Laser grading and new time lapse camera

[Complete Turf Care]

Here is a video from today. I am laser grading about 3 acres of a 10 acre job. This 3 acres is a big job for my little rig. I have subcontracted a friend to do the bigger part. He has a 12' blade and also has a bulldozer.

The other thing I wanted to show here is my new camera. It's a Brinno TLC 200 I got on Amazon Robot Check

I just put the SD card in my computer and the video is already made. I haven't edited it. It's set to take a pic every 1 minute between the hours of 6.30 am and 8:00 pm.

 

[jenkinsph]

Nice work.

So how many yards do you have to move on this three acres?

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Nice work.

So how many yards do you have to move on this three acres?

I don't know. I have never figured how many yards I move on any jobs. I guess I should.

This job is big for me. It's not that I'm moving a lot of soil, but I'm having to move it a long way compared to what I normally do. The most I've ever done is a football field and the farthest I've had to move soil on a football field is about 300'. On this job, I'm moving some as much as about 700'. My blade can move about 1 to 1.5 yards per pull.....and it just takes a lot of pulls.

I think I have the right tractor for my blade though. I use the pedal to vary my speed as I go, and I hit the '2 speed' lever into high when I have a long run with an empty blade.

 

[jenkinsph]

I think we all go through this at various times in business. You can get a small scraper so that you could carry the dirt instead of dragging it but how many jobs would you have similar to this. If this is an infrequent need it might be more efficient to move it with a large loader after you have it piled up. Maybe a dump trailer would help too.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Super cool time lapse Brinno TLC 200 camera. Makes a great video of your work. And it provides proof that your really do work all day

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Used the camera again today. This John Deere tractor and blade belong to a friend who I hired to help on this job. He is doing about 7 acres and I'm doing about 3 acres. His rig will move at least twice as much soil as my rig. You can see me in the back right in a few frames working on my part. My part is just about done. We are supposed to get a couple inches of rain tonight. That should help settle the soil and tell if I need to go back to touch it up a little. I worked for about 3 days so far.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Looks like you got a late start and took a long lunch, but you did stay late, just kidding look's like you all are doing a nice job.

 

[tractorshopper]

I find this extremely interesting, but have some questions. I've seen this done in person once on our local softball field. The one side of the machine "cut" the grass and earth on a slight angle from once side of the cut to the other gently sloping the outfield from front to back. Basically it after the infield, it goes down hill to the fence. They did one width at a time in the same direction.

I see you and your hired help go in many directions. How do you know how much to remove from one spot and where to drop it. I assume the laser level is sending some signal to you in the cab. Also, how much slope are you putting per foot or yard or whatever from one end to the other? Last question is why level 10 acres? Just curious what the field will be used for is all.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I find this extremely interesting, but have some questions. I've seen this done in person once on our local softball field. The one side of the machine "cut" the grass and earth on a slight angle from once side of the cut to the other gently sloping the outfield from front to back. Basically it after the infield, it goes down hill to the fence. They did one width at a time in the same direction.

I see you and your hired help go in many directions. How do you know how much to remove from one spot and where to drop it. I assume the laser level is sending some signal to you in the cab. Also, how much slope are you putting per foot or yard or whatever from one end to the other? Last question is why level 10 acres? Just curious what the field will be used for is all.

If you look on our blades, you see a pole sticking up with a receiver on top. Mine has one, his has two. The laser is set on a tripod as you can see in my first video. I can set the slope of the laser beam at whatever angle I want. In this case, my slope is set at 0.3% which will give me about 18" of drop across the area I am doing.

The laser beam is picked up by the receiver on pole. If the blade goes below the laser beam, the receiver tells the hydraulics to lift the blade. Basically, we just drive around and let the machine cut the hills and fill the holes. It's a little more complicated than this, but hopefully this gives you an idea.

On this job, the city wants to add some practice area for youth sports teams. There is a ridge about 1/3 of the way across this 10 acres and it naturally slopes to the east on the small side and to the west on the larger side. I took the smaller side because of my smaller equipment. The idea is to match the natural slope, and make it a very even, smooth slope so that it will drain well. And, by matching the existing slope, we have to move the least amount of soil.

Hope this helps.

 

[Industrial Toys]

So basically, the only way you know at any location what the ground is doing is to watch the blade? And then you get a feeling for the lay of the land and come up with a best plan in your head for your movements? Do I have that more or less right?

 

[Complete Turf Care]

So basically, the only way you know at any location what the ground is doing is to watch the blade? And then you get a feeling for the lay of the land and come up with a best plan in your head for your movements? Do I have that more or less right?

Yes. But instead of watching the actual blade, I watch the receiver, or the control box in the cab. Both have lights that indicate the blade position relative to the laser beam.
In the picture below you see the green lights, and the red lights below the green. This means the blade needs to be lifted slightly to be 'on grade'. Only red lights mean the blade needs to be lifted more, and only green lights mean the blade is 'on grade'.

