Cameron Pearson, owner of Healesville Directional Drilling, has great plans for the business after he took the reins from his father in 2021, and his new Vermeer D40x55DR Horizontal Directional Drill plays a big part in this.
Healesville Directional Drilling has been in operation for roughly 20 years, started by Pearson’s father and grandfather. He recently took the lead to continue the family legacy of working in drilling and underground excavation.
“We’ve always worked doing pole to pit work in the local Boronia area, but now we’ve got a big focus on larger projects across southeast and northeast Victoria, which gives us a steady flow of work. We have a contract with Downer installing underground power, and our larger projects vary between private companies and large Tier 1 contractors,” Pearson says.
To help support these larger HDD projects, Cameron recently purchased a Vermeer D40x55DR HDD, which he says he chose because of Vermeer Australia’s great reputation in the industry.
“I’ve always run a competitor product, and never had any issues, but it was all I knew because it’s what I used every day. One of my mentors I was doing some work with at the time was using Vermeer and never had a bad thing to say about the machinery,” he says.
“So, when the time came to upgrade, I decided to check out what Vermeer had to offer. Their package suited all our current needs, and we haven’t looked back.”
Pearson says the main thing that stands out with the D40x55DR is the versatility.
“The needs for our projects can change every week, from doing 63 mm diameter pipes one day to 350 mm the next, all in different locations and differing conditions, but this machine ticks every box, and I can use on the majority of our projects.”
“The size of the drill and the power of it is also a standout. It has great steering capabilities in rock or hard ground conditions, and being able to simply swap from rock to clay heads in a matter of minutes drastically reduces our downtime and increases our productivity on the job.”
The D40x55DR features dual rod technology that uses an inner rod to provide torque to the drill bit, while the outer rod offers steering capability and rotational torque for reaming. It has an operating weight of over 15 tonnes, power of 140 hp (104.4 kW), rotational torque of 7458 Nm and thrust to pullback force of 20 tonnes.
Pearson says the support of the Vermeer Australia team has been as exceptional as the machine, too.
“The team has been fantastic. They’re always on the other line if I have a query, I’ve never had an issue with parts supply, and their customer support on site has been great,” he says.
“I’d love to add a bigger Vermeer to my fleet one day when the work is there, a D60x90 HDD would be great, as I love working on big projects and operating larger machines. It’s definitely a goal I’ll be working towards and looking to Vermeer to support us on.”
For more information visit Vermeer’s website.
This article appeared in the August edition of Trenchless Australasia.