Practical answers to the questions we get most: which reamer for which ground, how subs and drill pipe connections work, how to mix drilling fluid, and what we need to quote quickly.
The ground decides the reamer. Soft soils need mixing and mud flow; rock needs carbide or rolling cutters that crush the formation.
A mud-mixing reamer cuts the soil and mixes it with drilling fluid so it can flow out of the bore. The Flycutter has a stabilising ring for long, straight runs; the open-wing Shredder gives maximum mud flow where circulation is the problem.
The one-piece Compact reamer has a built-in swivel and tungsten-carbide teeth. It handles everything from soft ground to tougher bores.
The Badger combines a large stabilising area with replaceable carbide teeth and an integrated swivel, built for soft rock.
The Kodiak is a solid one-piece rock reamer, heavily armed with carbide. In the hardest rock, a hole opener with rolling cutters crushes the formation instead of scraping it.
A common rule of thumb is to ream to about 1.5 times the outside diameter of the product pipe, so there is room for the pipe, the fluid and the cuttings. In hard ground, open the bore in steps rather than in one large pass. Your bore design and the pipe supplier’s instructions always come first.
Every reamer page lists the diameters and connections. The reamer builder puts the reamer, the sub and the swivel together for your rig.
A sub joins two connections that do not fit each other — for example your drill pipe and a reamer with another thread.
The box is the female end with the thread inside. The pin is the male end with the thread outside. A box always meets a pin.
Ditch Witch, Vermeer and TT each use their own connection names per machine family, while maxi pipe and much of the tooling use API connections such as IF, Reg and FH. The name has to match exactly.
The connection and box or pin at each end, and the overall length. The sub builder fills in the standard length when both ends are chosen.
Build it in the sub builder and send it as a quote request — the link to your sub can be copied and shared.
With these details we can reply with price, stock and lead time without having to ask you again.
Add products to your quote list from any spec table, or contact us with the details above.
Read the ground report first, then pick the reamer. Each of our reamer models is listed for a type of ground in its spec table. This guide goes through them from clay to hard rock.
In clay the reamer has to break the soil up and mix it into the drilling fluid, so it flows out instead of balling up on the tool. The Shredder is listed for cohesive soils: it has no stabilising ring, so the open space between the wings leaves the largest passage for the fluid. It comes box/box in six sizes from 250 to 500 mm. Clay that swells is also a fluid question — see Guide 6.
For mixed ground the Flycutter is the mud-mixing choice: tungsten-carbide claws, a nozzle system that mixes and flushes the cuttings, and a stabilising ring that keeps the reamer centred for a smoother pull. Eight sizes from 250 to 600 mm, box/box or box/pin, with a welded swivel, a pull tab or another thread on request.
The Compact is the all-round model and the only one below 200 mm: seven sizes from 115 to 300 mm. The swivel is built in, so there is one tool less on the string. Choose it when one reamer has to cover most of your jobs.
None of our reamers is rated specifically for loose sand, gravel or cobble. In this ground the fluid does much of the work, because the heavy cuttings have to be carried out of the bore — the dosage list in Guide 6 goes all the way to cobble. With a lot of gravel or cobble on the route, send us the ground report and we will suggest a set-up.
The Badger is built for soft rock formations. A large stabilising area keeps it steady, the 18 carbide teeth are replaceable, so a worn reamer is re-armed rather than replaced, and the swivel is integrated. Three sizes: 200, 250 and 300 mm, all 2⅞″ Reg.
The Kodiak is a one-piece rock reamer with extra tungsten-carbide teeth, in nine sizes from 200 to 600 mm. Each size comes with two tooth counts; take the higher count for harder ground. Where a reamer would wear out, a hole opener crushes the rock with rolling cutters. Ours are 10″, 12″ and 14″, with IADC 637 cutters for medium-hard formations.
Once the model is chosen, size it. With the rule of thumb from Guide 1 — about 1.5 times the product pipe’s outside diameter — a 160 mm pipe gives 240 mm, and the next standard size up is 250 mm, which all five reamer models have. If the target is larger than the biggest size of a model, or the ground is hard, open the bore in more than one pass.
Then check the connection. The Compact comes with 2″ IF, 2⅜″ Reg or 2⅞″ Reg; the Flycutter and Shredder with 2⅜″ Reg or 2⅞″ Reg depending on size; the Badger and Kodiak with 2⅞″ Reg; the hole openers with a 2⅞″ box at both ends. If your string ends in another thread, a sub joins the two.
