Borehole Winches
A.G.O. has been building winches for borehole applications in the geophysics and mining industries since the company’s conception in 1986.
Our borehole winches are primarily manual or drill-drive units to help reduce overall weight, or can sometimes be motorized for higher-load applications. All motorized winches also include manual backup functionality for redundancy.
Disclaimer
Listing of any companies and their payloads in association with any of the winches below does not confer any sort of exclusivity agreement between A.G.O. and the listed companies for winch sales for the listed payloads. Companies and clients are free to source winches from alternative sources for the listed payloads. The sample applications listed below are merely examples of ways that A.G.O.’s winches have been used for potential clients to consider when sourcing equipment.
PID-03
The PID-03 is our flagship borehole winch design. It centers around being highly disassembleable and facilitating swappable drums so that one winch frame can be used with multiple different cables. PID-03 drums can either be “dummy” drums for non-signal line, or signal drums with the standard PID-03 slip ring.
The PID-03 can be optionally upgraded to include a removable motorized drivetrain in addition to the manual drivetrain, as well as a removable winch-mounted tripod/boom assembly for light-duty applications.
Sample applications
PID-03 winches have been configured for:
- 1100m of 3/16″ 4-conductor steel-armoured cable + EMIT DigiAtlantis magnetometer probe
- 1500m of 1/8″ wire rope + Westbay Instruments borehole probes
- 1900m of 1/8″ wire rope + Novaminex borehole probe
- 2000m of 3mm insulated wire + Boliden DHEM probe
DBW-5
The DBW-5 is usually quoted for clients and applications that require features like levelwinds or more frame enclosure for safety that the PID-03 can’t facilitate.
The DBW-5 is an electric winch that can run on 110VAC 1-ph or 220VAC 1-ph power, and also includes manual backup functionality.
It cannot support swappable drums or a removable electric drivetrain like the PID-03. It can support a wide selection of slip rings including our AGO-HFRJ coax slip rings. It can also be outfitted with a removable boom assembly.
Sample applications
DBW-5 winches have been configured for:
- 3000m of 0.111″ Kevlar rope + 20lb borehole probe
- 1000m of 3/16″ 4-conductor steel-armoured cable + EMIT DigiAtlantis borehole magnetometer probe
"Black Swan" series
The Black Swan series is a limited run of ultra-compact winches built to repurpose surplus parts into useful winches that are popular for lower-load borehole-type applications.
Each is Black Swan is unique though the overall winch structure is similar across all Black Swan winches. Black Swan winches cannot support a levelwind. They are usually built to support manual or electric operation with a small low-power motor.
Dimensions and weight vary by build but are typically ~24″ x 24″ x 24″ in size and ~60-90lbs sans cable.
Sample applications
Black Swan winches have been configured for:
- 75m of 1/4″ wire rope + up to 30lb borehole probe
- 130m of 4-conductor soft cable + up to 100lb borehole probe
