Granite Quarry
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Granite is the hardest stone quarried in volume, and the one where the extraction method is still genuinely open. Marble was settled decades ago — diamond wire, almost everywhere. Granite is not. Choose wrong and you can double or triple the cost of every cubic metre you produce.
This page sets out how granite is extracted, how to decide which method suits your deposit, and what a working granite quarry needs to buy. SET MAKINA has built this equipment in Ankara since 1991 and supplied it into quarries in more than 40 countries.
How granite comes out of the ground
Three methods are used on granite, and most working quarries use two of them together. Which two, and in what balance, is decided by the stone rather than by preference.
Drilling and splitting
A line of holes is drilled along the cut plane, then the block is split along that line — with plugs and feathers, with hydraulic splitters, or with a controlled charge. This is how granite was quarried for centuries and it is still the backbone, because granite’s crystal structure splits cleanly along a drilled line in a way softer stone does not.
Diamond wire sawing
A loop of diamond-beaded wire is drawn through the stone to make a clean, flat cut. On granite the wire works harder and slower than it does on marble: the peripheral speed has to come down and, critically, it has to vary rather than run flat out.
Blasting, for the bench
Used to open the primary bench and to move overburden — not to free dimensional blocks. A charge big enough to release a block is big enough to crack it, so blasting makes room for production rather than producing.
Why granite is not marble. Marble cuts well at a high, steady wire speed. Many buyers assume granite works the same way. It does not. Granite requires a variable peripheral speed, typically in the 25 to 40 m/s range rather than marble’s 40 to 50, and a drive that can hold that speed under load. Specifying a marble machine for a granite face is the most expensive specification error we see.
Read more: Drilling or cutting for granite extraction? · Diamond wire cutting speed for granite
Which method for your deposit
Find your deposit on the left. The joint pattern in the stone does most of the deciding.
| If your deposit | Method that suits it | What that means you buy | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is hard granite with tight, regular jointing | Drilling and splitting as the primary method | Line drilling rigs, hand-held drills, splitting wedges | The joints do the work; you are guiding a split that wants to happen |
| Is hard granite with little natural jointing | Drilling plus diamond wire | Column drills for the vertical and back cuts, wire saw for the free face | Without joints you have to create every surface yourself |
| Needs a flat, saleable face straight off the bench | Diamond wire | A granite-rated wire saw with variable speed control | Only wire gives you a finished surface in one pass |
| Is being opened for the first time | Drilling, with blasting for the bench | Crawler or column drills — and compressor capacity first | You are making room before you make blocks |
| Produces blocks you square on site | Drilling and splitting, plus a squaring saw | Hand-held drills, wedges, a smaller wire saw | Squaring is a different, lighter job than extraction |
The constraint most people miss. Before the machines, size the air. Pneumatic drilling is what carries the volume in a granite quarry, and an undersized compressor caps the whole operation no matter what else you bought. Work out the air first and the machine list follows from it.
What a granite quarry actually needs
A granite quarry is not one machine. The question is never “which drill” but “how many of what, to hit the output I am planning for”.
We publish the full reference fleet for a quarry producing 1,000 m³ of blocks per month, with quantities and the reasoning behind each one. Four things that list makes clear:
- Drilling carries the volume. The drilling units outnumber everything else, by a lot. Budget accordingly.
- Wire saws are specialised by cut, not interchangeable. The machine that frees a bench is not the machine that squares a block.
- Everything critical comes in pairs. A single point of failure on a production bench is an idle quarry.
- Air is the artery. Compressor capacity decides what the rest of the fleet can actually do.
Read the complete granite quarry equipment list →
Planning a different output? Tell us the target in cubic metres per month and we will work the list back from it rather than send you a catalogue.
The machines, and the figure that decides each one
Every machine below is one we build. The figure next to each is the one that separates it from its neighbour.
For the holes
TIGERLINE & TIGERLINE II
Holes 32–45 mm, rail-mounted — a row of parallel holes along a face, so the block splits where you want it.
TIGERDRILL & HYDRODRILL
76–102 mm, to 30 m — the quarry workhorse, for wire-threading holes and for blasting.
SMART DRILL diesel & electric
Brings its own power — a self-propelled crawler for sites with no compressed-air infrastructure.
Hand-held & air-leg drills
32–45 mm, 18–26 kg — secondary holes, splitting lines, everything the rigs cannot reach.
For the cuts
GRANFILL
50 / 60 / 75 / 100 HP — the granite wire saw, for the main extraction cut.
MINIFILL & MICROFILL
Lighter frames — squaring and trimming blocks after extraction.
Diamond wire
8–11 mm — the consumable that does the actual cutting.
Splitting wedges & hydro bags
Two wedge sizes — splitting the block along the drilled line, then tipping it off the bench under control.
And the air that runs it all. Air receivers, hose and fittings get the air to the drill at working pressure; line lubricators are mandatory rather than optional — running a pneumatic drill without one voids the warranty. All on the accessories and consumables page.
What we supply, and what we do not
Worth being clear about the edges before you spend time on a specification.
