Epiroc Industrial Tools and Attachments: Drilling Rig Specifications and Wholesale Cost Guide

This is a buying checklist, not a product overview. If you are responsible for sourcing Epiroc industrial tools and attachments for a mining or construction contractor, use this before you request quotes, compare drilling rig specifications, or approve a wholesale purchase. I manage purchasing for a 40-person drilling contractor, place about 70 equipment and parts orders a year, and report to both operations and finance. When I first started, I believed the lowest quote was the best quote. That mindset lasted until an $8,000 freight bill showed up on a complete quote. Now I run everything through a total cost model before I compare prices.

Here's the thing: a wholesale quote can look attractive and still be a bad deal if the wrong machine, the wrong attachment, or the wrong dealer gets approved. This checklist is the one I wish someone had handed me in 2021.

Who should use this checklist

Use this when you are buying:

• Your first Epiroc drilling rig and the attachments that go with it
• An additional rig for an existing fleet
• A hydraulic breaker, bucket, quick coupler, or drilling tool package
• A wholesale or fleet-level equipment quote

If you're in hard-rock mining, the same checklist works, but you'll need to put more weight on production capacity and parts response. In mining, downtime is not an inconvenience. It's a budget disaster.

Step 1: Start with the rock, not the brochure

Do not open a drilling rig spec sheet until you can answer these questions:

• Surface or underground?
• Hole diameter and hole depth?
• Drilling angle and bench height?
• Rock hardness and fracture level?
• Required meters per hour or holes per shift?
• Road access, utility access, and site footprint?

It sounds obvious. But most buyers I've worked with start with a model name and then try to make the application fit. That's backwards. Epiroc's product range covers everything from tight underground face drilling to large surface production holes; the right rig for one job is overkill for another. If you give the dealer an honest application description, you'll get a more honest recommendation. And if you are choosing an Epiroc mining rig specifically, put more weight on availability, safety integration, and service response than on the purchase price.

Step 2: Read drilling rig specifications like a buyer

Once you have the application locked, focus on the specifications that affect cost, access, and production:

• Hole diameter range and rock drill type
• Feed length and rod lengths available
• Compressor output (if on-board)
• Dust collection and water injection setup
• Transport dimensions and operating weight
• Power source, fuel type, and emissions compliance
• Cab ergonomics and visibility for the operator

Do not fall in love with the engine's horsepower. A rig with too much hydraulic power and too little air can be useless for a particular drilling method. Epiroc's published specification sheets are straightforward; print them and check your site constraints. I remember seeing a transport dimension difference of 0.4 meters that forced a contractor into a low-loader permit process for every site move. That's a TCO issue, not a brochure issue.

Step 3: Check tools and attachments compatibility before you get excited about price

Epiroc industrial tools and attachments include hydraulic breakers, buckets, quick couplers, grinding tools, and lots of other pieces. The wholesale buyer's mistake is to price the brochure part without checking whether it fits the carrier or the drill string.

For hydraulic breakers, verify the carrier weight class, hydraulic flow, operating pressure, and bracket kit. An attachment may physically connect but run at the wrong flow and cost you in production. For drilling tools, verify the shank adapter, thread type, and rod diameter. Same series does not mean same thread. We once ordered 30 drill bits for a new rig using a verbal compatibility check. Two days after they arrived, the threads didn't match. We sent them back and paid restocking. (Note to self: always ask for the part number and cross-check it.)

What I mean is that the attachment's list price doesn't matter if the hydraulic flow is wrong. It's not just a matter of bolting it on; it's a matter of circuit compatibility, cycle time, wear, and fuel burn. Ask the dealer exactly what's included in the attachment package: bracket, hoses, pins, quick coupler, control valve? These add thousands to the initial quote if they're separate.

Step 4: Build the total cost model before comparing wholesale quotes

This is where total cost thinking changes the game. The wholesale price of a drilling rig is the starting point, not the ending point. Here's the cost model I use:

• Machine or attachment base price
• Freight, insurance, and import/customs duties
• Commissioning, assembly, and crane hire
• Operator and maintenance training
• Initial tooling: drill bits, rods, shank adapters, lubricants
• Attachment mount package
• First-year spare parts kit
• Warranty extension or service contract
• Delivery lead time and the cost of waiting
• Residual value or trade-in expectation

Let's say two quotes come in: one at $700,000 with a 12-week lead time, another at $740,000 with a 6-week lead time. If you're paying $5,000 per day in rented equipment costs because you're waiting, the cheaper quote gets expensive fast. That's the kind of math that does not show up in the first line of a quote.

After five years of doing this, I've come to believe that the cheapest quote is usually the most expensive when you look at the whole job. Real talk: no honest person can publish a universal drilling rig wholesale cost guide with fixed numbers, because configurations, regional taxes, and dealer agreements differ too much. What I can give you is the list above. Fill it out for every quote, and you'll see why one is really cheaper than the other.

Step 5: Vet the dealer's service and parts network before signing

Your rig will need a part sooner or later. If the dealer doesn't carry the exact shank adapter or oil filter for your model, your great wholesale price becomes an idle machine.

Ask these questions before you commit:

• What is the average fill rate for stocked parts?
• What is the lead time for non-stocked parts?
• Where is the closest service technician, and how fast can they arrive?
• Does the dealer offer emergency exchange units for components like rock drills or breakers?
• Who do I call on a weekend?

I remember a mid-size contractor that had to wait two weeks for a repair because the official dealer was four states away and had no ground support. The repair cost less than $3,000. The lost production was closer to $18,000. That's the kind of consequence you remember. And it made my trip to the dealer's warehouse part of my process.

Step 6: Require line-item quotes and compare apples to apples

Don't accept a one-page number. Use a standardized template. If every supplier fills in the same fields, you can see where the differences are.

When I took over purchasing in 2021, our fleet quote came as one total. I asked for a breakdown. The total included a $10,000 coordination fee that I had never seen before. We moved that scope to our own internal team and saved the fee, but only because we made the vendor itemize. That annual exercise now saves us a ton of money and usually reveals one duplicated line per quote.

Avoid comparing a quote that includes a training day with one that doesn't. If a vendor tells you they will take care of you, get the plan in writing. If the plan isn't in the line items, it isn't in the budget.

Common mistakes that make a good deal go bad

I still see these mistakes, and I've made versions of nearly all of them:

• Buying for the best site conditions. The machine will spend its life in fractured rock and tight benches. Size for the worst realistic week, not the marketing slide.
• Ignoring operator input. Operators see access, visibility, and setup issues before procurement does. Bring one operator to the demonstration; listen to what they struggle with.
• Treating drill tools and attachments as afterthoughts. Bits, rods, shanks, hoses, and couplers are consumables. Price them like fuel, not like office supplies.
• Not confirming the dealer's service capacity. A low quote from a distant dealer isn't low if every site visit becomes a travel invoice.
• Assuming wholesale always means cheap. Sometimes wholesale pricing carries commitments: volume guarantees, maintenance contracts, or consignment inventory. Read the fine print before you frame the price list. (Surprise, surprise: the cheapest quote often has the most strings.)

Final word

This checklist doesn't tell you which Epiroc model to pick. That's because the right model depends on your rock, your site, your crew, and your dealer. But if you use the checklist, you'll stop comparing sticker prices and start comparing total costs. Do that before you sign, and you'll be way ahead of most equipment buyers.