DM650: Easier Fieldwork = Easier Life

When septic system work slowed in 1999, James Dake picked up a job as a drill rig helper. 

“It got into my blood I guess and just went from there,” Dake said. “It’s probably the only thing I’ll do until I can’t.”

By 2007, he launched Affordable Water Well Services with a table-drive rig, focusing on domestic water wells within a 100-mile radius of their Texas shop. Later he added two used T3 Ingersoll-Rand rigs. Eventually he wanted something new.

“We wanted a rig to do a little deeper drilling. A different style rig to see how they compare. A rig that’s going to do the job no matter the site,” Dake said. “When you’ve been in business so long, you want to eventually buy a new rig. You want to run something new before you croak.”

At the National Groundwater Show in Las Vegas the DM650 stood out. 

“The DM650 being primarily mechanical controls was a convincing factor,” Dake said. “We shouldn’t have too many electrical issues in the future.”

The biggest surprise? Speed.

“We drilled, cased, gravel packed, and ran water on a 440-foot hole — all between 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.,” Dake said. “Because you can rotate all the way out of the hole, you can ream the hole coming out.”

He also appreciates the ability to work both sides of the winch coming out of the hole.

“You can place rods in the carousel while the other guy moves them out of the carousel and lays it down in the rod box,” Dake said. “There’s no downtime coming out of the hole and no slow down laying down pipe.”

Other advantages of their DM650 include:

• Extra workspace around the casing with the extended table

• Smooth mud circulation on 500-foot wells with the centrifugal pump

“We’re more productive and can take on more, deeper wells because we’re able to get through the 800 -1,000-foot wells faster,” Dake said. “It makes life easier and makes it so we get home quicker.”

And when parts are needed, support is simple.

“Geoprobe^® is a one-stop-shop,” Dake said. “If anything breaks, we have one place to call and find what we need.”