Patent attributes
A method of unthreading an up-hole drill rod from a down-hole drill rod includes breaking a joint using a first vise and a second vise, the second vise being in a first axial position, rotating the up-hole drill rod to fully unthread the up-hole drill rod from the down-hole drill rod, moving the second vise to a second axial position and moving the unthreaded up-hole drill rod away from the down-hole drill rod and into alignment with a rod loading region of the rod storage structure, after the up-hole drill rod is aligned with the rod loading region of the rod storage structure, extending the rod handling device to receive the up-hole drill rod in rod receivers, moving the second vise axially to the first axial position, and retracting the rod handling device to move the up-hole drill rod to the rod storage structure.