The reamer picker does the sizing for you, and the reamer builder puts the reamer, the sub and the swivel together for your rig.
Drill pipe is listed by machine, but it fits by thread. Our spec tables give both, plus the length, torque and bend radius to check before you order.
Find your rig in the Compatible machine column on the Vermeer, Ditch Witch or TT Technologies page, or look it up under Parts by machine, which lists everything we have for each model.
Two pipes can look alike and still not fit. Our JT2720 pipe and our JT25 / JT30 / JT27M1 HD pipe both have a 2.375″ body, but one has the DW 1.94-4 thread and the other DW 2.11-4. The Vermeer D23x30 is listed against both #400 and #600 pipe. Check the thread name or the part number on the pipe you run today.
Our pipe runs from 4.9′ (1.5 m) for the JT5 and JT520 to 20′ (6.1 m) for the D100x120. Some rigs have a choice: pipe for the D36x50 comes in 10′ and 15′ lengths. The length has to suit the rig’s pipe box and rod loader.
Dual-rod pipe has an inner drive rod inside the outer pipe, for rock and hard ground. It is made for dual-rod rigs: the AT series for Ditch Witch All Terrain rigs and the DR series for the Vermeer D40x55DR.
Every row is one part number. Body O.D. is the outside diameter of the tube; Tool joint O.D. is the diameter at the threaded ends, usually the larger figure. The Ditch Witch table adds Method: IEU-forged pipe is one piece, with the connections machined into the upset ends, while inertia-welded and welded pipe has the tool joints welded on.
Thread is the connection name, and it has to match exactly. Max torque is given in ft·lb with N·m in brackets; it should cover what your rig delivers. Bend radius (ft) is the minimum bend radius: the bore plan must not bend the string tighter than that. Weight is per pipe, in lb with kg in brackets, and Pipes / box is how many come in a box. A dash (–) means the value is not listed for that pipe.
For larger rigs, our maxi drill pipe has NC50, IF and FH connections, and Hunting drill pipe fits Vermeer, Ditch Witch and other rigs. If your rig has been rebuilt with another thread, send us the thread name or the part number on your old pipe. For an adapter between two threads, use the sub builder.
The fluid keeps the bore open and carries the cuttings out. These basics come from ProAction Fluids’ mixing guides, which you can download on the drilling fluids page. All dosages are per 500 US gallon (about 1,890 litre) tank, and an EZB is one bag or bottle.
Bentonite is a clay-based mud; the ProBore series we sell is polymer. In soil that a jar test shows to be mainly clay, ProDrill can replace bentonite outright. In dense ground such as sand, cobble and rock, GeoSweep LQ is the polymer alternative, and ProAction gives holes under 10″ and under 500′ (about 150 m) as a safe starting point for a polymer-only mix. Beyond that, ProAction points to a bentonite-based mix.
The products also work with bentonite. ProDrill is very potent there, so ProAction caps it at ½ EZB (0.25 gal) per 500 gal. ClayLock goes in only after the bentonite is fully hydrated, or it weakens the bentonite. Before GeoSweep LQ or TurboBore, rinse any bentonite out of the tank for the best result.
ProDrill and TurboBore thicken in the cold but do not freeze. ProDrill ECO freezes at 0 °C and is usable again once thawed. ClayLock and ProDyne turn to slush below −7 °C without losing performance. ProDrill and ProDrill ECO work between pH 5 and 10.
ProDrill ECO replaces ProDrill one for one where oil and hydrocarbons are not allowed. TurboBore is a single product for sand and rocky soil at 1 to 1.5+ EZ bottles per tank; above 1.5 gal per tank, watch for polymer that has not hydrated. If you hit reactive clay mid-bore, ProAction suggests pouring ½ to 1 EZB of ClayLock down the rod when you break a joint, then circulating.
How much fluid for your bore? Start from the hole volume: a 250 mm hole 100 m long holds about 4.9 m³, and you mix a multiple of that. The fluid calculator lets you set the factor and works out the number of 500 gal tanks and the bags or bottles of each product. Your bore plan and the conditions on site come first.
Send us your machine model and quantity, and we'll reply with a quote and lead time.