What Is The Procedure For Concrete Core Drilling?

Are you in the concrete cutting industry? Do you want to learn about procedures for concrete core drilling? If so, please keep reading for more information.

Core drilling is an essential task for virtually all concrete structures at some point.

Whether you want to pull a sample of concrete for testing purposes, drill an opening for manholes or install electrical and plumbing lines, core drilling is important.

Core drilling should be performed only by highly skilled and experienced concrete cutting technicians. Such technicians can provide safe and quality work.

In this article, we will take a look at the following:

  • Basics Of Concrete Core Drilling
  • Concrete Drill Types
  • Choosing The Best Concrete Drilling Service

Basics Of Concrete Core Drilling

Concrete drilling is a specialised service offered by concrete cutting companies. A cylinder of concrete material or a core is removed with a concrete drill.

Diamond core drills are the most effective tools to use when core drilling concrete. Core drilling is common when installing common utilities such as:

  • Recessed lighting and fixtures
  • Cutting walls, floor slabs, and ceilings for plumbing, HVAC, cabling, electrical, and communication services
  • Analyse concrete samples
  • Roadway holes for doweling drilling, drainage, or rebar tie-ins

The concrete cutting technician will use a small threaded anchor to secure the drill post to the wall or concrete slab. He will then bolt the drill post – which acts as a guide for the core drilling process.

This will let the drill hit its mark straight on and make a consistent and smooth core. Once the drill post is fastened, the technician will mount the drill bit.

The drill bit will depend on the size the client specifies. Once the drill bit is mounted, the drill is turned on. Water will be applied as a coolant while pressure is placed on the crank.

The core drill has a hand crank to drive the drill to the surface and cut through the concrete. Once the surface is penetrated, the core will come out with the bit.

You can pull out the core manually if it is found in a slab.

Concrete Drill Types

There are two types of core drills such as impact and non-impact core drills. Impact drills have two sub-types such as hammer drills and rotary hammers.

A hammer drill is a small tool equipped with a bit that drills into the concrete. The hammer drill has a ramped ratchet system with a high-speed vibration or rattling action.

Regular bits are not the best to use with hammer drills because they can easily break under repeated impact conditions.

Even though rotary drills are similar to hammer drills, they are more efficient. A rotary drill can drill up to 100mm diameter. A hammer drill can only drill up to 12mm compared to a rotary drill.

You need a non-impact drill if you want to drill larger holes – up to 250mm. A non-impact drill has diamond teeth.

Because these drills don’t impact the drilling surface, the drill bit needs to be exceptionally strong. Drilling with a diamond-embedded drill is quite complex.

Frictional grinding can generate a lot of heat in the process. That’s why you need a professional concrete cutting service to perform such tasks.

Choosing The Best Concrete Drilling Service

With dozens of concrete cutting services in Melbourne, choosing the right company isn’t easy. Your research is important when choosing the right concrete cutting service for concrete drilling.

There are many things to consider when choosing a reputable and experienced concrete cutting service.

If you are looking for a specialist concrete cutting company who uses only the best practices to get the job done right, then please call us at Megasaw on 1300 920 419 or contact us through our website

A Quick Guide For Safe And Secure Concrete Cutting

Usually every construction project is engaged in some type of cutting concrete or core boring. Cutting concrete may appear to be simple and easy, but in real practice there are many aspects that need to be considered for a safe and successful concrete cutting.

Safety Measures to Consider

To start with you must understand that concrete dust is potentially harmful to the lung sinuses and eyes. It may also damage nearby finish.

Dust control should be an important aspect that should be given due consideration. The two ideal dust control systems are wet cutting in which the dust is accumulated in the cooling water and another one is pneumatic devices that sucks the dust in an air stream.

When leveraging a diamond cutting blade or any other abrasive disk cutting apparatus, the water work as lubricant and simmers down the temperature of cutting device. You should handle the spillage of water onto the area that is being cut. Specific drainage should be provided or a vacuum system to control the cooling water from spreading.

Proper grounding and insulation is also vital in using electrically driven tools. Some extra precaution should be observed when using core drilling appliances. Several machines work on the suction theory to retain the base in place while the drilling process is on.

How to Cut Concrete

Any surface deeper than 4 inches can be easily cut with hand saw, but with the increase in depth of the surface being cut, the difficulty increases. Cutting concrete thicker than 6 inches warrants a professional expertise and intervention to perform the task professionally and safely.

Lay out the surface to be cut. Draw a chalk line to delineate the exact area of cutting on the concrete. Now take a 15-amp circular saw having a diamond or abrasive blade for cutting the thickness of 2 inches. This saw will work best when working with a sidewalk machine. Set the blade of your circular saw at 2 inches.

Start sawing at the brim of the concrete and gradually saw on the line you have made with your chalk. Keeping the blade wet by dripping water on it can reduce dust and keep the blade smooth and cool.

The thickness of the cut will provide you with a straight brim allowing the concrete to complete breaking the other remaining thickness and a straight edge on the top to combine with a new and fresh concrete.

How to Cut Concrete more than 4 inches Deep

You should put to work a gasoline or electric powered cutoff saw to perform the task when you have to cut concrete that is deeper than 4 inches. The cut-off saw enables you to sink deep up to 6 inches. Most housing platforms, driveways, and basement or concrete walls are found in this range.

You should follow the same guidelines of drawing a straight mark to follow on the concrete slab to ascertain your starting point. Now cut the concrete to the right depth. Progress gradually, maintaining the line of the cut-off saw. Easy going speed enables the saw will not allow the blade to overheat and will not allow the shrapnel type pieces to be flung out into the air from a broken blade causing damage to your health and damaging the well being of nearby areas.

You can also keep an assistant to remove the dust from the chalk line to view the saw cut and keep the dust under control.

Concrete cutting is one of the most vital activities that are found in almost all kinds of construction projects. If you are in the sector of the construction industry and used to perform concrete cutting, you need to keep yourself updated with prominent tips and warnings that you should follow to successfully perform your duties and keep yourself abreast with the latest development and technologies!

Looking Forward Serving Faster With Two New Vans and New Employee Jay Worboys

After a good financial year Megasaw has just purchased two new Toyota Hiace Vans that are currently being fitted out to suit our requirements.

We have also purchased brand new equipment to go into these vans. This is all part of our plan to maintain a reliable fleet of vehicles and machinery with all the new technology.

This makes us fast, reliable and competitive.

New Hand sawing Technology

Megasaw has just purchased a new “Electric Inverter Handsaw” which allows us to use either 240 volt standard power or 3 phase power to saw cut walls and floors with no fumes what so ever. The power pack unit is much smaller and easier on the operator.

New Employee

Welcome Jay Worboys!

Jay has just started with Megasaw and it looks like he is going to be a gun cutter. Jay has been working in the construction industry for 15 years and has experience in numerous areas of construction.

He has taken various concrete cutting jobs like a duck to water and his professional attitude is 2nd to none.