Case Studies
HMT drilling systems are built to make holes in steel faster, safer and with more control, in the shop and in the field. These case studies show what that looks like on real jobs: railroad bridges, steel erection, plant maintenance and repair. We're adding more North American projects, so if you have a job you'd like to share, let us know.
Replacing stringers on a 100-year-old railroad bridge
BNSF Railway, USA
A BNSF bridge crew needed to remove rivets and replace two stringers on a bridge just over 100 years old, working from hung scaffolding under the bridge in short work windows. Instead of rivet busters and a compressor, the crew drilled the rivets out with Versadrive cutters in battery drills.
48 rivets removed and replaced with high-strength bolts, with no compressor on site.
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"The cutters and adapters worked extremely well. Made short work of the rivet removal process, we used battery drills therefore eliminating the need for a compressor. Much more efficient, quieter & easier on the body." David Kabetske, Foreman, BNSF Railway
Jason C. Hale, Engineer Bridge Inspection at BNSF, reported that the crew "wouldn't be 'busting' another rivet again with the old gun."
Used: Rivet removal tools
Drilling out 4,000–5,000 rivets on a 200-year-old pier
Ryde Pier, Isle of Wight, UK. Contractor: McNealy Brown
Restoring a pier framework held together by tens of thousands of hot rivets would normally mean rivet busters. The contractor added HMT's rivet drilling process alongside its usual methods to protect the fragile laminated ironwork and cut vibration exposure.
Vibration on site cut by more than 3x, so crews could work over 3x longer.
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Between 4,000 and 5,000 rivets were drilled out using Versadrive TCT HoleCutters in hand-held cordless drills and Carbidemax TCT broach cutters in magnet drills, then replaced with tension control bolts and new steel.
Drilling instead of hammering protected the existing ironwork from delamination, reduced operator hand-arm vibration, and let work continue safely for over three times as long as with rivet busters.
Fixing 150 misaligned holes in 4 hours instead of 2 days
Steel building erection, UK. HMT dealer CJ Tennant
Halfway through a routine steel building job, the crew found 150 misaligned holes in the frame. Adjoining beams couldn't be bolted up and the job stopped. The first estimate was two full days of grinding or re-cutting.
Job finished in 4 hours, about 25% of the estimated time, with one reamer.
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The crew already had a Versadrive installation kit on site. A single Versadrive Impact Reamer in a battery impact wrench reamed all 150 holes, each through two 3/8" (10mm) steel beams, saving a day and a half of labor and the cost of buying extra tooling.
Facade bracket holes drilled 5x faster on site
West End Gate development, London, UK. Berkeley Group
Thousands of 1/2" (12mm) holes had to be drilled on site through 1/2" galvanized steel to mount glazing brackets. Board covering the steel ruled out magnet drills, and the crew was drilling every hole three times with twist drills that snagged and wrenched wrists.
Overall job speed 5x faster, with no kickback injuries.
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HMT recommended drilling the board with a masonry bit, then the steel with a Versadrive TurboTip in a 3/4" impact wrench. The TurboTip's stepped tip removed the need for pilot holes, so each hole was finished in one pass, and the bits themselves cut twice as fast as the twist drills.
24x more holes per bit at a galvanizing plant
Wessex Galvanizers (Wedge Group), UK
Drilling up to 3/8" (10mm) steel plate with cordless drills and standard bits was slow, expensive and unsafe: bits lasted 2–3 holes and snagging caused wrist injuries.
72 holes per bit instead of 2–3, cost per hole down by over 80%, and drilling twice as fast.
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The team switched to Versadrive TurboTip impact drill bits in impact wrenches, using magnet drills for heavier work, and has drilled over 5,100 holes since.
"Since we've used Versadrive, the guys can't see how they can use an ordinary drill now. They think it's Stone Age!" Matt Bartrop, Wessex Galvanizers
Three snapped bolts fixed in under 3 minutes
Industrial pump repair, UK
Three snapped bolts were holding up work on an industrial pump. Two engineers had spent over two hours and only solved part of the problem.
Remaining holes back in service in under 3 minutes, saving around 12 labor hours.
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An HMT sales manager recommended a three-step Versadrive process: drill out the bolts with a TurboTip, clean out and enlarge the holes with an Impact Reamer, then rethread with an ImpactaTap.
Used: TurboTip, Impact Reamer, ImpactaTap
Heat exchanger refurbishment: 48 hours down to 6
National Engineering Group, Australia
Refurbishing heat exchangers means reaming tube sheets with around 1,000 holes each and deburring baffle plates with 3,000–4,000 holes. It was slow, labor-intensive and hard on tooling.
Tube sheets reamed in 6 hours instead of 48, and 168 labor hours saved on baffle plates.
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- Tube sheets: rotary reaming took 48 hours and at least 3 reamers. With a Versadrive Impact Reamer in an impact wrench it took 6 hours, and one reamer did four tube sheets.
- Baffle plates: deburring with carbide burrs and die grinders took 240 hours and 40 burrs. With Versadrive Impact Reamers it took 72 hours and 2 reamers, and some PPE was no longer needed.
Retrofitting 100 offshore wind turbines
Offshore wind farm. Customer: Aceton
Drilling the housing around an offshore wind turbine motor meant the cut slug could not be allowed to fall into the motor, or it would cause a critical failure with no way to retrieve it.
Over 100 turbines modified offshore with no unexpected downtime.
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HMT developed a custom slug retention system: a customized pilot drilling process and pilot pin that held the slug securely until the hole was complete.
Need something custom? Talk to us
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