http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200707/r160145_585392.jpg

Brisbane's Lord Mayor Campbell Newman says the arrival of a $50 million borer will ensure the city's new motorways and tunnels remain ahead of schedule.

The machine is 250 metres long, weighs 4,000 tonnes and is almost 13 metres in diameter.

Councillor Newman says it will be used to cut through rock beneath Brisbane at about 20 metres per day, during the construction of the North-South Bypass Tunnel.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/15/1978965.htm?section=justin

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/6/66/300px-Technodrome.jpg

Sweet Jebus.

f*** that's big. So how does it work? Looks like it's made of plastic.

cool

10-20 more tunnels like this and brisbane's transport woes will be alleviated for a little while

what a boring thread

Sweet jebus. 20 meters a day ain't half bad.

20metres a day? no wonder its gonna take so f***en long to make it.

"Behold the underminer!, I am always beneath you but nothing is beneath me!"

dont worry whoop there is light at the end of the tunnel

ahahahahahha fpot ams teh winna.

I'm working on the advertising for this project! Keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming campaign soon. If you're lucky i'll post a link to a vid we did shortly...

Man, that thing doesn't need advertising. It can just bore the f*** out of anyone that doesn't pay attention to it!

lol dan

thats the second biggest tunnel boring machine i've ever seen....

i thought it was obes' mum's dildo

so thats why LIEGHTON shot up a dollar ($1.01) a few weeks ago

the local whore could do at least 30metres a day - EASY!!! hell of a lot cheaper too...

250m long?!!? that's nuts. I want to see a photo of the whole thing. I hope it develops sentience and goes crazy and starts attacking the city. That'd be SWEET.

lol, yer someone should get drunk and hijack this thing for a joy ride through the city

cue clint and sandbags

i thought it was obes' mum's dildo

Obes's mum's dildo? You must not have ever seen shad's mum's dildo!

lol, yer someone should get drunk and hijack this thing for a joy ride through the city

At only 0.83m/h he ain't going far fast.

Each machine will start on the north side of the Brisbane River at Bowen Hills and travel south, finishing at Woolloongabba, excavating enough rock between them to fill the Gabba nine times over.

I always thought they built tunnels by having a drillers start at each end and meet in the middle?

I always thought they built tunnels by having a drillers start at each end and meet in the middle?

What are you, some sort of ignorant idiot? l2tunnel

20 meters a day... but what's the bet that's an 8 hour work day. So we could triple the output if those slackass council workers actually worked in shifts. Or, as suggested, just bring in the bloody Technodrome, that thing will get the job done.

Also, rofl fpot. Harsh, but hilarious.

How Tunnel's Work

Oh and trog - that hurts :(

Notice that the diagram shows tunneling taking place from both sides. Tunnels through mountains or underwater are usually worked from the two opposite ends

But what if the engineers f***ed up and they missed eachother?

20 meters a day... but what's the bet that's an 8 hour work day. So we could triple the output if those slackass council workers actually worked in shifts

yeah dont think the council will be building the tunnel mate, thats what they pay large civil engineering groups to do.

But what if the engineers f***ed up and they missed eachother?

they could just correct the error over a spread of 5 meters or so, this is australia

But what if the engineers f***ed up and they missed eachother?

They would blame the Surveyors (Who would actually be at fault)

The Gateway bridge had a 6" gap when they built it :p

Wasn't the Goodwill bridge a metre short?

I thought they intented on working the borer 24 hours a day. They are under the ground so they can work around the clock with generating minimul noise.

http://www.tk421.net/gallery/sounds/boring.wav

http://www.tk421.net/theft.gifinline

cue, not quote.

8 hour shifts yeah.. but 3 of em a day! These arnt council workers i'm tellin u now!

20 meters a day... but what's the bet that's an 8 hour work day. So we could triple the output if those slackass council workers actually worked in shifts. Or, as suggested, just bring in the bloody Technodrome, that thing will get the job done.

