/diy/ - Do It Yourself

maybe you should get some support beams or somethin...

>>191542

what he said. You don't want cave-ins.

Ok, I don't know if you're trolling or something but assuming you aren't then I'd rather you didn't die horribly underground.
So, as said above, make sure you suitably support the tunnel and have solid walls.

A lesser known hint outside of the mining industry: Don't dig flat floors, make them slightly concave, this will improve the strength of your walls due to MATH.

Having said that, please don't rely solely on information gathered from 4chan of all places, read up on this if you're being serious and it can become a very fulfilling hobby.

>>191557
No, not trolling. If you can send me any .pdfs or serious websites on the topic I'd appreciate it. I really enjoyed the time i spent on the last one. I was just wondering if any contractors or anything browsed /diy/ and could offer tips mostly for efficient digging.

Don't ever, EVER, be in your tunnel with headphones or something on.

If things start shifting you will have just moments to get clear and very often the first warning is noise, ignore the noises underground at your peril because they can literally be your only warning that the ceiling is about to become the floor.

bump for interest

Lol, not op.
When I was atalented /diy/er#44; I started tunneling under our driveway from a 7 ft deep hole I had dug the day before. My parents stopped me, since they didn't want me to die.

I was seriously autistic for holes. I would dig usually one 7 ft deep hole everyday, with about a 5 foot diameter, day after day, for about 4 years of my childhood. Shit, makes me want to dig a hole right now; sucks I live in a suburban neighborhood now... no where to dig, not to mention I am 21.

>>191572
also, after I dug the hole, I'd get a drink, sit in it, felt nice in cold in there during a hot day, then I'd fill it back up and just do it the next day again again and again

>>191572
40 acres, 17, really cool parents. Autistic for living in places i shouldnt be able to aka treehouses (my current bedroom is a fully functional one). Have any suggestions on digging poster?

>>191577
I'm the same way. I don't need much to live to my desired level of comfort. If I weren't worried about noxious releases of deadly gases and 1 minute flash floods, I probably go live in a sewer, tap into free electricity, tap into free municipality water and be a drifter. Probably crack someones wep key and get free internet too. Unfortunately that lifestyle is drastically unrealistic, so I think I will go live out in the Appalachian trail somewhere as an alternative.

Digging tip # 1 Stand on shovel, put weight into it, maybe even jump on it with both feet if you got the cordination
Digging tip # 2 Dig

Great to see some other diggers, is impossible to find any good info on tunneling through googleing. I always found it easiest to dig along the center of a hole and then collapse the edges in through standing on the spade and leaning back. Is good for clay because it stays in large chunks which are easier to chuck out.

>>191583
When i was 15 ish I dug an enormous hole/trench which i wanted to then dig a tunnel through the wall off, unfortunately i'd dug the hole in summer and didn't know about water levels so it flooded and partly collapsed in the winter.

>>191572
Stanley?

>>191583
any tips for digging horizantally into clay?

>>191588

its the easiest way

I have been WAITING for a thread like this!

>Remember to check with the mayor of the local town to make sure you have the proper class of license to be digging.

>Check EVERY hole you see - you never know what useful stuff you could find in there. It could be used to build a new sub-weapon, or be put on display at the museum.

>If you find a large refractor that is locked behind a door or energy shield, you're going to have to search out the keys - there are almost always 3, so keep a sharp eye out.

>ALWAYS be prepared to jump away from treasure boxes, since some of them can be trapped.

>Your buster is a good standard weapon, but it's idea to have a proper long-range sub-weapon to take care of those really powerful reaverbots from a safe distance.

>Circle strafing wins almost every battle.

>Roll will never shut the fuck up with useless information. Just press triangle to skip her dialogue.

>>191595
good idea, i'll see about it
>>191592
thanks for the great advice, got excited when i saw the black text, got progressively more dissapointed

I plan on digging out a hill and building a network of tunnels with multiple levels using concrete culverts, slowly refilling and expanding the hills, having a small reservoir close by.

im not sure if this is helpful, but you may read
"strom of steal" from ernst juenger. they had a hard time digging themselfs into the french soil.

what i remember: use your pickaxe on the lower part of the tunnel. the dirt might crumble by itself.

I have a backhoe and (had) a digging fetish like you. Clay has no support and caves in very easily. There is no point in trying to put in support beams as clay has no real structure. You can't tunnel clay. Has to be rock of some kind.

You can dig a hole, pour concrete or build out of blocks then cover.

>>191595
I hereby found the International Diggers Association!

