When hard drilling and the drill is running very hot, often miners turn up the lubricator to make the drill run cooler.

Does it work? Obviously it does, or miners wouldn’t do it!

However, if we think about why the drill is running hot, we realize that the rock drill oil is being negatively affected by excessive heat generated by hard drilling, and is losing lubricity. By turning the lubricator up, the drill can bog down, resulting in backfiring and flames. Backfiring puts excessive strain on the drill, not to mention the fact that oil smoke is a by-product of overheated operation. This creates a respiration hazard for the miner.

As our previous posts have noted, in thin film applications typical to percussive drills, mineral oil RDOs begin to break down at temperatures in excess of 390F, and as they break down, friction and heat generation rapidly increase, resulting in wear and oil fog / smoke.

The synthetic esters in PolairDrill are temperature tolerant to 600F, and maintain excellent lubricity when regular rock drill oils fail. Therefore, using PolairDrill allows the operator to drill hard without worrying about excessive heat buildup and drill wear. There is no need to turn the lubricator up.

Equipment lasts longer and the work environment is cleaner.