Yesterday i posted a photo of a rock cutting machine for making walls beneath ground level (see my previous posts), and promised to post a photo of the machines "business end" from in front. Here's it is! The teeth on the cutting wheels are huge. The wheels are nearly 2 meters in diameter (compare with the height of the operator, who has just climbed out of the cab and is passing behind the cutting head). The powerful engine that rotates the wheels is located between the huge guide plates. For the job at hand, additional plates have been added at the top to make the whole head 4 storeys high. The thickness of the cutting head can also be adjusted. The wheels rotate towards each other, chewing up the rock. A clay slurry is injected, and sucked up, carrying all the ground up stone away. Most of the rock where this machine was used is lime stone and sand stone, so it's rather quick work making the vertical cuts. The work is therefore a bit ahead of schedule. Tomorrow I'll post a partially excavated wall segment so you can see the result of the work with this machine. Enjoy!