The Easer, a new mobile rig from Atlas Copco, is specifically designed to drill opening holes in mines.
December, 2014 – COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – Atlas Copco has announced the launch of a new mobile rig for boring “opening holes”—raiseboring, boxhole boring and downreaming. Named “Easer,” the rig can boxhole bore and downream to 29 inches in diameter, as well as perform conventional raiseboring to 47 inches in diameter.
The Easer provides a more efficient and faster way to drill up to 200 feet in length using standard 8-inch boring rods with a 9-inch pilot drill bit.
All necessary operating equipment is part of the carrier, with the exception of the rods. The setup procedure does not require any site preparation.
The Easer offers the same drilling modes as traditional raiseboring rigs: boxhole boring, downreaming and conventional raiseboring. To switch from boxhole boring to downreaming, the gearbox is rotated 180 degrees—a simple operation that can be carried out in an underground workshop.
Introduced in the mid-1960s, raiseboring technique has been a safe, productive raise excavation technique for underground mining. In block caving and most sublevel mining techniques, engineers create a number of short raises that allow rock to expand toward them during a blast.