I work in a rock quarry where we have to drill holes (3" diameter hole, around 20 feet deep) in rock benches in order to conduct the wire sawing process. After drilling one hole it becomes very difficult to intersect the second and third drill holes (please see attached photo) using the traditional method so often we end up drilling a couple of times to intersect those holes.
After watching a couple Arduino projects
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkLZ3y6Mg1A, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhbV1p3MWk)
I was thinking about using two accelerometers with Arduino to find the right angle and position for the drill. So, after drilling the hole first accelerometer would be used to set the angle and position of the first drillhole. A second accelerometer would be installed on the axis of the drill steel and adjust the drill to the right position until it intersects with the first accelerometer axis. When it intersects Arduino could give a signal (visual, sound, or LED) indicating it is ready to drill.
Would it be doable with accelerometers? if yes, what codes can I use to detect axis intersections?
If not, are there any better ideas?
I would appreciate any help, thanks.
The depth of the drill hole is not important as long as the second (and third) drilhole axis intersects with any place on first drilled axis and vice versa.
Really! How did you determine the intersection point without knowing it's location. It will always be at the bottom of the first hole. Did we miss a geometry lesson somewhere?
Oh I see what you mean. Of course, the picture is just a draft to describe the idea. In real life, quarry benches are not perfectly squared as illustrated in the above picture. The main concern is defining the angle of 2nd and 3rd drill hole
Your are dealing with 3-dimentional space. You need TWO angles to direct the drill to the end of the first hole. If either is wrong, you will miss the connection to the end of the first hole.
Do you recall school work using triangles to find angles?
As @Paul_KD7HB says, you need to position the drill precisely in 3 axes every time. Your positioning error can't be more than 0.35 degrees or you will miss the intersecting hole. Actually the positioning error has to be half that: 0.175 degrees since the total position errors need to be under 0.35deg.
Good luck. It should be doable in theory, but this is not going to be easy. In practice, the drill bit will wander and I'm pretty sure it will wander by more than the tolerance you need to hold to do this.
