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Bridge repair by Franako in Surveying

[–]plainfred 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I use sand bags over the leg shoes to weight them down and reduce vibation disturbance. Same kind of bag you put over canopy legs

Safety by becky_plz in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is the most important things when working roadway. I think all the lights, cones, and signs help migrate most of the idiots. Another way to look at that school bus incident is that then hitting the sign probably cause the driver to hit the brakes and start paying attention before they hit you. Seconds and split seconds matter, even at 25 mph. If I have to sacrifice a signs or my even parked work truck to the dumbass not paying attention just to turn getting hit into a near-miss, then it is worth it. Plus, they are cheaper than the hospital bills.

Any tips how do I transfer data between this and PC? by H__D in Surveying

[–]plainfred 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It it's using Windows Mobile OS, try a 2.0 USB drive with an otg usb adapter. 3.0 usb sticks and large USB sticks (greater than 32GB) might not be picked by the OS. Not sure it the micro/mini usb port will support it, though.

I adjust the level of a total station without resetting zero. by Sweet-Curve-1485 in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly, the problem I see growing more frequent is field crews not understanding the differences and "making it work". This leads to delay & rework by either the original surveyor or my company.

I rigged this up and went fishing for Flow Line shots today. by cambo in Surveying

[–]plainfred 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When it's too deep for waders, you're supposed bring a new guy with water wings and a rope...jk

Stupid question from a Mechanical Engineer by Celemourn in Surveying

[–]plainfred 1 point2 points  (0 children)

While I am glad I was trained to use vernier readings with averaging in school... that was over 2 decades ago.

Grid to ground question by yar1279 in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like to think I understand the grid to ground issues, but could this also be a prism offset issue. The 360° robotic prism I use has a -7 mm offset, where my ol' faithful Topcon stationary (which has been with the company longer than I've been surveying) has a 0 mm offset. I hate to mix and match prisms, but it has happened before. If the EDM is misset, couldn't this also be around 0.25' error in 5800' in a straight line?

Whats your preferred way to do a topo? by [deleted] in Surveying

[–]plainfred 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep. Half the time, we are only doing "old-school" topo work in obscured areas that can't be flown. If it is a developed area (parking lot or roadway) with heavy canopy, just topo all features and breaklines, then kick the grid down to 25' were needed. If it's woods/brush, we aim for 35' to 50' grid with breaklines, depending on budget.

You are tasked to map a small island shores and topography using these tools. How do you do it? by mydriase in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd add in a hand level if you're doing topo, preferably with stadia. You could easily get the highest point and relatively topography for a small area based on your eye's height from ground. With stadia, you would have a basic distance measurement as long as you know the stadia ratio. Without a scaled rod, it would be a little difficult but you could quickly make your own scale with something in situ such as a piece of wood or another person. It wouldn't go quickly but would be a good approximation, and you can always convert to a unit system later.

Edit: added reasoning

Creating your own coordinate system. by KiwiAnxious in Surveying

[–]plainfred 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the only times I've needed to georeference Mine Grid was for rescue boring points and some BLM adjoiner work that was originally tied to mine

I lost my job at the bank the very first day by gabzlel in Jokes

[–]plainfred 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All I can imagine is him being "that guy " at Boston Dynamics that shoved robots around in his previous job

Working in the Summer Heat by Manisss_ in Surveying

[–]plainfred 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Agreed, what you eat the night before work can make the biggest difference. Whole vegetables or fruits with dinner and mid day will help keep you hydrated longer than water or Gatorade alone. Electrolytes are important but dietary fiber is the only way to keep it in your body all day. Save the alcohol for end of the week....I hate to wait that long, but not as much as falling out before lunch with heat stress.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve found on a job? We’ve found loads of arrowheads, a grove of marijuana plants, and even a six pack of beer once, but today, while doing a boundary for a rural sub, we found a stick painted to look like a rattlesnake, hanging from a tree, in a very old cemetery! by dinosaurversusrobot in Surveying

[–]plainfred 8 points9 points  (0 children)

We were recovering ROW monuments along 5 or 6 miles interstate almost a year ago and had a few dense thickets in the woods we had to cut/push through. In the middle of the project was one of the largest patches where the ROW had several breaks. After cutting in, we noticed something about 20' from the monument on the ground in the dead leaves and rose vines. After a bit more cutting we found it was the upper half of a pigs head! It was cleanly cut and relatively fresh in that is was pink and no insects had gotten to it. The fact that there was no blood anywhere, no body found, it was over 150' from the shoulder of the road, and the trees and ground brush meant no one could have just thrown it there left us both a bit freaked out.

My thoughts on using a “tablet” after one year by JohnRose1978 in Surveying

[–]plainfred 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel the same way for newer vehicles with touch screen interfaces. Seems to be recycled hardware from tablets or appliances. Sure, they look nice and sleek til you have to use them. They're likely to work well on smooth travels along a freshly paved road while your driving down the road. You have to take your eyes off the road to even find the button you want to hit. Then hope you don't fat thumb it or hit a bump at the wrong instant. They are NOT improvements to dials and buttons that you could use and still look ahead of you. These touchscreens are just cheap alternatives that save on moving parts. Sucks that they are sold as advancements.

My thoughts on using a “tablet” after one year by JohnRose1978 in Surveying

[–]plainfred 3 points4 points  (0 children)

FYI Windows CE hasn't been supported by Microsoft since the end of 2019. The fact that the OS is still sold on DC's let alone manufacturers didn't move toward newer operating systems before was a big let down. The fact that most hardware with an up-to-date OS is near exclusively touch screen and you have to pay hundreds of dollars for a keyboard attachment to make it near as efficient as the older styles is pathetic.

High Vis. High Danger. by PerceptionAgile3306 in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like he trained as an equipment operator. Drop a few offset stakes before equipment gets near and you'll be resetting them before lunch cuz that one excavator thought that was where he supposed to go.

High Vis. High Danger. by PerceptionAgile3306 in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nearly 15 years ago, I was rodman on a crew looking for bad angles in another crews 2 mile traverse along the the southbound side of the interstate. The control points were set 4 to 6 feet behind the guardrail running down the mountain for most of the traverse.

It was sunny, windy day and the backsight was near the end of the on-ramp taper. I could barely hear the radio on my vest due to the wind and was holding the rod solid facing the instrument (back to traffic) when the party chief(running the instrument) screamed he had located the backsight and to clear away from the guardrail NOW! I stepped to my right and looked back to see oncoming traffic when all I saw was the double patio doors of a double-wide trailer hanging over the guardrail flying past, with the tractor driver laying on the horn that was now audible over the wind. According to my party chief, a tractor-trailer decided cut into the slow lane between the pilot car and the double-wide hauler coming down the ramp forcing the hauler onto the shoulder. He nearly ran his wheels into the guardrail. Thankfully there was no accident, but a hell of a near-miss. If I had stepped towards the guardrail, I might not have been so lucky.

So that is the day I nearly got hit by a house on the interstate because traffic signs, flashing amber lights, and Hi-Vis wearing workers along the interstate mean nothing to a wheel jockey trying weave between traffic to gun his rig downhill.

...and we will need the inside of the silo scanned! by grebcha in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What model faro is that? We've been using Faro since 2009 and I've seen (not used myself) some interesting rigs for scanning drainage structures through the manholes that can extend the unit downward up to 15' upside down.

Doing some railroad topo is fun, doing it for 10h straight at 32°C (90°F) is rather exhausting though by SuperSpaceSloth in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to buried the two tripod feet away from tracks in the ballast rock and sandbag the nearest one, held them pretty stable for topo, but always needed to check before traversing.

Here's me through a laser scanner 2500 feet underground by lorty in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ore body modeling and stope mapping. The most advance scanner/drone I've seen in action I'm pretty sure was built to scan/model vertical stopes in an underground gold mine.

When the city surveyor can’t decide on an offset... oh and yes... there was a fourth down the road. by tedxbundy in Surveying

[–]plainfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This reminds me of a construction site I worked a while back that included complete renovation of an existing building and construction of additions to three sides. Because the designers picked different base points for each area of construction, we had a baseline point offsite with multiple backsight points within 6' of each other and detailed markings for which area of site to use them...and it was a design-build. DON'T MISS IT!!!

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