Brisbane > Ipswitch Highway.

Another bore for SEQUID , in Brisbane on the Ipswitch Highway . Larger vacuum tunnelling machine used here , 520mm diameter bore. Mixed ground conditions with floaters (river bed rocks) along with a tight time shedule made this a challenging exercise. Special cutter were prepared for the soil conditions. Here steel sleeve was pushed along as we bored.

Special cutter made for clay bore , notice the outside teeth can collapse to allow the cutter and head to be withdrawn from the steel sleeve should things go wrong.


Steel sleeve being lowered into position on jacking frame.


Boring underway.

Microtunnelling Project in Port Melbourne

Back-filled with anything possible many years ago , not to mention the old pier rafters still in place this microtunnelling job had it's challenges. This was also a free bore with the sewer pipe being pulled in after the bores were drilled. Average length of the bores was 46m. Pipe diameter 300mm. All 256m of tunneling was completed in record time for MIRVAC. Photos show ground conditions.
All bores were for sewer and were spot on for line and grade.

Brisbane ,Queensland > Bogga Bus Terminal.

This boring job was arranged by Jos Taylor from South East Queensland Under Road Drillers. All our boring equipment was trucked up from Melbourne. The bore had to pass a few critical points ,storm water pipes , power supply cable, and main gas supply to the Princess Alexandra Hospital. As can be seen from the photo's the bore had a blind ending into a live sewer manhole, in the middle of the busy intersection, where the blue car is waiting at the lights. This is to be a gravity fed sewer line into the centre of a very busy road, only 1 shot! Careful calculations were made and boring began. Ground conditions were a lot more harder than expected but the team met the challenge and 58m were microtunnelled on line and grade ending spot-on the manhole.


Bogga bus terminal construction site ,the starting point of our bore.


Enlarge the photo ,and notice where the blue car is parked at the lights , well just in front of it is a manhole , that point marks X.


Tim Fawkner at his post during the 58m bore.


Launching pit prepared and ready to go.
Click on pictures to enlarge.

Oatley > Sydney > Contracted in.

Here two vacuum Micro tunnelling attempts were made. The first was with a smaller machine boring a 305mm bore for just under 100m. A rock roller was used on the initial bore. Then when the drill head came out in the receiving pit a pull-back reamer was fitted with PCD cutters. This was then pulled back reaming the bore out to 520mm. This exercise was slow and wear and tear on the machine made this attempt uneconomical.
The second attempt was another bore in sandstone , but this time 600mm in diameter. Week's of preparation was put into the exercise with attention being given to the drill head , PCD cutters ,power pack and not to mention a complete set of new drill rods ,100m of them. The larger cutting surface and the sandstone where every exacting and the boring machine proved no match for the task. As can be seen in one of the pictures the drive-shaft actually began to twist because of the high rotational torque required. Due to the time shedule required by the contractor and with respect for his project it became apparent that we would not finish this bore on time. Humbly we ceded to machine and mother earth and went home. We were reminded by this Chinese proverb “Better go home and make a net, rather than dive for fish at random.”
Poorer in the pocket. Richer in experience.




Drill head without cover as it enters the sandstone face.

Boring shaft with machine set-up to go.

Inside view of drill head.

Ariel view of set-up.

Twisted drive shaft on rotation motor.

View of PCD cutters after boring 300mm in sandstone.

Bored sandstone face with band of ironstone in top right of photo (rusty brown).

Fogarty Gap > Leed Engineering > Contracted in

Road and creek crossing on the Bendigo - Ballarat water main pipe line. Contracted in to care for all equipment mechanical and electronic by the Sub-contractor. Ground conditions good , bore size 960mm , length of bore 76m. Preparation included skinning-up drill head , building a cutter , installing a camera and all electrical and hydraulic control systems.
As can be seen in the photo's a large benched pit was excavated and a concrete base poured to stabilize the jacking frame. Boring began at a steady pace and then break-down! In every sense of the word. No management by the Sub-contractor and the inability to be honest with staff and the client led to tense working conditions for all involved. Experienced personnel left and the bore progressed slowly with a number of unusual and unexplainable breakdowns.
Leed Engineering the principal contractor was very patient. Then the control box failed , requiring major repairs. Next the skin welded to the drill head came unattached, creating a serious confined space issue. Again the Sub-contractors management failed tests of integrity and when the dust settled one micro tunneller and myself were left to complete the bore.
The photo's give an idea of the size bore that can be successfully vacuum micro tunnelled.
Some may ponder the candid reflection I give to this bore and all the challenges associated with it. My response is simple. I have been allowed to learned from others mistakes . You are more than welcome to learn from mine!
The lesson : Never stay on a ship that is captained by inexperience and no integrity. Failing to board a life raft immediately will only leave you painting a sinking ship and see your name and reputation lost....


Unexplained control box failure!


Drill head after bore completed.




Drill head preparation ,notice the bands.


Benched pit housing 9m long jacking frame and rotation motors.


The completed bore 1025mm diameter.

Lodden > Leed Engineering > Contracted in.

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.

Bore in Cockatoo across creek to live sewer manhole

David and Tim Fawkner in full action. Notice the water level in the bore pit! Water from the creek began leaking into the bore and started to flood the thrust pit. This was a free bore ,that is no sleeve was inserted as we bored.The biggest obsticale was the tree roots that we encountered as we went through the creek. There also was no recieving pit on the other end. The bore ending in a live sewer manhole, on grade and in line. All Good.