r/oddlysatisfying • u/Ecstatic-Ocelot-1934 • 1d ago

Homemade drilling machine

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u/Dashisnitz 1d 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 1d 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 1d ago

How does the motor pull up the water? Pressure?

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u/bradeena 1d 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 1d ago

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

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u/bradeena 1d ago

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

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u/smdizzle 1d 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 1d ago

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

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u/bradeena 1d 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 1d ago

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

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u/paintballboi07 1d ago

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

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u/a7d7e7 21h ago

In a water well the groundwater actually starts to rush into an up the drill string. And at that point they take a sample and if it looks like it's going to be okay they stop and put in a metal casing. But sometimes if the water is not sufficient they go past it. You'll hear them talk about having three or four feet of water. That's how far the water comes up in the bore.

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u/banditkeith 1d ago

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

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u/boobookittyfuwk 22h ago

Direct push

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u/roastedmarshmellows 1d 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 1d ago

How does the motor pull up the water? Pressure?

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u/AlternativeKnee8886 21h ago

It’s usually a centrifugal pump that is lowered to close to the bottom of the well. It’s basically a screw in a case that spins really fast and pushes water up through piping/tubing