 

[Industrial Toys]

But, it doesn't tell you how much or little material you have in your box. I guess too much wouldn't matter but too little or none, when you need material wouldn't be time well spent.

I'm also guessing, that if elevation wasn't a concern, bringing in material might be the fastest approach.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

But, it doesn't tell you how much or little material you have in your box. I guess too much wouldn't matter but too little or none, when you need material wouldn't be time well spent.

I'm also guessing, that if elevation wasn't a concern, bringing in material might be the fastest approach.

Bringing in material is the easiest and fastest way. But it adds considerable cost to any project, and most of my customers don't have the budget to add that much cost. On a job as big as this one (10 acres) we would need to add thousands of yards of material. For example, 6" of soil on one acre is about 800 yards of material, and at about $18 per yard for topsoil delivered, that adds about $14,500.

We should be able to get this project graded in about 10 days (including 3 days rain delay).

 

[Industrial Toys]

I would have thought the hourly rates would exceed material quickly.

I was thinking about putting a laser on my Harley, as I already have an electric valve on the tractor and a Topcon laser. It will probably never happen, too many projects. But I was wondering how all this works with the usually very short laser receivers. If you have elevation differences of feet, you would go beyond the receiver, no?

 

[Complete Turf Care]

If you have elevation differences of feet, you would go beyond the receiver, no?

It would depend on the % slope and distance. A 3' change in elevation over a 300' distance is a 1% slope, which my laser can handle. The receiver has a reception area of about 12". Anything greater than that is beyond the receiver, but you always know if you need to be cutting or filling.

However a 3' change in elevation over a 30' distance would be a lot more difficult with my equipment. I'm not sure what the maximum slope my laser can go, but with the tractor and blade, steep slopes would be difficult. A skid steer would work better on steeper slopes.

 

[Industrial Toys]

So basically if the receiver has lost the laser, it just assumes the last position, high or low until it recaptures the signal?

It would be a neat thing to try with the harley. Too bad my projects all take forever. I only have a single slope RL4C laser, but really all I need is a receiver that can give me a high or low output. Even if it just has LED indicators, I can work with that and get a usable output and run the up down solenoids on the rake drum. Just add a couple of limit switches so the valve does not stay on at end of stroke.

I'm probably missing something.

 

[WVBill]

It appears from the video that you are working a rather random pattern - I see you working the back corner for a few minutes - then over to the other side for a few, then up front near the laser then back off camera, etc. etc. I know nothing at all about grading, but wouldn't it be better to start at the high spot and then work a pattern outward?

Dang, I wish my Father in law was still alive - he was a Master Chief Seabee equipment operator and would have loved to see your video.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

So basically if the receiver has lost the laser, it just assumes the last position, high or low until it recaptures the signal?

You are correct. The lights on the receiver will blink all red when it has lost signal, and the system will stop trying to move the blade up or down.

It appears from the video that you are working a rather random pattern - I see you working the back corner for a few minutes - then over to the other side for a few, then up front near the laser then back off camera, etc. etc. I know nothing at all about grading, but wouldn't it be better to start at the high spot and then work a pattern outward?

Dang, I wish my Father in law was still alive - he was a Master Chief Seabee equipment operator and would have loved to see your video.

It is somewhat random. When there is a high spot, there will be several low spots to dump the soil. I usually try to dump it in the nearest low spot. But, as the low spots fill, then the next low spot is farther away.

I always tell people that the first 6" is easier to do than the last 1/2". I try to get the entire area to within about 1/4" tolerance of exact grade.

 

[jenkinsph]

Looks like you are making good progress with the job. What tractor and box is being used in the second video? The rain will tell the tale, sure shows where more work is needed. +/- 1/4" is pretty close tolerance especially on a ten acre job. Will be very interested in how long this takes you.

My first project is about three acres with 2100 yards to move. Then I have another ranch to work with 19 acres and a total of 3000 yards to move. Most of the dirt on the larger job are short moves.

 

[tractorshopper]

If you look on our blades, you see a pole sticking up with a receiver on top. Mine has one, his has two. The laser is set on a tripod as you can see in my first video. I can set the slope of the laser beam at whatever angle I want. In this case, my slope is set at 0.3% which will give me about 18" of drop across the area I am doing.

The laser beam is picked up by the receiver on pole. If the blade goes below the laser beam, the receiver tells the hydraulics to lift the blade. Basically, we just drive around and let the machine cut the hills and fill the holes. It's a little more complicated than this, but hopefully this gives you an idea.

On this job, the city wants to add some practice area for youth sports teams. There is a ridge about 1/3 of the way across this 10 acres and it naturally slopes to the east on the small side and to the west on the larger side. I took the smaller side because of my smaller equipment. The idea is to match the natural slope, and make it a very even, smooth slope so that it will drain well. And, by matching the existing slope, we have to move the least amount of soil.

Hope this helps.

Yes, thanks. I didn't realize you could put the slope into the laser. I thought it was automatically level, so everything would just be flat. Very slick system. Looks like fun.