Do-It-Yourself Well Driller

Do-It-Yourself Well Driller FARM HOME Miscellaneous 90-10-63 Like Loy Robinson, you can drill your own well. With luck, you may even be able to do it for $400 like he did. You can do the research and figure out how to fabricate a drill bit, rig a pole and boom, learn how to install screens, casing and other essentials. Or, you can buy his book, Drill Your Own Water Well, and just follow the instructions. "For years, I dreamed of drilling my own well, studying every book and CD or internet source I could find on drilling a well," says Robinson. "Most of the rigs I priced ran from half to the full cost of what a professional would charge to dig the well." Robinson needed cheap water for his greenhouse and nursery operation. What he discovered was a method called percussion drilling, a simple age-old system. He designed and built his own tools and even came up with a novel method using a cement mixer to power the lifting of the tools. "The idea is a simple one," he explains. "You raise and drop a weighted chisel blade into a hole to which a few inches of water have been added. The chopping action breaks up and blends the earth into a slurry. Then you remove the chisel and lower a bailer tool that removes the slurry. "I drilled two wells myself with this method," he says. "The first hit a natural spring at 17 ft., but I went down to 39 ft. My second well is at just 80 ft., but this method has been used to drill wells hundreds of feet deep. All you need is enough pipe, a leaf spring from an old automobile, rope, bolts, gasket material and a pulley." Robinson has his book on a CD priced at $11.49 plus $3.50 shipping, or it can be downloaded from his website for $9.99. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lost Creek Greenhouse Systems, 245 C.R. 2651, Mineola, Texas 75773 (ph 903 569-8541; herbs@lostcreek.net; www.lostcreek.net).

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