Tag: BG-40 Drilling Machine

Frank Lobody Repairing A Drill Shaft at the Ohio River Bridges Project

Frank Lobody, Mechanic, International Union of Operating Engineers repairing a drill shaft for the BG-40 Drilling Machine. #1
Frank Lobody, Mechanic, International Union of Operating Engineers repairing a drill shaft for the BG-40 Drilling Machine at the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville, Kentucky May 2014

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Today’s images are of Frank Lobody, a mechanic for Walsh Construction, who travels from job site to job site throughout the US to handle heavy equipment repairs. Frank is a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150 in Porter, Indiana. When I met Frank he was repairing a drill shaft for the BG-40 Drilling Machine being used in Louisville to drill into the bedrock for the bridge piers on the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Frank Lobody, Mechanic, International Union of Operating Engineers repairing a drill shaft for the BG-40 Drilling Machine. #2
Frank Lobody, Mechanic, International Union of Operating Engineers welding on a drill shaft for the BG-40 Drilling Machine. 

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The bedrock on the Ohio River Bridges Project is very hard and sometimes the drill shaft breaks under the load of trying to drill over 30 feet into it. Once the bridge pier casings are placed through the soil down to the bedrock it is necessary to drill a socket 30 feet into rock to anchor the piers. On the Kentucky side of the river that means drilling almost 150 feet from the surface to the bottom of the socket.

Frank Lobody, Mechanic, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, Porter, Indiana
Frank Lobody, Mechanic, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, Porter, Indiana

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All three of these HDR images were processed from a three frame bracket set of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 software.