>>191601
aww, thats so dissapointing. It seems incredibly hard to dig out, i can't believe there's no structure, should i dig through the layer? its supposed to only be a few meters deep in the area.
>>191598
good luck, im hoping to dig out a room at a certain distance, see how it goes
>>191599
I remember reading that war resources were always the best, that led me to the great escape movie, from like 1954, loved it cause of the digging

>>191588
Keep the tunnel as small as possible and constantly at an angle. The size makes supports more effective the angle gives you more of a chance to gtfo if it starts collapsing. As for the digging itself using a full size spade will just tire you out try and get some hand tools that aren't flimsy little things then it just takes some time and hard work.

>>191609
I was digging into a hill made 50 years earlier from a pond that was 100% clay and stones around fist to torso sized. The hole was around 6 ft tall 8 ft wide and I got back to 8 to 10 feet deep before the ceiling started coming down in chunks. The ceiling was at least 8 to 12 ft thick. It didn't cave in all at once. It would dry out and crack then fall in chunks when it rained.

what sort of guide lines should the IDA have?

>autism and tunneling

holy shit the minecraft jokes were true

buried shipping containers shit storm imminent

shameless self-bumb

Sweet, I didn't know there were other tunnelfags on here

What are some good references on how to shore up the walls and ceiling, so they don't cave in and trap you Chilean miner style?

>irl minecraft

I have never heard of this hobby before, but it is so inexplicably interesting to read about now

are there any large online tunneling communities? links?

Well, right off the bat I got to tell you that its a really bad idea, and once you start "getting anywhere good" youve got a very good chance of killing yourself.

That being said...A lot of the tips on here are pretty good advice. I say you definitely need to keep the back (roof) arched, and keep the ribs (walls) just barely wide enough to work comfortably. I never heard of a rounded sill(floor) but in dirt it actually makes pretty good sense.

As for opening up a room...I really dont think its going to work. As soon as you open up any span of open ground, it will sag and fail. I work underground, and in our intersections were limited to a 30 foot radius in out intersections or else we have to put in all sorts of extra ground support....

I could rant on and on....Bottom line is its not a good idea AT ALL, and if you want to tunnel, do it in rock.

(8 years experience mining gold, cut and fill, few stopes)

wacko italian tunnel commune? http://www.damanhur.org/ http://www.religioustolerance.org/damanhur.htm

ITT: Hobbits.

>>191779
I think everyone must either die or give up there is barely any info available

To make a small room it would be best to collapse the roof over it then build a support structure and then re cover it with your soil. Otherwise its just way too difficult and would make a mess of any tunnel you've dug. But if you're determined to try i recommend using pallets along the roof section and of course wooden struts holding them up..How you can do that before the roof collapses though i can't say and you'd need to cut the pallets small enough to fit down your tunnel.

>>191805
whoa ain't that some shit brah

Digger checking in. God I used to love digging holes.

Now I do it all the time at work. I've learned that >>191592 definitely knows whats up.

Also, backing up what was said about having clay over your head. Very bad idea.

The pallet idea seems genius, if you absolutely must do this. Easy to find, basically pre-built support.

Basically, I'd advise abandoning the horizontal tunneling and stick to the vertical. If you want a tunnel, build a roof over your vertical hole and cover it with dirt again.

support support support. Unless it's solid rock it aint got shit for stability.

>>191537

Out of curiosity, where do you live, OP?

underground miner here again.....

Another idea Ive tossed around is a vertical shaft, so that I could get down to the bedrock....It will cost a bit of money but bear with me...

They make inter-locking concrete culvert....basically you could dig down 4 feet,(mostly survivable if it collapses) and drop a section of culvert in your hole. set the next culvert on top in place, and dig out under the lowest culvert. be careful and let the culvert slide down as you dig deeper, constantly replacing the top with new sections....You will end up with a safe shaft thats reinforced, as you dig deeper.

I still think your crazy trying to dig through dirt though...You need to look up the statistics...Not only on tunneling underground, but also on how many people die in trenches every year...If the proper safety precautions arent taken...You are really testing your luck

The sudden flashbacks of leading kids at the park to digging tunnels we could fit through.
man, I wish my dad would have let me finish the hole I started when I was nine, I wanted to just keep digging it forever and make a house out of it.

depending on the grade of clay, it could be used for building materials above ground or other projects. This of course, involves you building a kiln, but it might be worth looking into as it can become a resource for a lot of other projects as well.

I love this thread.

Dig on, diggers.

>>191537

I fucking hate this thread. Every time I see the thumbnail I instantly think it's a disgusting gaping hairy pimpled pale white ass hole with the most liquid diarrhea I have ever seen flowing out.

>>193558
Violates Global Rule #5
Reported

>>193563

No it doesn't.

>>193563
You just violated global rule number seven by announcing a report.

>>193587
This.

>>193563
lol retard. go back to reddit.

if the mexicans can build tunnels under the border, you can too. And they strech for miles!

