelling is a very challanging undertaking and the talk is easy , the walk will only be mastered by a few though .
A big thank you to all those that positively supported the exersize. To those that could not and did not support and preform , thank you to , you to have taught me more than you most probably wanted to.
Lesson : Only you are a fool if you trust and work for the same rotter twice!
Be careful who you trust , even it he say's he has seen Jesus Christ!
When it comes to tunnelling : Only work for the best, they will treat you best.
Finally >>> Never ever give up!
Setting up the jacking frame and all hydralics
Final preparation before the bore begins
Cutter modification at the end of January.
Blocked air filters in vacuum separator.
Filters after they were cleaned , now ready for action.
Site situation after returnind from Colorado in February
This is a sign : Captian of this ship has no clue where he is giong!
Ironicaly , this landed him a good job . Bravo!
Main rotation gearbox rebuild in our workshop in Melbourne.
Sloppy sluggy clay that did not want to move before the use of detergants.
New camera installed before final bore.
Control box repair with camera upgrade.
Drill head arrives in the recieving pit.
Click on photo for a closer view of how the detergents kept the cutter clean using detergents.