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Underground, electricity is a risk and every kilo matters. On surface, the metre drilled decides the cost. They are two different jobs, and they do not call for the same machines.
This page sets out what we supply for mining — pneumatic drilling underground and on surface, down-the-hole hammers, drilling tools and pneumatic drives — how to choose between the two families, and where our range stops. SET MAKINA has built this equipment in Ankara since 1991 and supplies operators in more than 40 countries.
The short version, if you are only here for a minute
- Hand-held and air-leg drills, 32–45 mm, 18–26 kg. A vertical stoper for roof and uphole work. A pneumatic unit on a support for repetitive drifting. Fully air-driven, so there is no spark source at the face.
- On surface: column drills 76–102 mm to about 30 m, a self-propelled crawler where there is no air network, and down-the-hole hammers from 75 mm.
- Pneumatic motors and gearboxes to drive a pump, winch, conveyor or fan where an electric motor does not belong.
- Size the air first. 7 bar working pressure and a minimum 5 m³/min per drilling station. An undersized compressor caps the whole operation.
- What we do not do: nothing above 102 mm, no water-well, geothermal, oil or gas, no boom jumbos or bolting rigs, no loaders or trucks, no crushing or ore processing, no explosives, no compressors.
Two different jobs under one word
Most of the specification errors we see start here: equipment chosen for the operation next door rather than for this one.
Underground
Drifts, development headings, tunnels, stopes. Space is confined, the air is humid and abrasive, and in a gassy mine a single spark is not negotiable. The drilling is done at the roof, at the ribs and uphole — positions where the weight of the tool and the operator’s fatigue matter as much as penetration rate.
What wins here: a light tool with no spark source, repairable at the face, and an air line sized properly.
On surface
Open-pit mines, aggregate quarries, overburden stripping. The work is measured in metres drilled per shift: consistent production holes, depth and straightness held, and a fleet sized so the next shot is ready on time.
What wins here: a down-the-hole hammer for diameters above 75 mm, a column or crawler rig depending on access, and compressor capacity before anything else.
Top hammer or down-the-hole? It is the question we get asked most, and the answer comes from diameter and depth, not from brand. Broadly: top hammer is faster and cheaper on short, small-diameter holes; down-the-hole keeps its speed and straightness as the hole gets longer. Past a certain depth a top hammer loses its energy in the rods.
Read more: DTH hammer vs. top hammer drilling · Hand-held vs. air-leg rock drill
Which machine for which job
Find your job in the left-hand column. Full diameters and depths are on each product page.
| The job | The machine | The figure that decides it | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horizontal drilling in drifts and development headings | Hand-held or air-leg drill | 32 to 45 mm, 18 to 26 kg | Weight and bulk decide what an operator can hold for a full shift |
| Roof and uphole drilling | Vertical drill (stoper) | The working position, not the diameter | A hand-held drill held above the head is not a production solution |
| Repetitive drifting, underground coal | Pneumatic drilling unit on a support | Fully pneumatic drive | No electricity at the face means no spark source |
| Surface production holes, 76 to 102 mm | Column drill, pneumatic or hydraulic | To about 30 m depth | The column holds the straightness a blasthole needs |
| Same work, no air network on site | Self-propelled crawler rig | Brings its own power | A new site has no fixed compressor and no reticulation |
| Diameters above 75 mm, deep holes | Down-the-hole hammer | From 75 mm | Energy is delivered at the bottom of the hole, not lost in the rods |
| Driving a pump, winch, conveyor or fan at the face | Pneumatic motor and gearbox | Adjustable speed and torque | An air motor does not overheat, does not burn out, and makes no spark |
The constraint most people miss. Before the machines, size the air. In a mine or quarry mechanised on compressed air, an undersized compressor caps the whole operation no matter what else you bought. Give us the number of drilling stations running at once and we will work out the flow you need — it is the first calculation, not the last.
Why compressed air is still the right answer underground
Four reasons, and none of them is a matter of preference.
- No spark source. In an atmosphere that may contain methane or combustible dust, a fully pneumatic drive removes the risk at source instead of containing it.
- Humidity and abrasion do not kill it. That is the leading cause of electrical equipment failure at the face. An air tool is indifferent to it.
- It does not burn out under stall. A stalled pneumatic motor stops and restarts; a stalled electric motor destroys itself.
- It is repairable at the face. Few parts, no electronics, a set of seals and vanes. That is the difference between an hour lost and a shift lost.
The TIGER pneumatic rock drills and the pneumatic motors we supply carry CE and ATEX marking; the certification detail is stated model by model on each product page. If your site requires a particular zone classification, tell us before the specification rather than after.
The trade-off, and we will say it: compressed air is expensive to produce. That is exactly why sizing the network — diameters, lengths, leaks, line lubrication — weighs as heavily on cost per metre drilled as the machine itself. Read more: ATEX-certified drilling equipment and underground mining safety · ATEX pneumatic motors: underground, surface and normal use
The machines, and the figure that decides each one
Every machine below is one we build.
For underground
Hand-held & air-leg drills
Y20, Y24, YT24, YT28 — 32 to 45 mm, 18 to 26 kg. The choice comes down to the direction of the hole: hand-held for downward and horizontal, air-leg for supported horizontal and upward.
YSP45 vertical drill
Built to drill upward: roof, bolting, upward stoping. It is the working position that justifies it, not the diameter.
RD20 drilling unit on a support
Fully pneumatic, for repetitive drifting. The support takes the load the operator otherwise absorbs.
Pneumatic breaker
Clearing, toe work, secondary breaking. Where a hydraulic machine cannot get to, or should not go.
