March 2016, Vol. 71, No. 3
New Products
Ramming Tool Extraction Cradles Simplify Key Aspects Of HDD Projects
HammerHead Trenchless Equipment’s wide assortment of ready-made ramming tool extraction cradles are now able to be locked inside. The extraction cradles enable horizontal direction drilling (HDD) contractors to position ramming tools 180-degrees to extract jammed pipe or tooling, assist in product pullback, and remove washover casing at the conclusion of the HDD project.
Additionally, extraction cradles provide pipeline installers the most operative means to slick bore and install cathodic protection (CP) pipe.
In contrast to fabricated offset mounts, which lose significant ramming energy laterally, an extraction cradle is mounted in line with the pipe or tooling. This alignment transfers impact force from the ramming tool to the pipe or HDD tooling with supreme efficiency. Compared to other mounting methods, the use of an extraction cradle allows more work to be completed while eliminating time and labor of fabricating a mounting system.
According to Alan Goodman, global sales manager for HammerHead Trenchless Equipment, the ready-made extraction cradles are reusable and versatile, and a single cradle can also accommodate a range of pipe and hammer sizes.
“This means the same cradles can be used with our 26-, 24- or 20-inch hammers,” said Goodman.
Slick boring pipeline
One of the significant uses of the extraction cradle is in slick boring. In this trenchless pipe installation method, the contractor drives a sacrificial, mock standard casing into the ground via a conventional pipe ramming technique, and then removes the ramming tool for placement in the extraction cradle, which would be mounted at the other end of the pipe.
The contractor then welds the new coated-lined pipe to the sacrificial casing that was initially rammed into place. As the hammer locked inside the cradle extracts the mock casing from the ground, the mock casing pulls the coated-lined pipe into place.
A contractor can be assured of job completion by having an extraction cradle and hammer readily available during challenging HDD operations.
“Since there is little fabrication or welding needed, the contractor begins efforts to save the bore, pipe, or tool string as quickly as possible,” Goodman said.
In such cases, minutes make all the difference, according to Goodman. When a contractor is presented with these situations, the chances of saving the bore hold and freeing pipe or tooling decrease the longer they remain in the ground. If the contractor does not have an extraction cradle and hammer on standby, HammerHead Trenchless Equipment will immediately rush both to the jobsite upon receiving a call for help. The company can also send a technician to assist onsite.
At the end of an HDD job, after a contractor has driven washover casing in an effort to reach more favorable drilling conditions, isolate drilling operations from the formation, protect circulation, and ensure maximum recovery of fluids, pipe ramming tools mounted in extraction cradles are an effective means of extracting the washover casings.
The HammerHead Trenchless Equipment extraction cradles come in a variety of sizes and are available directly from the company or from authorized dealers, worldwide. 800-331-6653, www.hammerheadtrenchless.com.
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