DH350 proves to be a tremendous success in China

The new Sandvik DH350 is a diesel powered, crawler mounted, self-contained down-the-hole drilling rig, that has been designed for drilling with 3", 4" and 5" hammers in the 89 – 152 mm (3 ½ - 6") hole range. Featuring a rigid fixed boom and feed design, combined with efficient state of the art hydraulics for boom positioning, feed, rotation, tramming, and track oscillation, the DH350 provides customers with an exceptionally accurate and productive rig. Furthermore operational productivity, hole accuracy and drilling smoothness, are further enhanced by a heavy duty rotary head that supplies a very high torque of 2530 Nm. Fuel costs are also minimized with two separate power sources, with the rig featuring an optimized, on board, 43 kW diesel engine for drilling and ancillary operations; while an external compressor provides compressed air for the hammer and hole flushing, being powered by an independent engine.

What is truly exciting about the DH350 is that it is the very first machine to have been developed and manufactured at Sandvik's Jiading R&D center in China. Thus, it is particularly apt that the first customer for this new piece of equipment is also a Chinese company – the Fujian Saibang Leasing Co. As a contractor operating in the construction industry, the Fujian Saibang Leasing Co required a drill rig that could be used in many different applications and projects, and despite being highly flexible, still provide impressive production performance married to low fuel usage. Hence following consultations with Sandvik China, and drawing on experience of their existing DX700 drill rig, they chose the new DH350.

Amongst the many features that have proved to be so attractive to the Fujian Saibang Leasing Co, the compact design, powerful tramming motors and oscillating tracks, which enable the DH350 to possess high grade-ability, and an impressive rough terrain mobility, have proved to be particularly beneficial to the company. In fact, these impressive attributes have allowed them to use the DH350 in diverse applications in order to provide larger hole excavation, in differing rock formations, thereby facilitating the drilling of holes ranging from 89mm-140mm. This has seen the DH350 be put to work on a variety of projects ranging from smaller real estate projects, to larger long term developments such as tunnel excavation and power station projects.

The compact nature of the DH350, with its smaller dimensions, together with its designed operational flexibility, allows it to be used to drill blasting holes in narrow tunnels for vertical excavation. Additionally, on real estate projects, the DH350 has proved to be ideal for basement blasting that is required in reconstruction work. Thus with its compact size the DH350 is able to be used on sites with dead corners; this has traditionally been a problem for many larger TH drill rigs, but the size of the DH350 enables its effective use. Another key attribute of the rig is that due to it being equipped with a primary cyclone, the DH350's dust collector minimizes the amount of dust produced while drilling, thereby lengthening the engine life time and providing the operator with a clear view of the drilling spot for more accurate drilling.

Compact, flexible, low on fuel costs and highly productive, the DH350 has proved to be a boon to the Fujian Saibang Leasing Company. Furthermore the DH350 is the perfect testimony to the expertise and insight of Sandvik's Jiadang R&D center, with its compact design and efficient operating configuration proving to be ideal for drilling contractors in a variety of applications.

For further information, please contact:

Satu Rämö
Manager Marketing Communications
Sandvik Construction
Mobile: +358 40 537 4020
Office Phone: +358 205 44 161
Fax: +358 205 44 160
E-mail: satu.ramo@sandvik.com