Hand drill bolting

[Captain panther]

About how long does it take to put in a bolt with a hammer and hand drill?

[billcoe]

About how long does it take to put in a bolt with a hammer and hand drill?

Depends on the rock, the size of the bit and the drill.

 

John Middendorf thinks he owns the record for fastest time to drill the hole AND place a 1/4 x 1 Rawl stud into granite (El Cap). 47 seconds I think he said. Nothing short of amazing. The drill bits were a different type back then and a tad faster than todays common cobalt tipped ones. If you are interested, the hammers used for that speed record are just coming back into a single run production of slightly more than 250 hammers and will be available again for a short time. Look on Supertopo for the D5 hammer.

 

15-20 min for a 3/8" diameter x 2-1/2 long into Granite or Basalt would be reasonable. Less for sandstone, and limestone. Those rocks are all over the map on hardness, so you'd have to ask someone who has actually drilled into it to tell you. Conglomerates are way different as well. Beacon Rock seems harder than some of other basalts and andesites too. I'm not saying that to start another Columbia River forum argument but to point out that about all locations have the potential to vary. In fact, a single location can have radically different harness's. Go climb Young and the Worthless at Smith and when you top out, after having to had kicked steps in to the soft rock that overlays what is a magnificent hard red band below you'll see what that's about. Closer to home if you walk the base of both farside and Ozone, those little mini basalt flows both break down on the East end and the hardness of the rock is less than on the west end. You'd have to ask a person drilling into whatever rock you are thinking to get a better response.

 

Some info comes out on this thread by various folks: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1298944&tn=0&mr=0

 

You've piqued my curiosity though. At the risk of having Dwayner show up and be a dickhead, perhaps you can share some more?

[Captain panther]

Hey thanks billcoe! I have a friend down in patagonia who wants to develop some routes on some pretty featureless granite at a resort he is building. Also theres a few lines in the Bham/mt baker highway area i want to bolt, one of them is cleaned and i solo'd it but i feel like more people would get on it if it had some bolts...

[DavidW]

Drilling times can vary alot depending on the rock and whether you have a comfortable place to stand. The best I ever did with a 1/4" drill was using Leeper super bits and I got a hole done in 2 minutes and a couple seconds standing on flat ground.

 

These days I am mostly drilling 3/8" x 2-1/4" holes in Darrington or Yosemite granite and it takes me between 8-10 minutes with some kind of reasonable stance... I've done it in 6 minutes but I need to be pretty fresh and have a relaxed place to stand. The trick is to not stop swinging and it does takes some practice to learn how to keep on pounding for a solid 5 minutes.

 

A5 (now D5) hammers are my tool of choice although they are a bit too heavy for 1/4" bits which I break often if I am overly motivated (freaked).

 

Granite actually drills relatively easily because of its large crystalline nature... smaller-grained rock can be way more difficult. Also the style and weight of the particular drill holder has a big effect on how fast one can drill.

 

Have fun!

[hanman]

My choice is a Vaughan (sp?) 22 oz ball peen w/ hickory handle with exactly 3" cut off the handle. This ends up being really well balanced more like drumsticks (yep, I'm a drummer...) Care required with 1/4" bits. Rocpeckers are sloppy, Fixe holder is monsterously large, Pika with 2 set screws is the ticket (thanks DaveW).

 

Enjoy-

 

MH

[billcoe]

hanman, have you tried the A5 Hurricane drill against the Pika?

[hanman]

Hi Bill-

 

I have not, but I will as soon as lil'Pika gets trashed. 2 seasons in Darrington granite and going strong still.

 

MH