No earthmoving job is too difficult with the range of bespoke high-quality equipment from UHI, including a custom-made piling rig.
Specialised jobs need specialised equipment. When a building contractor on Sydney’s eastern coast was faced with complex subterranean structures that required a delicate piling operation, it knew who to contact.
The call went out to UHI Machinery, an Australian company that has rapidly expanded its footprint worldwide since its inception six years ago, and now with a presence in 10 branches across the globe.
With a strong commitment to customer satisfaction, the company has served more than 8000 happy clients. Focusing on construction machines and agricultural machinery, its brand ethos of “small machines, big savings” reflects its dedication to providing top-quality products at affordable prices.
UHI Machinery Business Development Manager and Project Manager James Wang said UHI’s experience and reputation stand unrivalled, setting it apart as an industry leader.
“We take immense pride in delivering exceptional service that caters to the unique needs of our valued customers,” he said.
And unique indeed was the job at the suburb of Dover Heights.
“There was a complicated underground condition, with sand above 2.5 metres and hard rock underneath,” James said.
The builder needed a rotary drill rig that would enable it to carry out Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piling for the foundations, in which piles are drilled and concreted in one continuous operation, enabling much faster installation time than for bored piles.
The pile is formed by first drilling into the ground with the auger to the required depth. Cement-sand grout or concrete is then injected under pressure through the auger’s hollow stem as it is being withdrawn, enabling the pile to resist the full range of structural loading.
“The builder was one of our regular customers and he knew our expertise and the sort of machines we had,” James said.
“They’ve bought equipment from us in the past, such as our Xu20 2t excavator and US50K skid steer loader.
“For the CFA task, they hired a specialised rig machine – the XCMG XR80E – which came with a Cummins engine and Kawasaki hydraulic pump.
“It had Kelly bars installed, which are key components in the execution of boreholes by hydraulic rotary drilling rigs. The telescopic bars transfer torque and crowd force from the rotary drive to the drilling tool.
“Importantly, it also had CFA configuration, so the customer could use both setups in one machine. The Kelly bar drilling capacity is 24m deep and CFA drilling capacity is 13m deep.”
Another advantage was that the transport weight of the piling rig was only 30t and had a width of 2.5m, which meant it was very easy to transport from site to site.
“The compact design is suitable for a small site development, such as this project,” James said.
“The XR80E was made by XCMG, which has a worldwide ranking of No.4 in earthmoving equipment manufacture, and the product is of international Tier 1 quality.
“XCMG has been manufacturing for rotary rig drilling since 1991 and successfully delivered more than 10,000 such machines around the world, include USA, Australia and New Zealand.”
Rig operator Zacky Ghayasy from concrete sub-contractor AFG Concrete Constructions was impressed with how easy it was to use the machine.
“It’s a flowing machine. The job was very smooth. We had no issues and we were gliding through and making phenomenal progress,” he said.
“It drilled holes at a phenomenal speed with ease, and when we hooked up to it for our line pump, it just made everything smooth.”
Zacky was also delighted at the working relationship and support from the UHI team on-site, another feature of UHI that James was keen to emphasise.
“We have an after-sales service team Australia-wide,” he said.
“Getting parts is easy. UHI Machinery stocks most of the parts in a spare parts warehouse, while XCMG itself has strong support for all its products in Australia.”
In detail
The XR8OE rotary drilling rig is widely used in the hole-forming operations of cast-in-place concrete piles in the construction of roads, railways, bridges, ports and high-rise buildings.
It is specially designed to drill the piling holes with big diameters and into hard layers, fitting for layer conditions in most areas.
The XR130E uses a dedicated TDP series hydraulic retractable chassis and large- diameter slewing bearing, which ensures high stability and convenience of transport. It has a long wheel base which makes it very adaptable to the terrain.
Transportation of the machine includes a drilling bar. Transportation width is only 2.5m and transportation height is only 3.5m. The light transport weight makes the unit easier to load and unload.
The rotary drive, main winch and auxiliary winch have high output speed, which develops the efficiency of work.
The Cummins turbocharged engine with electro-control provides strong power and meets the requirements of EU3 emission standard.
CAN electronic control technology is used, simplifying the hydraulic plumbing system and improving the reliability of the machine.
A variety of drilling bar specifications and configurations are available to meet the needs of different working conditions.
Crowd cylinder is standard configuration and multifunctional configuration is optional (such as crowd winch, CFA, rotary spray, etc).
