What are the Benefits of Using Crane Borers?

13 December 2019

Crane borers carry out the jobs that no other excavator type can perform. If there’s deep foundation work to be done, contractors call in a crane borer. For tree planting and any deep root horticultural services, it’s exactly the same choice. It’s a no-brainer. Lampost holes, high-security fence supports, or even geological sample work, the choice is clear. With boring cranes on hire, a perfectly sized ground cavity is certain.

Applying a Deep Vertical Drilling Stroke

That’s the key difference, the fact that this large mobile tool doesn’t actually scoop or dig the soil. It’s not a true excavator at all. Instead, boring cranes are active tools, although their working parts occupy a whole other scale. Large as a man, perhaps even as tall as a single-level structure, the boring shaft rotates so it can carve out a narrow-diameter ground opening. The first benefit is clear, then. With a boring tool attached to a crane, the smallest possible soil openings can be accomplished in no time at all. In a tight area, a worksite that requires deep foundation work, this deep-reaching tool can execute its duties without disturbing its surroundings.

Surgically Precise Pole Installing

A whole new range of digitally controlled equipment is now flooding the market. These excavators use laser-like positional instruments and joystick controls to ensure a perfectly sized and oriented hole. The operator sits on a comfortable seat behind the foldable boring boom, unpacks the system and lowers the vehicle outriggers. Then the boring rod and its helical discs are incrementally positioned until the perfect boring line is found. It all seems a bit too much, this amount of excavating precision. Do crane borers really need to be that precise? Yes, they absolutely do, especially when creating a narrow hole for a tall, unwieldy structural element. Trees can’t be blown down by a strong wind; security fences can’t lean over and collapse after a few weeks, nor can a lamppost collapse and end up in the middle of a busy road. Beneficially, narrow opening boring prevents such nasty toppling hazards.

Being of great benefit, crane borers provide circumference-precise holes. If a tall, wholly cumbersome post is then dropped into this properly sized opening, there’s no need for scoops of backfill or liquid concrete to stabilize the structure, although some amount of backfill is obviously advised. Incidentally, helical piling is another popular contractor service. Used to support temporary structures or to repair defective structural foundations, these special support elements function a little like a crane boring tool, except they’re classed as individual support components. Crane borers create narrow voids for these components to occupy. Finally, perhaps for a surveying professional, it’s nice to be able to grab a narrow but deep soil sample without causing any ground disturbance whatsoever.