Sandvik unveils first Chinese designed drill

Sandvik Construction has launched a new down the hole (DTH) crawler drill, at Bauma China the DH350. It is the first rig the company has designed and built at its Chinese production facility near Shanghai, and it is intended purely for the Chinese market.

Pekka Nieminen, president of Sandvik’s surface drilling and tunnelling products said, “We supported the development from Tampere (Finland), but the drill was engineered in Shanghai.”

The DD350 is designed for 3 inch – 5 inch (89 to 152 mm) hammers, and has a low operating weight of 7.3 tonnes without any optional extra equipment. Part of the weight saving has been achieved by not including an on-board compressor on the machine. “If the terrain is difficult it’s easier to bring a small drill rig onto site,” said Mr Nieminen.

He added that the machine had simple hydraulic and electrical controls, with “No fancy electronics,” to make it easy to maintain and service

Commenting on the state of the Chinese market, Sandvik Construction president, Thomas Schulz said, “The market this year and last year has been a bit lower, but we have quite a positive outlook for the next year.”