Don’t Freak Out Over Breakouts

Breaking out a hammer can yield all kinds of surprises.

By LaTisha Shipman

One of my favorite aspects of my job is breaking down hammers. I can’t quite describe the anticipation I feel when we get a hammer loaded and strapped onto the bench. I always wonder: Will it break open easily? How long will it take? And most excitingly, what will we find inside?

Hammer No. 1 had clay cemented on it and appeared to have faced prolonged heat.

My mind is always playing the song “Le Freak” from 1978 on repeat when we do a breakout, but instead of singing “Aaaahhh freak out,” I sing, “Aaaaaahhhh break out!” Y’all would love working with me, I’m sure of it.

We were busy with hammer breakouts this summer. We often had them lined up, which is a great problem to have. Keep bringing them on. In fact, looking at so many hammers, I thought it would be great to address some of the issues I’m seeing on a regular basis.

So, let’s look at the most recent hammers we’ve done. We’ll call them hammer No. 1 and hammer No. 2. Both are 8-inch hammers and share the same manufacturer, which had nothing to do whatsoever with our findings.

Servicing a Hammer

When we service a hammer, we tear it down, clean it up, measure the wear limits, and make recommendations based on what we see to improve the drilling program: essentially the hammer life for our customer. After we oil it, we reassemble it, and replace O-rings and any other hammer parts the customer has agreed to.

It showed neglect on the outside, but hammer No. 2 was well oiled and clean.

My recommendations are always based on data alone. If there are broken or damaged parts, I document them and send the customer a quote on the replacement parts.

The major components of the hammer have a discard limit, or wear limit. Once the piston and the sleeve are at or past their wear limits, the hammer will not maintain air pressure, so the parts need to be replaced or it’s time for a new hammer.

I’m not opposed at all to hammer rebuilds. I believe it’s prudent to try to rebuild a hammer at least once, but if the hammer owner is looking at a parts replacement or rebuild cost of 40% of the cost of a new hammer, it would be my general recommendation to purchase a new hammer.

However, each owner must decide for themselves what is best for their drilling program and bottom line. I consider it is my job to give them accurate information that allows them to make the best decision possible.

Hammer No. 1

We had an 8-inch hammer come in for servicing recently that we’ll call hammer No. 1. I knew from the initial visual inspection this was going to be a tough one. The air holes on the bit were plugged with clay which had hardened to the point of having a cement-like consistency.

However, we were able to break both ends with no issues. I remember being surprised how easy it was, but I had no idea what else was coming. The bit was cemented to the chuck like I have not seen before.

We spent hours trying to get them apart. When we opened the top sub end, we were overwhelmed with the stench of burnt metal and rubber. The hammer was completely full of clay—from the air holes of the bit and all the way through the hammer and even above the air distributor in the top end of the top sub. It was all full of clay and burned debris.

As we removed the bearing, it was obvious the parts had been exposed to high temperatures or a fire. We assume the driller got stuck, and while he tried to free the hammer, everything heated up. The hammer parts were well done, crispy in fact.

The piston was extremely difficult to remove. We were unable to remove it from the driver sub end and weren’t sure why at the time. We had to flip the case and remove the piston from the top sub end.

The metal wasn’t blue, which was interesting to me. It was black, so it would seem the heat this hammer endured was prolonged. Even after having cleaned and scrubbed the parts down, they remained gritty from the clay being baked on.

Once we got everything out and cleaned up, my recommendation was to discard the hammer due to the metal parts being exposed to such high temperatures. That could cause them to become brittle and lead to catastrophic failure if the driller continued to use the hammer.

The customer, though, wanted us to just replace the O-rings and put the hammer back together, so we attempted to do so.

When we tried reassembling the hammer, the piston would not go down the whole length of the piston case. It would get stuck about half way down, which explained why we couldn’t get the piston out of the driver sub end (the piston case was warped from the high heat). It was shaped like an egg, not visible to the naked eye, but enough to prevent the piston from falling into place.

The hammer wasn’t salvageable in the end.

I also recommended to the customer that they blow their hammers clean with air and oil to coat the hammer parts at the end of every day. There was no evidence in this hammer of the customer using a hammer oil, but that could be due to getting it stuck and whatever else happened out there. It sure looked like the driller had a bad day.

I’m not trying to add fuel to the fire (pun intended), but we always recommend oiling hammers. I am impressed with the Matex Torqueless lubrication and its penetrating properties. Their test data shows improvement in hammer and bit tool life, and customers can get more than one rebuild out of their hammers. I would classify it as a premium rock drill oil.

Hammer No. 2

The same week we had a customer bring in another 8-inch hammer, hammer No. 2. There had been recent turnover at the drilling company that sent the hammer, and we were told they had formerly had a driller who didn’t take care of the tooling and had neglected this hammer.

I expected this one to be worse than the first one. It looked neglected from the outside, that’s for sure! You could see rust and corrosion between the driver sub and the bit.

However, when we broke into that hammer, it had been well oiled, which was probably this hammer’s only saving grace. The parts were clean. We replaced the O-rings and they needed a new bit, so we loaded that in the hammer and sent it on its way.

It was amazing to me the internal condition of that hammer just from being oiled and obviously blown out after the last use. When it was laid down and forgotten by the driller, it wasn’t a total loss to the company. There was certainly a noticeable difference between the two hammers and the way they had been maintained.

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Neither of these customers knew what type of hammer they had. The second customer luckily had bought the hammer from us, and we had our own records to reference. It always saves time doing breakouts when we also don’t have to try to identify the hammer manufacturer.

On the first hammer, the customer insisted it was one brand when it was completely different, and a lot of time was wasted going back and forth about that. It is helpful to your distributors to have the hammer’s model information.

The hammers come with manuals. If they aren’t included when you get a hammer, please ask for those and keep it on file. Hammers are discontinued from time to time, and the spec sheets on those hammers can be difficult to find. The spec sheets tell the wear limits and how the hammer goes back together.

Hammer breakouts are not scary. In fact, don’t be afraid to crack one open yourself. You might be surprised at what you find inside!

LaTisha Shipman is in sales for Luby Equipment Services in Texas. She has more than 20 years of experience in the drilling industry, with most of that time spent working in manufacturing with DTH hammers and bits. She can be reached at (817) 517-1308 or lshipman@lubyequipment.com.