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Brunner & Lay has also been making high quality rock drilling tools for nearly 135 years of continuous production; and offers a full range of top-hammer rock drilling tools and systems ranging from handheld applications, from Intraset’s (integral drill rods) and tapered rock bit/steel, to the B60 drilling system used on the largest top-hammer rock drills in the world.

Will Fritch, Test Engineer, states: “Innovation and refinement is an ongoing endeavor at Brunner & Lay. This is evident in our wide and ever increasing range of rock bit designs. The formula for producing rock tools at B&L begins with design intent and the application of the newest CAD/CAM software. Through application of FEA software, evaluation of every design aspect from flushing characteristics to stress/strain analysis can be conducted prior to manufacturing. This process continues with utilization of the best materials, machining, and heat treatment techniques coupled with some of the highest inspection standards in the industry. Combining these aspects produces rock drilling tools of the highest quality.”

Fritch argues that even with all of today’s technology and the computer programs used to conduct design evaluation prior to manufacture “there is no replacement for field testing in real world environments. Any driller can tell you that no two rock formations are alike, and at any given moment B&L products are in some stage of evaluation. From the most northern points of Canada to the farthest reaches in Patagonia, Brunner & Lay’s rock drilling products consistently outperform the competition worldwide. Our newest developments lie in our next generation family of long-hole production drilling and above ground extension drilling bits, in addition to a new grade of carbide which is being utilized with extreme success in underground drifting applications.”

The next generation bit family launched in early 2011 and has gone through a strenuous array of testing and refinement, says B&L. “Development focused on improved chip flushing features at the bit face, as well as evaluation of the effect of bit body features on flush capacity. The new family of bits also employ a retrac skirt design that has shown significant improvements in not only bit life, but life of the entire drill string. It achieves this through minimizing the chaffing/binding effect encountered as bit wear increases by decreasing the surface area of regions capable of binding in the borehole.”