New Link-Belt crawler doubles Anderson Drilling's production

FULLERTON, Calif. (May 2002) — Lakeside, Calif.-based Anderson Drilling, equipped with a new Link-Belt LS-308H II, recently completed the drilling of 172 holes around the perimeter of a new luxury apartment complex and parking garage in Fullerton, Calif. Anderson relied on its recently acquired crane and a Watson model 5000 drill rig to meet the project's stringent timeline.

"Our new Link-Belt LS-308H II, with its 90-ft. of boom and drill rig, can just about double the production of our truck mounted drill rigs. It allows our crew to use very long drilling tools (auger flights) to increase production substantially. With the drill we are getting a torque capacity of about 120,000 ft-lbs. That is plenty of power for what we need," says Mike St. Germain, Anderson Drilling regional manager. The difference between the crane mounted drill rig, and the production Anderson anticipated to double their production with the new LS-308H II versus a conventional truck-mounted drill rig. "Anderson Drilling buys only top of the line equipment because of the demands we put on it. We also modify it in our own manufacturing facilities to meet our exacting standards.”

There was very little the general contractor could do until the drilling contractor completed its work, and the job was already several weeks behind schedule due to material arrival delay. At a pre-job conference, St. Germain committed his company to helping Morgan's project manager aggressively bring the job back into line with its overall deadline.

This was no small task for Anderson who first moved its equipment on the building site on a Thursday afternoon having pledged to have the job completed and be off the site by the following Tuesday.

Anderson Drilling is a drilled shaft contractor, specializing in the construction of both very large drilled shafts and large scope, cast-in-drilled-hole (CIDH) concrete pile installations. They contract work on very difficult or complex drilling sites. Their crews work when there are extreme regulatory or environmental concerns and unusual design installations.

"If you had to pick one specialty out of all the projects that we do, it probably would be drilling very large diameter drill shafts. We have the capability of drilling a 20 to 25-ft. diameter hole, 150-ft. deep. We do this with a mobile, rubber-tired drill rig," explains St. Germain.

"On this job we are installing what is referred to as cantilevered shoring piles to support the earth when the general contractor excavates the area and builds a subterranean garage and apartment complex. We have more than 170, 24 and 30-inch diameter shoring shafts to drill on eight-foot vertical centers. Then we must place the steel beams in these shafts for the lagging supports.

“These then must be imbedded in about 4 cubic yards of lightweight concrete. The holes are spaced on eight-foot centers around the perimeter of the project, which is approximately the size of one city block in downtown Fullerton. Anderson Drilling has contracted for the entire shoring project," continued St. Germain.

For the Fullerton project, Anderson is drilling in a sandy clay material with a small amount of gravel. It is ideal for the utilization of the long auger flights on a crane-mounted drill. From a production standpoint, this type of soil presents the best working conditions.

With the Link-Belt LS-308H II, Anderson is able to cast this material aside anywhere up to 180° from the hole being drilled. A front-end loader with a blade box on the rear then spreads the material out smoothly and incorporates it into the job site.

In a separate operation, a hydraulic service crane picks and places the heavy steel beams in the drilled shafts while the Link-Belt crane continues drilling. Finally, Anderson’s crew adds the correct amount of concrete in each hole. There is no wasted motion; each operation sequentially follows the one before it.

One of the major benefits of using the crane mounted drill rig is that, unlike a smaller, rubber-tired drill, it allows Anderson to cast the material a long distance away from the hole. This makes access by the service crane and concrete trucks easier and faster. On a time critical job like this, every minute counts.

The opportunity to sell this project hinged on the fact that Anderson is able to meet Morgan's production requests and requirements. Anderson relies on their new Link-Belt crane and its crew to help with that. Anderson Drilling was not the low bidder for the job. But, in a series of prebid conferences with Morgan, we were able to assure them that we could do what they wanted done, when they wanted it done.

The LS-308H II Link-Belt crane saved our lunch on the project. I'm not sure that the other bidders could do that," concluded St. Germain.