What we supply
- Drilling machines for 32–102 mm holes, to about 30 m
- Rail, column, mobile and self-powered drilling rigs
- Hand-held, air-leg and stopper rock drills, 32–45 mm
- DTH hammers from 75 mm, and the bits for them
- Rail-type diamond wire saws, 50 to 100 HP, and the wire
- Splitting wedges, plug hammers and hydro bags
- The air-line equipment the drilling runs on
- Installation, operator training and on-site technical supervision
What we do not supply
- No crushing, screening or aggregate plant. We stop at the block.
- No block handling or transport — no derricks, gantry cranes, loaders or trucks
- No slab sawing or factory processing plant. Gangsaws, block cutters and polishing lines are a different business; our only processing product is the polishing head
- No bridge or gantry wire saws, and no multi-wire machines — ours are rail-type
- No drilling above 102 mm, and no water-well, geothermal or oil and gas equipment
- No explosives, detonators or blasting services
If your project needs what is in the right-hand column, we will tell you so rather than quote you the nearest thing we make.
Since 1991 we have published the methods, not just built the machines
Set Makina has spent more than three decades building quarry machinery and writing down how to use it. A handbook on block extraction and processing, a technical contribution presented with Istanbul Technical University, and the maintenance manuals we publish free all come from the same habit: what we learn in the field, we write down.
The handbook
Blok Çıkarma ve İşleme Yöntemleri — Block Squaring and Processing Methods. Published by Set Makina and written by our founder, a mining engineer with more than 35 years in the field.
It covers block extraction techniques for travertine, marble and granite quarries; cost analysis for a 5,000 m³/year quarry investment; diamond wire cutting instructions for granite and marble; operating guidelines for monowire and multiwire systems; usage and maintenance of diamond circular saws; and gang saw blade specifications.
The full text is free to download. The printed book is available on request and held in libraries.
The 22nd World Mining Congress, Istanbul, 2011
Set Makina contributed to the 22nd World Mining Congress & Expo, held in Istanbul from 11 to 16 September 2011 and published by the Chamber of Mining Engineers of Turkey.
The contribution covered compressed-air network design for drilling operations, and — with a research team from the Mining Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University, on a TÜBİTAK-supported project — a deterministic model for predicting and optimising the performance of chain saw machines, validated against field measurements at a Turkish stone quarry.
Both remain useful reading for anyone sizing a compressed-air network or modelling cutting performance.
The manuals, free to anyone
A handbook for TIGER rock drilling tools — installation, feed pressure, rotation, flushing, sharpening intervals, wear and storage. And a compressed-air network design guide. Written for operators, not for marketing.
This is why we can answer a question about method rather than only a part number. If you are planning a quarry, the thinking behind the machines is published, and it is free.
Case study: from a standing start to a producing granite quarry
A newly formed mining company in the Gulf region entering the granite market with no prior quarrying experience, under pressure to produce quickly enough to secure national infrastructure contracts.
The problem was not the machines. It was that nobody on the client’s side yet knew which machines, in what quantity, in what order. The risk was buying a mismatched fleet and discovering it on the bench.
What we supplied:
- A complete extraction fleet of diamond wire saws and drilling machines, specified against their target output rather than from a catalogue
- Installation, operator training and on-site technical supervision through the first production runs
- Continuing advice on extraction layout, yield and equipment scaling as output grew
“Thanks to SET MAKINA’s complete support, we went from concept to full-scale granite production faster than we thought possible. Their machines work flawlessly, and their team feels like an extension of ours.”
— Operations Director, Gulf region quarrying company
Client name and site identifiers have been modified for confidentiality. All performance observations reflect actual field usage and direct operator feedback.
Questions we get asked
Should I drill and split, or use diamond wire?
Both, in most quarries. The joint pattern in your deposit decides the balance. Send photographs of the face and we will give you an opinion before you spend anything.
Can I use the same wire saw on granite as on marble?
Not well. Granite needs a variable peripheral speed in roughly the 25–40 m/s range, where marble runs happily at a high steady speed. A marble-specified machine on a granite face burns consumables and cuts slowly.
What size compressor do I need?
It depends entirely on how many drills run at once. Pneumatic drilling is the dominant air load in a granite quarry, so sizing the compressor is the first calculation rather than the last. Give us the drill count and we will size it.
How deep can you drill?
Our column machines work to about 30 m. Beyond that we are not the right supplier and will say so.
Do you supply a complete quarry, or individual machines?
Both. The Gulf project above was a complete fleet with training and supervision; we equally supply one drill to an operation that already knows what it is doing.
How many machines do I need for my output?
Tell us the target in cubic metres per month. Our published reference list is built around 1,000 m³/month and we scale from there.
Do you handle the processing side as well?
No. We stop at the block. Our only processing product is the polishing head for slab lines.
Where are the machines made, and what about parts?
Ankara, since 1991. Parts and technical answers come from the people who built the machine rather than through a distributor.
Tell us the deposit, not the model number
The stone, the joint pattern, the output you are planning for and the air you have available. We come back with the method, the machine list and the compressor it needs. If your project sits outside what we build, we will tell you that instead.
Case Studies
Sustainable Quarry Growth in the Gulf Region
A newly formed mining company in the Gulf region aiming to enter the granite market with no prior quarrying experience.
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