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How A Low-Clearance Rig Can Help With Limited Access Drilling

23 September 2020 by Joyce Rivera

Sometimes your drilling work site entails some pretty tight quarters. It may be in a confined perimeter or there may be obstructions on either side. For this type of limited access drilling, you need to use a low-clearance rig. Doing so is ideal for the following reasons.

Easy to Move

In any sort of limited access drilling situation, it's paramount that the operator of the drill has maximum control. If they don't and the rig moves to either side too much, accidents and property damage can happen. These are situations that can be avoided with a low-clearance rig.

That's because it can be moved in a precise manner with ease. As long as the operator is cautious, they shouldn't have any trouble getting the low-clearance rig situated in the right area despite there being possible obstructions around. All that will be required is an appropriately powered crane.

Small Footprint

In a limited access environment, there may be mere inches to move a rig around. That may cause you to think that these drilling operations are impossible, but it isn't so with a low-clearance rig. It's much more compact than traditional rigs and thus doesn't have a large footprint.

You should be able to get it to move in all directions without hitting anything nearby. Even if you need to drill into tight spots, the specialized rig can support these applications with extreme precision and safety. That should make everyone around the rig feel better about the drilling task that's about to commence.

Capable Performance

On paper, it might seem like a low-clearance rig just doesn't possess enough power that you might need in a limited access drilling situation. You can set this worry aside because these smaller rigs are actually quite powerful.

Most of them should provide enough torque you need to reach down to a certain distance. As long as you verify how deep the rig can get down to, then you can rent or buy this rig knowing it will support your applications just as you hoped. You shouldn't have any issues with performance. 

Limited access drilling can be pretty intimidating as it might seem like there's not a lot of room to set up and use a drilling rig. You can give yourself more options when you use a low-clearance rig from the very beginning of these drilling operations. They work perfectly for these exact situations involving tight quarters. 

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