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Done Leroy Lettering? no
Used a planimeter to “buggy” areas or calculated cuts/fills using average end areas? yes
Used a Lenker rod? no
Used a right-angle/90 degree prism for rough grade stakeout or station/offset work? yes
Used a top mount or stand alone (HP3805/3810) EDM? yes
Used a dip needle? once, for the experience.
Drafted on linen? no
Carried a tack ball? still have one.
Used an “Acu-Arc” for drawing curves? used a set of curves
Hand generated contour lines interpolating between adjacent data points? Used a rubber band to do it? yes, had a cool divider to set the intermediate contours.
Avoided a “regen” in Autocad at all costs because of how long it took? not an Ac guy.
Started GPS baseline processing before leaving the office hoping it would be done when you got back in the morning? oh yes, used a Bernoulli drive. Remember using xcopy to move data around.
Did GPS observations at night because that was when enough satellites would be passing over? yes, fell asleep on the last session at 2am.
Used hand signals to “talk” for things like cuts/fills for marking stakes? all 10 digits by hand signals for cut fill amounts.
Watched a pen plotter in amazement as it plotted in what seemed like a random order? used a HP and had a sight bullseye that replaced one of the pens. We could then register a drawing in the plotter and digitize data from the plan into cogo.
Used a HP-41c/cv/cx to traverse/inverse and watched the “goose” fly across the screen? still have two 41cx calculators, extended memory and math module so we could do matrix algebra for least square adjustments when I was taking survey classes.
- Posted by: @jim-in-az
You are the first person I’ve ever found other than my Dad to use a Rhodes Arc!
Yup, super useful when staking logging road catch points in mountain severe side slopes after L-line has been calculated so centerline stakes are in place. It involved a cloth tape for slope measurements and the procedure was a guy below on the fill side that’d clamber down until there was a catch, then throw him the marked stake which he’d set with flagging at the final catch. Best thing with the arc was calculations were instantaneous so adjustments, “further downhill, come back a bit” were easy. On the cut side the reverse would occur, the staker would carry the stakes and mark them, and throw down the tape for measurements. It was less unwieldy than carrying a transit or level. Of course it was only accurate to a few feet but bulldozers aren’t looking for tenths.
I probably staked 30 miles of logging roads using a Rhodes Arc and the surprising thing was the dozer guys would often completely ignore the stakes and venture way off line, avoiding bogs, hard rock and sloughing areas. They considered us engineering idiots and our stakes as only guidelines to get to the road punched in where the loggers need one. I respected them for that.
Interesting list. Done ’em all. Nothing like dating yourself.
Was thinking about a couple more, and came up with these… (sorry, no intention of taking over)
Using a trig function book to every 10 seconds of arc, and did long hand multiplications for D.M.D. calculations. Then celebrated when a Monroe hand crank calculator put them on the bleeding edge.
Running out sections chaining with a 100 foot steel tape, and plumb bob.
Using a trailer tape, and abney level for obtaining horizontal distance when measuring up/down steep hills.
Remember purchasing a set of chaining pens.
Doing Polaris observations.
Learning to set up a transit using a fixed leg tripod.
Extended a straight line by double centering.
Wiggle in.
Being in awe the first time you saw a Gammon reel.
Winding angles.
Using a steel tape repair tool.
Yes to all except Lenker rod and acu-arc. Have used a curve set and French Curves.
All but the baseline calculations and night time Gps.
@dougie I know you’ve heard of MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Have you heard of DAM, Mothers Against Dyslexia? (grin).
One of the best engineers I ever worked with was dyslexic, but NEVER let him give you numbers over the radio or phone.
Andy
@dougie
looks like that dude in the pic got buds instead of melons. ????
Haven??t used Leroy or hp41
my accuarc broke 🙁
- Posted by: @paden-cash
I’m left-handed.
Fun fact…Did you know there was only a 2% chance you were going to be left hand dominant when you were born?
My brother and my Grandpa on my father’s side are both left handed.
“Only left handed people are in their right mind” Jerry Springer ????
T. Nelson – SAM, LLC All but the GPS stuff (is Accu-Arc is the one I’m thinking that radius has a set screw and slide or the template with multiple concentric curves, then yes I have), and I can add using Latitude & Departure tables.
2% seems like a low number for my family. One of my brothers and my sister are all left handed as was my mother and her father. I had two sons, on of which is left handed. The oher (right-handed) son has two boys, both of which are left-handed. I have several nieces and nephews that are lefties also. The numbers in these two generations works out to about 40% lefties.
- Posted by: @paden-cash
2% seems like a low number
47.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot…
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will! @dougie
I thought it was 53.2% of all statistics were made up. ???? ???
T. Nelson – SAM, LLCDid them all except the 2 GPS ones. Even the ones added by others.
Also, I still have a roll of linen!
No to everything…except:
Used a right-angle/90 degree prism for rough grade stakeout or station/offset work?
YES
Used a top mount or stand alone (HP3805/3810) EDM?
NO…does a Disto count, it is essentially a standalone EDM…
Carried a tack ball?
YES
Hand generated contour lines interpolating between adjacent data points? Used a rubber band to do it?
YES, NO
Used hand signals to “talk” for things like cuts/fills for marking stakes?
YES
Watched a pen plotter in amazement as it plotted in what seemed like a random order?
YES
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.done all except the linen. 36 years you find a way.
- Posted by: @spmpls
How many of you have:
Used a planimeter
Used a Lenker rod? Barely.
I just wanted to know how to use it, and was made fun of for doing so
Used a dip needle? Yep with a brunto geo for stratigraphic mapping
Carried a tack ball? Only because I never would have
Hand generated contour lines interpolating between adjacent data points? Used a rubber band to do it?
Only for class
Avoided a “regen” in Autocad at all costs because of how long it took? Also anything graphics related from the 80s up until early 2000s
Used hand signals to “talk” for things like cuts/fills for marking stakes? And for rock climbing.
Watched a pen plotter in amazement as it plotted in what seemed like a random order?
Thanks for sharing!
@flga-2-2 That was the best cogo software ever! I still miss it….
Sometimes an AutoCad regen was unavoidable. I can remember walking downstairs to the Coke machine (it cost a quarter for a 10oz. bottle) and walking back up the stairs only to find it wasn’t yet finished.
In ’97 I can remember post-processing GPS networks on 486 machines. This was done at the end of the day because we’d let them run all night. Sometimes they weren’t even through after running all night. I also remember getting to work only to find the machine had crashed overnight…and having to start all over again.
Oh the good old days…
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