Hello,
My name is Scott. I started out in high school in the drafting curriculum and joined the military as a construction drafter. Around 1990 the military combined the construction drafting and construction surveying specialties and I 've been a casualty of the lack of formal survey instruction ever since. Much of my knowledge was OJT in the military and a short career working on a field crew when I got off active duty. I continued my military service in the reserves and continued to progress as the industry technology also progressed. I've been collecting equipment for my own needs on my property, for rough layout, location and boundary surveys. I appreciate what little I know, remember and look forward to using this site for resources and information. It's never too late and there's always something to learn.
Welcome, Scott.
Welcome Scott, you came to the right place to learn. Everyone will help with any question you may have. Hands down the best survey and other similar disciplines site for the past 11 years. ?????ÿ
So? start with the questions already.
Paul in PA
So, as I mentioned in my intro I'm just looking to get a little deeper in my personal use of equipment and surveying for my own needs. I rely on the professional surveyors for the legal work I need but I'm preparing to build a new house and want to do my own work on the front end for laying out and rough grade of the driveway. I have my own bobcat (also for my personal use) and I've been picking up some vintage equipment and haven't pulled the trigger on a total station yet. I've decided on a Topcon but not sure what model yet. I was considering the ET Series and GTS series. I know parts and support for these is becoming an issue but I'm already prepared to send whatever I get out for calibration given the age.?ÿ I have been able to locate some ET-1's for under 1k locally as well as the GTS-300 series. I also am aware that the ET-1's are 1" instruments compared to the GTS-300'S which were 2"-5" instruments depending on the specific model. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
In the service I used a Wild T16, T2 with Distomat and eventually a Geodimeter.?ÿ
If you take the tangent of 5 seconds and multiply by the length of your lot, is the error significant? Probably not.?ÿ For your purposes, I wouldn't spend more for accuracy I couldn't use, but might spend more for reliability and repairability.
@bill93 Thank you Bill, definitely a thought for consideration. I only have a 12 acre parcel of land but I intend to locate and map out all the utilities, future structures and topographic features of my property.
Having used numerous GTS-3Bs, GTS-3Cs, GTS-200/300s, a 5" instrument is sufficient for your purposes. I would suggest a TDS or SMI data collector as the easiest also for you to learn.
Paul in PA
@paul-in-pa Thanks for the information Paul, I pulled the trigger based on input from the group and have a GTS-3B, FC-1 and DK-5 on its way. Many more questions to follow as I get it up and running I'm sure.
And if you need better angular accuracy, you can always do multiple turns and average.
Other than using my DT-104 over the last year (which is at best a 10" theodolite without a removable tribrach) I haven't done much other than using my level for shooting grade. I haven't done any real survey work since 2006 for the military. Looking forward to cleaning out the cobwebs in my brain housing group and getting into my woods. Cleared some line last weekend for property corner location and found some 1" rebar POL's not identified on my or adjacent plats which I don't trust until I can get the equipment into the woods. Even with the DT-104, I could see 30" deviation between a property corner and one of the "POL's. I realized I don't miss cutting line for 15 years; fortunately I have a bobcat to do the heavy work now. I just have to recover and protect existing points before I clear the boundary lines.
Is 1" rebar commonly used by surveyors in your area??ÿ Most posts here discuss #4 (1/2") and #5 (5/8") or pipe.
Probably you are thinking what I am thinking - that our man has found 3/4" pipes, not 1" rods. But, maybe...
They're 1" rebar. Someone went to some trouble setting them very sloppy. One is about 12" above grade (the assumed deviant point) and the other is 6" above grade. Since i was just doing a rough recon/siting of the property line with the DT-104, I was just collecting reference points?ÿ along the way as I was clearing line. That property line leg is 926' and 200' elevation change through the woods from the front property corner to the back. I had it surveyed and the property corners recovered/set in 2015 by a licensed surveyor who provided a drawing and stakeout for the existing septic/well plan that I submitted to the county. Neither of those points were referenced on the plan my surveyor provided, but I did find the deviant point referenced in an easement plat that the county created in 2004. It references the point as "1" steel pin found". I will check the next time I'm on the property to see if there are any punch marks.
