Percussion drilling is a manual drilling technique in which a heavy cutting or hammering bit attached to a rope or cable is lowered in the open hole or inside a temporary casing. The technique is often also referred to as 'Cable tool'. Usually a tripod is used to support the tools. By moving the rope or cable up and down, the cutting or hammering bit loosens the soil or consolidated rock in the borehole, which is then extracted later by using a bailer. Just as with [[hand auger - general|hand augering]], a temporary casing of steel or plastic may be used to prevent the hole from collapsing. When the permanent well screen and casing are installed, this temporary casing has to be removed.
==Suitable conditions ==
- Equipment costs are high and the method is slow (resulting in high cost / drilled meter).
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==Construction, operations and maintenance==
* Van Reekum Materials - Drilling equipment, hand auger and percussion drilling - http://www.reekum.nl
==Costs==
==Field experiences==
Percussion drilling is mainly used in Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Liberia, Ghana, Central America and western countries.
==Reference manuals, videos, and links==
*[[Solution_of_the_week_13|Akvo solution of the week 13]]
==Acknowledgements==