Auger drives designed especially for drilling

Pioneers in pendulum drilling

Designing, manufacturing and testing auger drive units for over 30 years has given us real insight into the requirements and rigors of drilling. Armed with this information we’ve worked to innovate and improve components based on industry demand and feedback.

All our drive units and gearboxes are designed and made in-house as compared to some manufacturers within the industry, who use off the shelf components from various suppliers and design a unit around these components. All our components including hydraulic motors have been especially designed for our auger drive and for the drilling application.   

Below are a couple of innovations which feature in our PD gear boxes.

Integrated input housing

Instead of using off the shelf motors and adding fittings to join the gearset to the motor we’ve teamed up with Eaton and designed a motor which merges the motor with the input housing, allowing direct connection to the gearset, hereby eliminating the need for several gearbox components. This significantly reduces the weight and overall length of the drives and reduced the risks of leakage and increased maintenance costs. Others may tell you that their drives have been “over engineered” to explain the size of their drives. Now you know why!

Integrated pressure relief valve

In our 6K range of drives we’ve integrated the pressure relief valve into the motor.  This avoids the need to bolt a bulky valve block and unnecessary hydraulic fittings to the motor or hood. While this reduces the size of the assembly, the main benefit is reducing the number of possible leak points on the motor. The below image clearly illustrates the difference between an integrated motor and off the shelf motor setup.  

Integrated Digga Motor

Off the shelf Motor with multiple fittings and valves

Ideal location for hydraulic port

Designing a dedicated drilling motor has allowed Digga to locate the hydraulic motor port in the ideal location. Instead of placing the hydraulic hoses and fittings at a 90º angle to the motor resulting in hoses which protrude excessively from the drive unit, we have designed a location and angle that is ideal for drilling, transport or storage, allowing the drive to go down the hole during the drilling operation. 

Digga Drive with hydraulic port at an ideal angle for drilling 

Hydraulic hoses at a 90º angle to the motor