Tunnelling's been going on 24 hours a day for several months now. That's why there are those massive sheds at Shafston Ave and Bowen Hills, they're acoustic sheds to keep the noise low for surrounding residents as they continue to drill day and night.

Do the sheds move too?

Why would the sheds need to move? The borer won't be very loud once it's far enough under the ground.

How do they get the borer to the tunnel to start? That'd be a site to see.

Do the sheds move too?

Only on the treadmill

Would the sheds take off?

How do they get the borer to the tunnel to start? That'd be a site to see.

It was probably assembled on site, so that photo on the first page is inside the shed.

Well that is boring. It should be airlifted in by 50 billion choppers or somesuch :D

I thought this thread was going to be about Big Brother being lame, instead it's about a 250m long robotic worm. Thread delivers

It looks like they've got a ton of container based accomodation racked up at the bowen hills end of the tunnel as well, so people might even be living on site ?

"The machines are being purpose-built to meet the specific requirements of the project and the geological conditions along the North-South Bypass Tunnel route," he said.

Purpose-built?? So what will happen to the borers once project is completed I wonder?

I watched a doco on these on discovery channel. Purpose built? no, but purpose modified. They have different grade cutting blades on the front depending on soil type, moisture, all that sorta stuff. These things are a couple hundred metre's long, but the back component is more like a conveyor belt system that dumps it into waiting dump trucks/tippers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_boring_machine

It can only be as fast as the guys putting up supports behind it.. unless they invent a machine for that!

Yeah, there was a good documentry floating around on pay TV early last year. It was about the tunnel construction in Sweden (I think) that went under the Alps. They had six of these bad boys (or maybe 8, I can't remember).

There are two spereate tunnels with a borer starting at each end and they also started one in the middle as the tunnel is some incredible length.

If they only used two borers it was going to take something like 19 years to complete, so they bought a couple more.

The machine actually grinds the rock down (as it goes) into metal dust and mixes the freshly ground rock with a fast set concrete solution and then sprays the walls as it progresses. All part of the service.

It has dirty big hyldraluic arms which grip the walls to give itself forward momentum.

So a council worker can operate it. All they have to do is switch it on.

NSBT MEGAPOST!

250m long?!!? that's nuts. I want to see a photo of the whole thing. I hope it develops sentience and goes crazy and starts attacking the city. That'd be SWEET.

This isn't the Brisbane one, but you can see it stretching off into the distance, pretty massive.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m173/soulvisionQ2/TBM.jpg

Purpose-built?? So what will happen to the borers once project is completed I wonder?

They're pupose-built for the Brisbane-ish area. From my understanding they'll be reused for the AiportLink and North and East Busways.

It can only be as fast as the guys putting up supports behind it.. unless they invent a machine for that!

You mean a Tunnel Boring Machine? Massive pre-cast concrete blocks are used by the TBM to anchor itself into the rock as it travels underground, these same blocks then form the curved walls of the tunnels. Here's a shot of one of the blocks:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m173/soulvisionQ2/18fe95617208ecf163e9ff39aabe463e.jpg

It makes the walls as it goes? So one the machine has progressed the entire distance it's essentially ready?

they build the walls behind it as it goes, and the dirt and s***e it digs through is conveyed through the tunnel it leaves behind

i'd imagine the tube is essentially ready but then they dick around for ages paving the bastard and installing various things

ch-ch-check it out

www.plaestudio.com/borer.mov

i'd imagine the tube is essentially ready but then they dick around for ages paving the bastard and installing various things

Yeah, just useless little thinks like Air Vents and Lighting.

Just like the Gateway / Busway Tunnels i'll assume they they will have a big walk through before they officially open it to cars.
How many of you guys would goto that?

I walked over the Bridge (When I was very young) but passed on walking the Busway Tunnels. As long as i'm in town I think i'll goto one if they have it.