Laser Grading

[Industrial Toys]

Does anyone have any experience using laser controlled grading equipment?

I have a Harley Pro 8 rake and have figured out a way to make the height adjustment be laser controlled quite easly and cheaply, relatively speaking.

Does anyone think this might be usefull, or is it just more trouble then it's worth? It would just be for plain flat work. Nothing fancy.

I would start by buying a Topcon rotating laser, which I want anyway. Are there "must have" features and would they even be applicable to my simple application? These things always seem to be evolving and older ones are always available cheap on E-Bay and Craigslist. Are Remotes a usefull feature? Is one manufactures laser compatible with others receivers?

Thanks

 

[dodge man]

I am a land surveyor and have done a lot of construction staking. I don't really know a lot about making the equipment work, but have seen it used a lot. When its setup and working well, its great stuff. We own a lot of Topcon equipment and have had good luck with it.

 

[FarmWrench]

I have a Trimble cr 600 receiver that has a magnetic mount and I will just slap it on the bucket and follow the lights manually.

 

[jenkinsph]

Does anyone have any experience using laser controlled grading equipment?

I have a Harley Pro 8 rake and have figured out a way to make the height adjustment be laser controlled quite easly and cheaply, relatively speaking.

Does anyone think this might be usefull, or is it just more trouble then it's worth? It would just be for plain flat work. Nothing fancy.

I would start by buying a Topcon rotating laser, which I want anyway. Are there "must have" features and would they even be applicable to my simple application? These things always seem to be evolving and older ones are always available cheap on E-Bay and Craigslist. Are Remotes a usefull feature? Is one manufactures laser compatible with others receivers?

Thanks

I have done some research on this over the past year and am currently setting up for laser grading with machine control. Hard to decide between single slope and dual slope laser but will go with the dual slope most likely because I would hate to have pay the upgrade cost later. For my work environment where the laser and receivers need to clear the top of my cab that puts the laser about 10' high so a remote seems like a good idea. Adjustment from the tractor cab is another advantage, being able to adjust the laser and the receivers from the cab should make set up a heck of a lot easier to do.

I don't have any experience with the Harley rake used for grade work but would think it might be limited in its ability to carry the dirt enough to do you much good. Seems a Harley rake would be a good tool for loosening up the hard packed soils prior to using a box blade to level

Very curious what you have found that is easy and cheap about this stuff, I am getting ready to buy the equipment this spring. Right now I am considering a Topcon RL200 2/s laser with remote and elevating tripod. For receivers the Topcon lsb110w with remote for one side of the box blade and also for use on the backhoe. The second receiver would be a 110 without the remote for the opposite side of the box blade. These will be connected to a Topcon system 5 dual controller in the tractor cab. The hydraulic valve was the hardest part to spec out, but after a bunch of reading I finally worked out the details. I decided to go with a Sauer Danfoss PVG 32 series proportional controlled valve with two spools. For the cylinders I decided on Prince tee style 3x8" with a 16" closed pin to pin as these were the best fit for my design.

The box blade I am converting is a Gannon/Frontier BB1284 with hydraulic scarifiers and is 7' wide. It will work as both a 3 point and as a towable box blade with self leveling caster wheels I am building up from scratch. Spent a lot of time with TurboCad designing this over the Holidays at night and am finally starting to cut out the parts to assemble. The caster wheels are 20x10-10 slick tires for limited tracking and I hope these will work out. I am taking pictures and will post a thread when I am closer to completion.

 

[RDrancher]

Like jenks mentioned, the power rake would be nice for loosening up soil to be graded with a laser controlled box blade, but IMHO the laser setup would be a waste on the Harley rake. It's not what it's designed to do. I'd go with a dual slope for everything but straight and level building pads.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Does a laser only shoot out one beam? Does that mean if your receiver is only a foot long and the laser isn't hitting it, that you are out of luck? Trying to understand this.

What is the difference between a single slope and dual slope?

As far as the rock rake goes, it would have been the easiest to incorporate. We have very stoney ground around here and the box blade would be useless for grading. The stones roll under the edge raising it.

I was going to use my JD that has a hydraulic remote that is electically controlled. It is actually for the loader/grapple, but I can easily plumb that to the rear, and then to the up/down circuit on the Harley Rake. Then I would get a receiver that is designed for visual operation (not machine control) like one mentioned above, and wire some opto isolators into the up and down LEDs and with this signal and relays, operate the cylinder. That for me, is the easy part.

This older Harley with the flat serrated bars shaves off high ground like no fixed blade can (short of a dozer) but I concede that filling in low areas could well be an issue. Maybe it's a waste of time and money, but it is something I would be thrilled to play with and maybe just kind of an introduction into automated machine control.

Rancher. How did you ever get that gravel delination sooo perfect????

 

[dodge man]

All the machine control I've seen is usually hooked up to doziers, graders and pavers and most of them use GPS instead of lazers.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Somehow the machine needs an elevation reference for grading, maybe to within an inch or better. No way GPS could do that, but I am curious what the GPS is used for in construction. In Ag it's obvious.

 

[npalen]

Application of GIS in Geological Mapping - Revolution in Surveying Areas with Precise Measurements
This article talks about geological mapping in 3D but I too would not think that the elevation (Z axis) would be accurate enough for precision grading. Perhaps someday it will be.

Edit: On the other hand, this article talks about GPS accuracy for grading purposes:
GPS Machine Control
Excerpt taken from the article:

So what is a typical vertical accuracy for GPS Machine Control systems without lasers? Anywhere from ｽ to ｾ inch (12 to 18mm). Of course, the more GPS satellites you are receiving, the better your vertical accuracy will be. These tolerances can be decreased by a factor of 3 by adding lasers into the system....

 

[jenkinsph]

View attachment 356334Does a laser only shoot out one beam? Does that mean if your receiver is only a foot long and the laser isn't hitting it, that you are out of luck? Trying to understand this.


Rancher. How did you ever get that gravel delination sooo perfect????

The laser is shooting a very narrow beam so if you are out of the pick up band of the receiver you are out of luck as you say. The less expensive receivers have a shorter pick up range than the better ones too. For rough grading it should be obvious when you need to keep cutting down until you are with in the working parameters of the receiver. It should be just as obvious where you need to fill in a large depression to reach grade. Also notice some receivers pick up the laser for a full 360 degrees while some have a lesser arc.



About Rancher's work, he takes pride in his work and has plenty of seat time. Good job:thumbsup: