Tri-Con™ Drilling System: Redefining Speed and Strength in HDD Tooling
In the evolving world of horizontal directional drilling (HDD), speed, confidence, and connection integrity have become the currency of productivity. Enter the Tri-Con™ Drilling System from Melfred Borzall—a patent-pending innovation that’s challenging industry norms and rewriting what’s possible in the bore path.
Designed for utility and mid-sized HDD operations, the Tri-Con™ System is an integrated ecosystem of tooling built around a non-threaded, triangular connection. This isn’t just a new thread pattern—it’s a reimagined approach to how HDD crews connect, switch out, and rely on downhole tooling. With the 2-5/8” Tri-Con connection at its core (more sizes coming soon), the system offers 25% greater tensile strength than competing designs, translating into real-world confidence on the jobsite.
So what makes the Tri-Con so different?
First, no threads. By eliminating traditional threaded connections, you also reduce the risk of galling, seizing, and slowing down the crew. Tri-Con introduces a triangular connection surface that is secured by heavy-duty coiled pins. These pins are robust enough to handle the rigors of HDD, yet only require a lightweight punch and hammer for removal. That means crews can complete changeouts in minutes without extra equipment for breakout.
Second, Tri-Con is fast. In field tests and real-world bores, users are completing installations up to 4X faster than traditional setups. Because the Tri-Con connection supports high-torque transmission without loosening or breaking down, crews can confidently drill longer—without second-guessing the integrity of their tooling. The system even enables operations with entry pits as small as 18 inches, giving contractors an edge in tight-access, urban, or residential environments.
The Tri-Con ecosystem includes adapters, Eagle Claw™ and Iron Fist™ bits, reamers, bit bodies, and pulling eyes—all engineered to work seamlessly together with the 2-5/8″ Tri-Con connection. For contractors not ready to make a full system switch, Melfred Borzall also offers Tri-Con adapters that allow you to connect your existing tooling to the Tri-Con platform. It’s a flexible, future-ready system that meets contractors where they are and helps them scale as projects demand.
“Drillers want two things—production and certainty,” says Josh Parker, Marketing Director at Melfred Borzall. “The Tri-Con delivers both. It’s just connect and go.”
For an industry that often values reliability over change, the Tri-Con Drilling System offers the best of both worlds. It’s tough, field-proven, and engineered by a company with nearly 80 years of HDD tooling innovation experience.
As trenchless technology continues to penetrate more complex terrain and congested corridors, solutions like Tri-Con aren’t just nice-to-have—they’re becoming essential. For those seeking the next leap in HDD performance, Tri-Con may be the connection that changes everything.
Contact Information: Call (805) 739-0118, Email sales@melfredborzall.com, or shop online at https://www.melfredborzall.com/tri-con-system