For surface
TIGERDRILL & HYDRODRILL
76 to 102 mm, to about 30 m. The production machine: blastholes, probe holes, anchor holes.
SMART DRILL diesel & electric
Self-propelled, bringing its own power — for sites with no compressed-air network and for faces that keep moving.
Down-the-hole hammers
From 75 mm. Energy is delivered straight to the bit: speed and straightness hold as the hole gets longer.
Bits, rods and shanks
The consumable that actually makes the hole — and the cost line most operations underestimate.
And what drives the rest
Pneumatic motors and gearboxes — to drive a dewatering pump, a winch, a conveyor, an agitator or a fan where an electric motor does not belong. Speed and torque adjustable at the regulator, and a loaded start that burns nothing out.
And the air line. Receivers, hose and fittings get the air to the station at working pressure; line lubricators are not optional — running a pneumatic tool without lubrication voids the warranty.
What we supply, and what we do not
Worth being clear about the edges before you spend time on a specification.
What we supply
- Hand-held, air-leg and vertical pneumatic rock drills, 32 to 45 mm
- Pneumatic drilling units on supports for underground work
- Column, mobile and self-propelled crawler drills, 76 to 102 mm, to about 30 m
- Down-the-hole hammers from 75 mm, and the bits for them
- Bits, rods, shanks and couplings
- Pneumatic breakers and plug hammers
- Pneumatic motors and gearboxes for industrial drives
- The air-line equipment all of it runs on
- Installation, operator training and on-site technical supervision
What we do not supply
- No drilling above 102 mm, and no water-well, geothermal, oil or gas equipment
- No boom jumbos and no bolting rigs — our underground units are drills and supports
- No loading or haulage equipment — no loaders, no LHDs, no trucks, no complete conveyor systems
- No crushing, screening, washing or ore processing plant
- No ventilation, ground support or dewatering as systems — we supply the pneumatic motor that drives them, not the installation
- No explosives, detonators or blasting services
- No compressors — we size the flow you need, buying it is yours
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 drilling machinery and writing down how to use it. A technical contribution presented with Istanbul Technical University, a handbook on block extraction and processing, and the maintenance manuals we publish free all come from the same habit: what we learn in the field, we write down.
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.
It is still the reading we point to for anyone sizing a compressed-air network.
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 is about block extraction and processing — so more quarry than mine — but the investment cost analysis and the compressed-air chapters are useful to anyone working a stone deposit.
The full text is free to download. The printed book is available on request and held in libraries.
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.
Case study: drilling the roof and ribs in an underground coal mine
A long-established underground coal operation in the Zonguldak Basin, Türkiye, known for high production standards and demanding conditions. The work to be modernised: roof and rib drilling in development headings.
What was holding it back. Electrical equipment failed repeatedly under humidity and abrasion. The machines available were heavy and high-vibration, so they tired the crews — and a tired operator drills less straight and less fast. Both problems showed up directly in daily advance rates.
What we supplied:
- TIGER pneumatic rock drills, fully air-driven, so there is no spark source at the face
- Compact, lighter machines, chosen for roof and sidewall drilling rather than for the datasheet
- Pressure control that holds from one shift to the next, so advance does not depend on which crew is on
- Genuine parts and bits, supplied by the manufacturer rather than through an intermediary
“Tiger products supplied by SET MAKINA have enabled our crews to work more safely, quickly, and with less effort. Even in conditions where other equipment failed, their reliability was proven.”
— Maintenance supervisor, underground coal mine
Client name and site identifiers have been modified for confidentiality. We publish no measured figures for this project: the observations above come from field use and direct operator feedback.
Questions we get asked
Are your drills suitable for a gassy mine?
TIGER pneumatic rock drills are driven entirely by compressed air: there is no electric motor at the face, so there is no spark source. CE and ATEX marking is stated model by model on the product pages. Tell us your site’s zone classification and we will confirm what applies.
Top hammer or down-the-hole for my production holes?
Give us the diameter, the depth and the rock hardness. As a rule top hammer is more economical on short, small-diameter holes, and down-the-hole takes over as soon as the hole gets longer or the diameter passes 75 mm.
What size compressor do I need?
It depends entirely on how many drilling stations run at once, and on your line lengths. We do not sell compressors, so we have no reason to oversize one: give us the fleet and we will work out the flow.
How deep and how wide can you drill?
Our column machines work 76 to 102 mm, to about 30 m. Beyond that we are not the right supplier and we will say so.
Do you do water-well or deep borehole drilling?
No. No deep water wells, no geothermal, no oil and gas. We get these enquiries regularly and we would rather say so straight away.
Can we mechanise a manual operation gradually?
Yes, and it is usually the right path. Start with hand-held drills and the air line, measure your cost per metre drilled, then add supports and down-the-hole as production justifies it. Buying the whole fleet at once is the fastest way to buy the wrong machine.
Do you supply bits and rods, or only machines?
Both. Drilling tools are a product range in their own right here — and since they are the most underestimated cost line in an operation, they are worth dealing with at the specification stage.
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.
Describe the operation, not the model number
Underground or surface, the rock, the hole diameter and depth, how many drilling stations, and the zone classification if there is one. We come back with the method, the machine list and the air flow it needs. If your project sits outside what we build, we will tell you that instead.
Case Studies
Safer and Faster Drilling in Challenging Underground Conditions
A long-established underground coal mining company operating in the Zonguldak Basin. Known for its high production standards and demanding conditions, the mine required modernization of its rib and roof drilling operations.
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