7 JULY 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Just How Do They Do That? Ramblings of “Roadman” Kevin Kevilly, Machinist One day you are on a drill site, out in the field, and you look down at the screened pipe and think, “I wonder just how they do that.” That is what I am going to attempt to explain now. It, of course, starts with a piece of Schedule 40 PVC, sometimes a different choice for a specific job, in the required diameter. Since the pipe is for an environmental application, plain ends are used, and anything printed on the outside of the pipe must be cleaned off due to the risk of contamination. A lathe is used to cut off excess to the correct length, turn in the male and female threads, and form a spot for the rubber o-ring to be installed. Now we are ready for screening. There are different types of slotters (horizontal, vertical, and a proprietary system) that use a lathe, heat, and PVC to create the slotted pipe. I am going to discuss the horizontal variety in this article. The horizontal slotter allows the pipe to lay flat and be attached to a drive unit which turns the pipe. Using saw blades and spacers, the final cuts are made to the desired slot sizes. Once the group of saw blades are installed on the axle shaft with the appropriate spacing, the depth of cut is set using a space pipe. The machine operator wants to get about an inch of cut on the inside of the pipe for the rows. Now the number of rows is set on the unit to turn the pipe for each cut. For example, 2-inch pipe generally gets four rows in the 360 degrees of pipe. Finally, the travel spacing is set. This is the gap of solid pipe and often seen between groups of slots. It is done to avoid double cuts by the blades as the carriage moves along the length of the pipe. Next, the operator loads the pipe into the machine, attaches it to the rotating head unit, and starts the slotter. The operator monitors the slotter throughout the process, making adjustments as needed. Once the pipe is removed from the machine, it is cleaned, bagged, boxed, and shipped to you, to go in the ground. As a machinist, this is how I “do that” every day. Now you don’t have to wonder anymore. An assembled axle full of 4-inch-diameter saw blades, .020mm thickness, 1/8-inch spaced, ready to install for screening pipe. ENV 2024 Booth 1506 Slotted PVC pipe bagged and ready for shipment.
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