Boring Company Tour Part 2 ... Giga Texas Plans, TBM Design & Iteration, New Boring Machines & More!

This is part 2 of a two-part series that summarizes my recent tour of the Boring Company's Bastrop, Texas facility.

I would like to thank the Boring Company, especially Nick, David and Lisa for setting up this tour and for showing me around a fascinating location! Also, to the many employees I got to meet and talk with, thank you for making the day so special!

In this video, we look around the active Giga Texas tunneling site and look at the current plans for more than one tunnel at this location, plus the dual purpose of doing the tunnels here that benefits both Tesla and the Boring Company. I also discuss some of the innovations the Boring Company is doing with the design and production of new boring machines, and how this work parallels that of SpaceX and the Starship prototype testing and development process also underway.

In addition, look at the tunneling operations at Giga Texas and discuss two fundamental objectives the Boring Company has in the iterative design process and the overarching goal of the company to meet their near-, mid-, and long-term missions.

Did you know the Boring Company spun off from SpaceX and shares the same first-principles methodology of looking at challenges and developing solutions and the iterative design approach that SpaceX has made famous with the development of the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon Capsule and now the Starship system? These concepts drive the Boring Company and its employees forward as they try to solve traffic congestion, plan for high-speed "hyperloop" travel and in the longer-term, off-world tunneling operations!

In Part 1, we concentrated on the developments at the Bastrop, Texas main facility.

[davidsalisbury]

Following your comments that this may be the only use of Prufrock 3. It may have been decided that, due to the delay in the Tunnelling works, it will not be removed in its main component parts. The extension structure is being completed along the path that looked like it had been left for the TBM removal.
Plan B could use the ever more common method of removing all the back up decks back along the tunnel, right up to just leaving the cutterhead, bearing, bulkheads and shield skin behind. These are then butchered (lot of use of the gas axe) into handleable sections and scrapped. I have managed a number of projects where this and variations on the idea have been utilized.

[tfrancisco]

Brilliant and well done, Joe. Curiosity satisfied! I appreciate your comprehensive explanation of how these Boring Co. TBMs have evolved, developed and operate. More, more! Thanks for all your work on documenting and informing us. Bravo!

[ronking]

Thanks Joe. Wonderful as always. You have a great talent for technical presentation.

[WarrenLacefield]

As others mention, the tunnel exit point inside the building extension is most interesting - and we may not even get to see that happen, given the rate of extension construction as girders and floors and roofs join the main building. Looking down with the drone cameras, it is difficult to judge space sizes. Precision tunneling navigation is certainly required to avoid the building foundations and other existing underground structures, pipes, conduits, etc., as the tunnel exits. Very shortly, the two cranes inside will be carefully backing out themselves. TBM seems even bigger than the cranes. How and at what point in construction that will be extracted (using SPMTs supporting a jig?) seems unclear, although I'm sure all that is thoroughly planned. But Part 1 & 2 videos have sure helped to understand the process. Thank you, Joe.

[sthnguy]

Nice one Joe 😎
I feel a Las Vegas tunnelling update video coming..

[sagecoach]

Lots of speculation answered, and more imagined.
Another great job of research and organization of the story.
Thank you!

[AnthonyJacksonYBG]

Great work Joe. Watching from the UK. Enjoying all of your content

[rickfearn]

Exceptional presentation and analysis, Joe. Your best ever. Congratulations.

[davidsalisbury]

Very interesting. Confirms much of my understanding of what TBC are doing.
Remote (surface) control room is a good development for TBM's of this size. Keeps some people out of the tunnel, although the 4 man operation team seems a bit OTT in comparison to most TBM's (1 possibly 2 people).
Japanese contractors were experimenting with this some decades ago, largely driven by a shortage of experienced operators. Several TBM's operations could be managed from a central control room at the head office, possibly hundreds of miles from the site.
Similarly, a Herrenknecht AVN machine is a closed loop excavation, non man entry TBM, with all operations from the surface, and can be continuous mining (except the installation of the next pipe), these Pipekack TBM's are limited to about 4.1m diameter at present but another 150mm to get to the TBC diameter must be possible. The issue is the transport and size of the pipes.
It begs the question why not just buy one of these machines?
A 3.2m diameter one is operating a few km from me as we speak, launched from the surface, halfway up a hillside on a very small worksite.

I don't accept the porpoising approach claim that a smaller site is required. See the size of the site at Giga Texas, and the amount of land the TBM took up to exit the ground next to the golf course in your video. I have managed larger TBMs that had the whole operation working from a site the size of a basketball court, and an exit shaft in a site less than 6m x 6m, in some cases no exit shaft at all. Site constraints in dense urban environments often lead to some of the most imaginative technological solutions.

So Prufrock 3 is already heading for retirement, a far cry from the claims regarding its potential performance when it was "unveiled" last year. Lets see what versions 4 and 5 bring.

Thanks for all the effort Joe. Despite my cynicism, its great to see tunnel construction being discusses among a wider audience and your drone videos have been the backbone of this debate. Please keep it up.

[peteregan]

Joe, looks like you compared the Boring Co tunnel to railway tunnelling which is done on a far larger scale. The bored section of a railway route is generally a small part as the diameter is based on the minimum needed for the whole route. To save boring, the open part of the railway route is done by cutting, and the railway TBM sits in the cut. Railway TBMs also use a converyor to move earth from the TBM and they use rubber-tyred vehicles to bring segments into the tunnel.

[jbarvideo]

Thanks Joe for the very informative video and explanation of the Boring Company Tour Part 2. I would like to know more HOW porposing down and up is accomplished.

[scottkenyon]

Awesome video Joe! Answered so many questions I had about how this system actually works. Loved it! Thank you!

[petewangen-groovedrummer]

Joe, great job, this is so interesting. Pete

[miickyp]

Did anyone notice Joes small graphic at 2:02 showing TWO tunnels crossing under the highway. He never mentioned it in the video but 1st time seeing that maybe there will be more than 1 tunnel at that specific location!😊

[inqwit]

You rock. Thank you for this video and all the others you have brought to the channel.

[dgnjohnston]

Both of these videos were excellent!

VERY informative.

Thanks much Joe! 😀

[terryjagers]

Hi Joe, great to see you digging the dirt to get the story

[christover]

Enjoyed this so much I watched it twice. I cannot like it twice, though :)

[jamesdubben]

On the ground reporting at it's best!
Thanks Joe.

[terrysmith]

Great videos (as usual)
On a lighter note, your photos of Prufrock 2 at around the 20 minute mark sort of remind me of the Graboids from the movie series Tremors, the way they porpoise through the ground lol