Tool Testing with Engineers Without Borders
The Central Ohio Chapter of Engineers Without Borders is currently working on a project in San Pedro Puxtla, El Salvador where the goal is to build a road in the El Amel neighborhood. Currently the path where the road will go has some issues it is littered with large boulders, on a steep grade and is constantly flooded during the rainy season cutting off access to the rest of the city. A very basic road would improve the lives of these people tremendously.
The problem however is in this remote location it is pretty much impossible to get the large construction equipment to the construction site. Explosives are out of the questions with peoples homes as close as 6 feet away from some of these large boulders.
Working with Ohio Power Tool on the problem, the best option would be to drill holes in the rocks along a strait line and split the pieces off using several techniques depending on boulders size. Typically a pneumatic rock drill would be used for such an application but would require a large trailer type compressor which again would not be able to reach the job site, even if one could be found to rent in the surrounding area. A much better solution is the Atlas Copco Power Pack hydraulic unit which is more reliable, more powerful and significantly more compact. The unit is small enough to fit in the bed of any truck or SUV and the cart design makes it easy to maneuver around any obstacles. The Atlas Copco LHD 23 M rock drill works perfectly with the Ajax Carbide Drill Bits used in the testing.
Step one was to test the different tools and techniques on smaller rocks here in Columbus. The local Channel 10 CBS Station (see video) and Columbus Dispatch were both on hand for the testing. The next step will be to get all the equipment and people to El Salvador and remove all these boulders within one week’s time. If you are interested in supporting the project in any way please contact Amanda with EWB.
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