If you had always dreamed of having your own tunnelador or an industrial crane, good news: they are in Aliexpress

If there is an absolutely reference country in the field of tunneladoras, that is China. The funny thing is that these industrial machines can be found and buy very easily: it is enough to take a walk through Aliexpress or Alibaba to see them already prepared the sale along with other machines in the field of construction such as Cranes for containers.

Second -hand tunneladoras. As Point out The specialized medium JR Urbane Network in X, it is possible to find second -hand tunneladoras in Alibaba or Aliexpress. It is enough to search for its conventional name (Tunnel Boring Machines, TBM) so that among the results a good number of them appear. As this media explained, China Recycle these tunneladoras and reuse them in different underground projects.

Prices. The image machine, the CTE6250, is a medium -sized TBM with a weight of 500 tons and a six meter shield diameter. This model is Available in Alibaba for $ 688,000. A “micro machine” of “underground elevation” without excavation and with a six -meter shield diameter is $ 288,000. If we want it bigger, 9.1 meters in diameter, we will have to pay $ 748,000although taking it home will not be easy: it weighs 1,150 tons. Its manufacturer, the company Gansu Technology Equipment CO, has various models available in Alibaba.

How TBM operates. These machines go beyond being a gigantic and powerful drill: in addition to the rotating cutting device, the tunnelador is equipped with a equipment that allows it to collect the rubble that is generated as the galleries open and stabilizes its structure. In addition, models that excavate underwater tunnel Hermetic mixture special and prefabricated and intertwined concrete blocks.

Giant tunneladoras. In July 2023 we already talked about the Tunnel Mixshield S-880 “Qin Liangyu”. It was designed for the underwater tunnel project Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok in Hong Kong, and served to dig a stretch of about 5 km under the sea. It measures 120 meters long, weighs 4,850 tons and most importantly: the diameter of its shield is 17.63 meters. She is the largest tunnelador in the world. Although the tunnelador was manufactured in Germany by the company Herrenknecht Agthe assembly and operation was carried out in one of the factories of this company in China. Excavates about 30 meters of tunnel a day and is officially The largest TBM in the world According to the Guinness book of records.

China winning Germany. We already have a candidate to overcome it: The Jianghaideveloped by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry (CRCHI) and the so -called China Railway 14th Bureau Group. This machine weighs about 5,000 tons, measures 145 meters long and has a shield diameter of 16.64 meters. The goal is to use it to build a tunnel that cross the Yangtsé River in the Chinese province of Jiangsu, between Nantong and Suzhou.

And many industrial machines. A TBMS search in Aliexpress Not only offers offers for this type of machines, but for many other of this segment – perforas, industrial milling machines – and even cranes for maritime transport containers. In Amazon it is possible to find excavators/milling machines of “small” dimensions (1.8 m in diameter) for about $ 25,000, but the Chinese machines are at another level.

Musk’s are small. It is not the only one in its class. Much more recently We met the Shanhe tunnelador163 meters long, 5,200 tons of weight and 17.5 meters in shield diameter. This machine is used to build the world’s largest diameter submarine tunnel. The company The Boring Company created by Elon Musk uses much smaller, almost “portable” tunneladoras: the PRUFROCKfor example, it has a shield diameter of 3.6 meters, although that allows it to dig much faster: approximately 1.6 kilometers per month.

China, referent. In China Daily They point How 7 out of 10 tunneladoras sold in the world are Chinese, and within the country 95% of these machines are also of national manufacture. As in other industries, there is a strong commitment to self -sufficiency and technological domain in key areas like this. Although the largest are Herrenknecht, companies such as China Railway Engineering Equipment Group (CREG) have been one of the market leaders in manufacturing and sale of tunneladoras for years.

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