Speed is the key to completing a large core drilling project.
keeping
the core drill bit sharp and cutting at top efficiency is an enormous responsibility of any core drill operator who has the goal of cutting as many holes in a workday as possible when the opportunity presents itself. One of the things about core drilling holes in concrete for a living is that usually, you are not on any 1 job site for very long. A well-outfitted core drilling truck and crew can accomplish miracles for contractors in getting work done quickly if there are 40 holes to be done or less. So when the chance comes along to act like regular workers, by which I mean to the work at the same place, use the same tools and park in the same spot for more than a week then it is a special time indeed. I like to test our mettle and see at what extremes we can get a job, no matter the size, completed. So when a core drilling job came over the wire with over 500 two-inch holes in a concrete floor to be done. I had to jump on it.
Time spent between holes is cruicial
the average time to core drill a 2-inch hole into a reinforced concrete floor can vary depending on the material that is being core drilled, of course, the depth, mounting, and other considerations while putting holes in a concrete floor. Our average time on this job was 97 seconds between the start of one core drill hole and the next. That of course 2 core drilling machines running at top speed and moving as fast as one can while safely performing the work. But alas we only kept up this pace for a short period as there were other considerations such as limited power and water supply. Can every core drilling company core drill this fast. Most likely if they wanted to, they could. well maybe, or maybe not. But we can. But in truth that is showing off. Something we like to call job site performance.
Every job site is different in construction. One of many things we need to operate the machines is water. Water cools the core drill bit and produces slurry, which is a byproduct of the core drilling process. Sometimes there is water on the site, while more often than not water can not be found for more than 500 yards away from where we need it. This was the case on this job so to solve the problem we bought a 275-gallon water tank (fig-b) from a local water tank dealer ( yes, there is such a thing. thank goodness he lives nearby), that had the unique feature of being able to be forklifted to and fro to where it was needed on the job site to provide water for the core drilling. Adding a three-quarter house power water pump and two 100 foot lengths of water hoses and we had water for both machines to operate.
Extracting anchors byway of core drilling
So why was this work being done? Why core drill over 500 holes into a concrete floor. To extract half-inch by 5-inch long concrete sleeve anchors that had used to hold an older style packaging rack system in place for a shipping company near Kannapolis, NC. The racks were being replaced with a new robotic automatic racking system that would speed up the production of getting products out to the trucks that are delivering products to the stores and our happy homes. After the holes were drilled each day we refilled them with anchoring cement like we use to mud-in handrails on our railing projects. Essentially we were taking out the bolts and filling the hole back in. Speaking of being in the Army. Just one of the many ways core drilling is used to accomplish objectives in this world that you might not have thought of. So is the life of a core drill operator.