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Cable Tool
The Cable Tool is a smaller, more compact percussion rig that is used for properties that have limited space. This drilling process is slower but has the same end result.  A twenty-foot piece of casing is lifted up to the stem. The stem is a solid piece of steel with a carbide bit on the end of it. The bar (stem) weighs 1,987 pounds.The stem is then lowered inside the 20-foot piece of steel casing. A hardened shoe is welded at the bottom of the steel casing. There is a set of blocks that bolt on the top of the stem; this is for pounding the casing into the ground. The blocks are then taken off the stem; some ground came into the casing. This ground is called a plug. The stem is then lowered until it hits the plug. The stem is controlled by a walking arm that brings the stem up 24 inches then drops the stem. This motion pulverizes the ground, the stem is then removed from the casing and a bailer is lowered into the casing. The bailer is a hollow piece of pipe with a steel ball at the bottom. When the bailer is raised and lowered off the bottom of the pulverized ground, it pulls the cuttings and pulverized ground into it. It is then emptied and the stem goes back down until all the material is removed from the casing and then the procedure is then repeated. |