SC DRILLTECH · FAILURE GALLERY Read the equipment failure references.
What failure looks like inside the machine.
Every common solids-control failure, drawn in cross-section the way it actually happens on the rig — each one linked straight to the field fix.
Bowl solids build-up
ACTTorque baseline creeping up shift over shift; vibration after restart.
Cake accumulating faster than the scroll clears it — usually a missed flush at shutdown.
Build-up can increase imbalance, torque and pack-off risk; it is not the cause of every torque trip.
Scroll flight wear
SCHEDULEDHigher torque at the same feed than a month ago; cake won't dry.
Abrasive solids erode the flight tips, so each turn conveys less cake.
Rising torque and wet discard — lost recovery and run-time.
Bearing damage
STOPConstant high vibration on a clean, empty bowl; heat/noise at a housing.
Lubrication failure or wear on a heavily loaded high-speed bearing.
Continued operation can cause serious damage. Stop and isolate according to OEM and site procedures; the time to failure cannot be predicted from this symptom.
Wet solids
MONITORSloppy, smearing cake instead of dry, crumbling discharge.
Pond too deep, feed too fast, or G below the dewatering duty.
Recoverable fluid leaving with the discard — dilution climbs.
Screen blinding
ACTDeck flooding while panels look packed (not holed).
Near-size particles lodge in the openings and plug the mesh.
Fine solids bypass the cheapest removal stage — dilution rises.
Screen failure (holed / torn)
ACTLGS / sand rising while the shaker looks normal.
Improper tensioning, worn deck rubbers, or shock loading tears the cloth.
Quiet bypass of unscreened solids — loads the whole train.
Wet cuttings / flooding
ACTFluid carried over the discharge end; no defined beach.
Screen too fine for the load, mismanaged pool, or uneven feed.
Whole mud lost over the end — direct fluid loss + waste.
Solids bypassing the screen
ACTLGS climbing with the shaker apparently fine.
A path around the mesh — failed gasket, holed panel, or open bypass gate.
Unscreened solids enter the active system invisibly.
Cone roping
ACTApex discharging a dense rope rather than a spray; confirm actual manifold pressure and flow.
High solids loading or a restricted/undersized apex may cause roping. Check feed duty, rheology and wear against OEM guidance; appearance alone does not identify pump wear.
Roping can impair classification and send more solids to overflow; measure stream flow and solids concentration before quantifying removal.
Cone plugging
ACTA dry, silent apex — no discharge from one or more cones.
Apex too small, or trash / LCM with no protective screen upstream.
Dead cones send their fines straight back to the mud.
Apex wear / low underflow
MONITORThin, watery apex discharge carrying little solids.
Check apex dimensions, feed head and flow, loading and discharge sampling. Watery discharge alone does not prove apex wear.
Spray appearance alone does not quantify removal. Check the solids balance and material identity before attributing an LGS trend to the cones.
Mud system failures
Failure reference
Mud-gun nozzle erosion
MONITORA gun's jet gone weak and wide; settling where it used to sweep.
Abrasive solids at high velocity wash out the nozzle bore.
Lost agitation — dead zones form and solids settle.
Agitator blade wear
MONITORSettling despite the agitator running; weak surface pattern.
Abrasive wear thins the impeller blades, so they move less mud.
Failing suspension — barite-sag risk on weighted mud.
Tank dead zones
MONITORSolids bed in corners; properties differ before / after stirring.
Agitator / gun coverage leaving corners unswept.
Lost active volume; solids re-suspend as a slug.
Built from the field, drawn for clarity
These are engineering illustrations of real failure modes — accurate to the mechanism, owned by SC DrillTech, and consistent across the library. Seeing a failure on your rig? Request a remote evaluation.
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