Gun Drilling for Agricultural Sprayer Boom Components
Agricultural sprayer booms are long, lightweight structures that fold out from the sprayer to apply pesticides and fertilizers. They need several types of deep holes — through-holes for fluid passages and cross-holes for nozzle mounting. Over the years I’ve drilled literally thousands of these boom sections, and there are nuances that don’t show up in any textbook. The boom sections are typically made from aluminum or stainless steel tubing. Aluminum is common for weight reduction — a 30-meter boom set made from 6061-T6 aluminum weighs roughly 40% less than an equivalent 304 stainless build. A typical boom section might have a 20mm through-hole running the full length for the spray fluid, with 6mm cross-holes at regular intervals for the nozzle bodies. ...