Cartels built a rail work system under ground and used cinder blocks to support the walls and concrete on the floor. Look up some of the news stories on mexicans building tunnels. I read an article that went into great detail on how some of the sophisticated ones were like.

>>193592
>lol retard for obeying the rules
Do you WANT this to turn into another bastardized /b/?

I've rather enjoyed /diy/ being so much more civilized than most older boards.

>>193652

the thing you should notice when researching these tunnels is how much they supported the fuck outta them

>>193652
>>193924

I live in southern Arizona, and you hear a couple times a year about giant sinkholes in Nogales, and other border towns they tunnel under the border, where their tunnels have collapsed.

>>193592
reddit can suck my ass

>>193707
He's the only one that broke a rule though, and that was when he announced his report. Nobody violated number 5. And we are all violating number 6.

I have plans for a small tunnelsystem up in the mountains, near my hometown. I've read about firesetting. But, how efficient is it?

Or should I only use pickaxe, sledgehammer, and such?

Yes, it is solid rock i'm about to bang.

>>193926
Sierra Vista fag
>When I was atalented /diy/erme and my cousins dug a burrow a good 6 into and under the ground.
>Abandoned project after hell spiders moved in

>>194353
Underground miner here....

If you mean fire setting like....Using fire to heat up the rock for a good amount of time, then throwing cold water on it to make it fracture....Your insane....Not only are you risking life and limb, your feet of advance will be like....2...and it will be a random shape that wont help you support the ground above you....

Heres a better idea....Hilti makes a hammer drill, and you can drill holes about 2 feet deep.....You can google drill patterns, or I could even try to draw one out for you.......You would need extra reliever holes, and a bit of money but you can buy dexpan on the internet, which is meant to break quarry rock...but with the right drill pattern you can advance your heading....also, if your not a felon, you could probably get a powder license fairly easyif you dont mind the paperwork.

U/G miner again.....I'll try and put my money where my mouth is..

Typical round we drill has 36 inch centers...meaning between each hole is 3 feet.....I can pull a round with wider spacing but company "standard" is 36 inches.....If I were tunneling, and I was using dexpan, I would line drill the outer ring of holes, meaning I would either drill a double line of holes 4 inches apart, or I would cut the distance between the holes in half....about 18 inches apart....with dexpan, you need a lot more relievers...which are dead holes NOT filled with product, so that as the rock breaks, it has somewhere to break to......

Now....In a typical round, the holes are layed out in a grid....evenly spaced....but in the center, you have a "burn"...or "the cut"...This is the first part of the round that goes off, to create a void (through blasting into dead holes) to which the whole rest of the round is blasted into.....If your using dexpan, you can probably skip the burn, since it will all be expanding at the same time...instead, you will have to drill dead holes in between each box created by the grid.....what we call "5 spots"....even if you manage to break teh rock, it will still need to be broken loose with a pick axe, but at least you will be able to control the ground your breaking, and hopefully keep it small so you wont need ground support...

Hey Revene!

>>194493

Thanks!! Now I won't kill myself.

(actually didn't thought of throwing water on it, just let it burn out, then use a pickaxe or such at the cracked rock) scratch that plan, anyway

high power and flow pressure washer... cut into it with the jet then break away.

>>194477
There is a completely legal explosive you can use: tannerite.

Now I'll be watching the news for some idiot blowing himself up in a hole in the ground.

You should probably also point out that in mines, they also have all kinds of support structures to ensure there's no cave in when they shoot.

>>195127
U/G Miner...

Your right about the tannerite....But in a typical round, the caps are timed...sure the round goes off in one shot, but the burn goes off first, then it goes off in ever widening circles(basically)...the caps are timed apart by only milliseconds, but the timing of the round makes a HUGE difference....also tannerite is crazy expensive when you start adding up how much you will use...where a 44 pound box of dexpan powder costs 90 bucks....

>>195127
I could point out that ground support is used in a lot of mines....but were talking drifts that span large distances...like a 15 by 15 foot drift, or even bigger....One of my hobbies is exploring old abandoned mines, and they typically stay small...no more than 4 foot wide, barely over 6 foot tall, and they have ZERO ground support...and some of them have been standing for over ONE HUNDRED YEARS with very little loose rock, or any ground falls at all.....The difference being, they were mined in real ROCK....not clay or dirt.....

As for the pressure washer....It would work amazing for cutting the clay and dirt, but the water would soak in and weaken the back and ribs...Which brings me to another thought...

Timbering....Back in the day, before they started using rock bolts and mesh and belts, they would use wood timbering to support the ground.....I honestly dont know anything about it except they never really used anything smaller than a 4X4, so the pallet idea you heard earlier probably wouldnt work....im thinking if your really gung ho you could use railroad ties......You really need to put a lot of effort into research though because its a lost art

I breathe into you the breath of life!