Audie steel and engineering cc

29/10/2026

On the shop floor we see used rigs arrive for a rebuild, and the first thing anyone does is walk round it: cycle the feed and watch the chain, pull every cylinder out and look at the rod, run the pump hot, open the tank lid. The buyer of your rig does the same walk, with a calculator.

The article lists what sellers are asking for used water-well rigs this month and what actually sets the number: both hour meters, the mast and head, the pump and hoses, and the papers. One blown hose in the photo costs more than the hose, because the buyer prices every hose on the rig.

When the frame, mast and head are sound, a rebuild is usually cheaper than trading in. When the truck is the problem, it isn't. The article says how to tell, and how to sell the rig if that is the answer.

What used water-well rigs are asked at in SA (Oct 2026), the four things a buyer checks, SARS book value vs market, and rebuild or trade in.

28/10/2026

On the shop floor since 1998 we have built rigs for drillers with a trade association sticker on the door and for drillers with nothing on the door, and the hole does not know the difference. The paperwork does. There is no driller's licence in South Africa, and clients are starting to ask.

The article lays out what is actually there: what BWA membership is and costs this year, what municipal and ARC tenders score points for (a registered hydrogeologist and a CIDB grade, never the BWA), why there is no water-well driller qualification on the NQF, and what the draft regulations would change if they are ever gazetted.

It ends with the three questions a client asks and the straight answers a driller can give today.

No driller's licence exists in South Africa. What BWA membership costs and means, what tenders ask for, SACNASP sign-off and draft regulation 13.

27/10/2026

On the shop floor the rigs still get built in December. The instalment on a rig gets paid in December too. The holes mostly don't get drilled.

Seven years of Google searches show the same calendar: enquiries peak in October, before the rains, and drop by almost a third into the builders' break. Autumn sags once the dams are full. One quiet month means the other eleven each have to carry more.

Where the phone rings by province, what this El Niño summer is likely to do to it, and the work a one-rig owner can line up for the gaps.

When borehole demand comes in SA by month and province, the 2026/27 El Niño outlook, the municipal year, and how one rig fills December and the autumn gap.

26/10/2026

On the shop floor since 1998 we have seen the same thing more times than we can count: a rig that drills a hole a day, parked because a fitting the size of a thumb is on back-order.

The article lists what should ride on the truck and what should wait in the yard, with the rand price of each line where there is one, and the parts list for the hammer straight from the maker's own service guide.

It also does the sum for a day standing still. The hose that fails is always the one you didn't bring.

What spares a SA drilling crew should carry on the truck and keep in the yard, priced in rand, plus what one day waiting for a part costs an owner-driller.

25/10/2026

On the shop floor a rig leaves the yard worth more than the truck it sits on. That is the problem with insuring it: the motor policy covers the chassis, and the mast, head, winch and hydraulics need their own line under plant cover.

We went through what cover actually costs, what Sasria adds, what a tracker costs a month, and the conditions that have sunk real claims: a tracker that could not be proved working, the wrong type of tracker, worn tyres. A hijack with an expired PrDP was paid; the Ombud said the permit did not cause the loss.

Where the risk really is, what it costs to cover, and what the policy will never pay for.

24/10/2026

On the shop floor we have watched a good driller lose a municipal job without a single metre being judged. The supplier database number was missing, or the tax PIN had gone red the week the tender closed, or a declaration form was filled in and never signed.

Since 1998 the drillers who get tender work have been the ones who treat the paperwork like a pre-start check: supplier database clean weeks ahead, tax profile green for the whole bid validity, completion letters collected from every farm job, a hydrogeologist lined up to sign the report.

The article walks through a real 2026 district panel document clause by clause, works the 80/20 points on a two-million-rand job, and explains which CIDB class and grade a one-rig outfit actually needs.

23/10/2026

On the shop floor we see what a hard pull does to a rod: galled threads, a stretched joint, a break that happened below ground instead of a string you could still work.

The compressor stops with the hammer on bottom and the cuttings drop onto it like a sandcastle after the tide. Rotation on, lift off bottom, blow, short strokes. That gets most of them back.

Why strings stick, what the first ten minutes look like, and what the rods, hammer and bit in the hole are worth before you decide whether to fish or move the rig.

13/10/2026

The Spider V5 XXL: the borehole rig that fits anywhere. Ferdi of Jumbo Drilling, Mokopane, drills holes up to 200 m with his, in back yards where a truck rig would never get through the gate. His words: "At 95 metres, as stable as any big rig" and "It fits anywhere." 200 m rated, the SAR100 rotary head, 3 m rods, and any 4x4 tows it.
Full video (3 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTSW-tnhqiE
More: https://www.drillbuilders.com/spider-v5-xxl
[email protected]

13/10/2026

A truck chassis is built to twist. Bolt a compressor straight onto it and that twist goes into the compressor – cracked welds, broken bolts, a fan into its cowling. Here is how our Drillbuilders division mounts a compressor so the chassis can twist underneath it: one pivot pin at the front, slides at the back.

Full 3-minute explainer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tQEPMrbEtE
More: https://www.drillbuilders.com/compressors-trailers
[email protected]

11/10/2026

Our Drillbuilders division's SAR100 drilling a water borehole with a DTH hammer, explained component by component: the rig and the compressor truck standing well away from the dust, rotary head, drill rods, feed cylinder, breakout clamp, how the hammer works down the hole, adding a rod, foam versus dry drilling, and the next morning's blow-out.

Building drilling equipment in Mokopane since 1999. See the SAR100: https://www.drillbuilders.com/sar100
Full video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqHHdb_n0eg
[email protected]