Yo, great pics mike! way to start off 2009. keep the pics coming! hey, in that post about the undisclosed mine, you are holding the same type of rock drill that we use at the mine to drive rock tunnels between the coal veins. its a jack leg drill. theres a leg that attaches and a control to adjust the push from the piston so it drills for you. you basically just guide the drill straight. we are driving a rock tunnel for our airway to a vein we are going to start attacking, it takes about 22-25 holes 4 feet deep to blow a cut thats about the same size as some of these smaller hard rock mines you go in. when we start the tunnel down on the gangway, it will be much larger. about 7 feet high, by 8 feet wide.

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nice that drill was heavy i was straining just holding it waiting for marc to take the picture!


yea I guess you can say posting up all my pics is my 2009 new years mining resolution i still have about 10-15 more mines to go, HUNDREDS of pictures so its gonna take a while.......so keep your eye on theHARD ROCK PHOTOS forum!! ive been told i have a tendancy to save the BEST for last

yea they arent light, probably around a hundred pounds if i had to guess with the leg. once you get them up its not bad, someone just holds the drill steel against the rock face while you start the hole, then watch out!

looking forward to seeing the pics mike, the ones you got up so far are great!

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speaking of drills i found these on the last trip!

looks like some devices for eliminating some rock!

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I'm thinking projects.

so many projects and so little time & money.

Yeah I guess that many drills certainly makes for a good set of projects!

Miner Greg

CT Mike. . . all I can say is BAD ASS ! When I was out there in the early spring I was like I have to make another trip back out. Thanks a ton for posting all the cool threads. I am sure I will have a few questions once I study all the pics.

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Pioneering the next INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (Preservation ! ). . . Saving equipment (1) mine site at a time.

Ah the days, I sure do miss running a jackleg. It's a whole different story driving 10 x 10 drifts with one though. We'd be drilling for half the shift sometimes, my pard and I, and it was always wet, we looked like the Gorton's fisherman with lights on our heads! In order to get the back holes sometimes I'd be standing on the d-ring to keep control of the drill, and god forbid you shank a steel, that's all bad! Ah the good old days. We even have competitions with them out here, see who can drill the deepest in a certain time. Do yal do that at all out there in Anty country? Those drills in the picture with the snow, those look like "pluggers" well that's what we called them, they're used for sinking shafts. They usually don't have the leg on them and they look like regular jackhammers.

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Erik Novoa
Miner/ Railroader

we have 2 in the tunnel we are driving now. one with a single stage 6 foot leg and one with a double stage 4 foot leg. the short leg sucks for drilling the top holes cause the angle is all screwed up and you buddy has to pull the drill to the face, or you can extend the leg and move it a few times throughout the drilling. the long one sucks for the lower holes but since we have one air line in there, its just easier to suck it up and use whats hooked up and not go switching back and forth. we havent done the competitions yet though. however pretty soon we will be driving our haulage way and maybe we can have a race. i call the short leg. i bet this is normal with them all that the water feed line leaks like mad where it goes in the drill. plus we have a ball valve on it that leaks, plus the drill leaks, and when you start the bit and turn on the water you get blasted in the face, yea a crab fisherman comes to mind

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You can, as long as you do it quickly, ease off the leg and the throttle while it's still drilling and pull it up to you just don't let the drill go haywire. It just takes time and practice. Do you guys go unmuffled or do your drills have mufflers on them. We would just band a piece of tire tread to the drill to muffle the exhaust but during the winter months we'd take them off because the oil and exhaust air & water would freeze up and bog down the drill. The drills would blow ice chunks out of the exhaust ports. The company was thinking about putting plexiglas sheilds on the drills to protect our faces but we put the kybash on that idea the damn things are already heavy enough. When it came to drilling the lifters we generally went 1 guy on the drill and another standing on the crow foot so the leg didn't shoot out, they were always a pain in the ass. When the leg was holding okay the nipper would muck out the rocks around the hole so it wouldn't back up with the drill cuttings.

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Erik Novoa
Miner/ Railroader

What kind of powder are yal using to drive that heading, anfo or stick powder? Or a bit of both I'd guess.

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Erik Novoa
Miner/ Railroader

stick, coalite gelz and 8s

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Quote:

Or a bit of both I'd guess.

Quote:

stick, coalite gelz and 8s

It may be beyond the scope of this discussion, but could we get a bit more explaination.

Looks like I have another vein of data mining.

it all sounds all too familiar Erik

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