We have all three in the office, and at one time or another, I've been on the head or tail of all three. The babbit finally got "broken" and we never repaired it. The cut chain got "kinked" and was taken out of service. Those add chains though, mysteriously they were always well taken care of and always in good repair whenever we had to do layout. Up until I could prove to the old man that my 1" robot was as good or better than the old way of layout, we still ran out the buildings and checked all diagonals with an add chain.
They didn't see a lot of action from about 2002 on. They see NO action from 2008 forward. They are still on a reel and in good repair. The last time the add chain was used is when I slope chained my route for my water line so I could order pipe for my house. That was in 2013.
We go through a bunch of 200' nylon tapes though..............
Peter Ehlert, post: 416552, member: 60 wrote: does anyone remember how to throw a chain? I do!
I just was out in the garage practicing... for old times sake (and to see if I could still do it)my wife thought I was doing some form of witchcraft 🙂
I can throw a chain (NOT wind it, that takes two hands) one handed still to this day. Try that!
paden cash, post: 416579, member: 20 wrote: I can throw a chain (NOT wind it, that takes two hands) one handed still to this day. Try that!
They made me learn the 100' and 200'. The 200' was "thrown" twice and initially "done up" in 10' loops. Hey, I'm only 39 (for 4 more months). 🙂
paden cash, post: 416579, member: 20 wrote: I can throw a chain (NOT wind it, that takes two hands) one handed still to this day. Try that!
I never could throw one handed.
I was 8 years into surveying when I moved to Oregon, it was my first experience working without a reel, ...wow... now I kinda prefer it.
I have used an add chain but was told at the time it was called an cut tape. Funny how lingo can get mixed around.
A Harris, post: 416573, member: 81 wrote: 100ft babbit cut chain is 100ft long from end to end and cost near half of what an add chain cost.
100ft highway chrome clad is probably close to 102ft from end to end and has a 100ft mark, zero mark and and extra foot with hundredths marks and close to a half foot of blank extra chain on each end.
Have brand new Lufkin nubian add chain in box plus a rarely used K&E 100ft inch chain on a reel and a 50ft tape and a 100ft tape. There may be more.
Every once in a while, I would gather a chain up left handed and throw it so I would have plenty of time to drink my coffee the next morning.
My personal chains have always been on a reel.
I'm hopelessly left handed. My right arm is merely there to keep me from falling over.
I had been the chainman on a crew for about a month when the party chief approached me early one Monday morning and told me if I ever did up "his" chain like that again he'd kick my ass. He apparently attempted some moonlight work over the weekend and made himself look like a fool removing 19 kinks from the chain.
I still mess with folks every now and again if I get the chance. 😉
lmbrls, post: 416545, member: 6823 wrote: Was I the only one who carried a chain repair kit in the truck?
I remember; early, early on in my career. I broke a chain; puling in the ties for a section/ quarter corner... The crew chief was PI$$ed...
He pulled out the repair kit; we fixed the chain and moved on....
I still carry one today.
I began my survey career at the Nebraska Dept. of Roads using a 100 ft. cut chain. Add chains were for wussies.
Among other things it was used to stake ROW monuments!
Gene Kooper, post: 416629, member: 9850 wrote: I began my survey career at the Nebraska Dept. of Roads using a 100 ft. cut chain. Add chains were for wussies.
Among other things it was used to stake ROW monuments!
Correction ... "Limit of Mowing" Monuments.
Being the low guy on the crew, I never got my turn at "doing up the tape". Or, throwing it.
But, I did learn to sharpen tools, and cut brush. Since I was good at it, they left me alone.
Now a days, i wonder. I'm solo, with an assistant...
Many jobs, like "note keeper" are disolved into the data collector.
I / we have not been modern for long enough,
To have developed, complete flow charts, and re distribution of duties.
I use a Polaris Sportsman 800.
It's fully equipped... Chainsaw, pick, shovel, metal detector, rebar, flagging, winch, vise grips, paint,
Now, I'm transitioning again... To a Special Surveyors backpack.
What's going in it, is yet to be seen.
But, my plumb bob... And a 100' fiberglass tape are sure to find a place.
There are some rusty tapes, hanging on the wall, at my dads. ...
Tbc
Did a lot of work with a 99-footer. Great steel tape that I found at an auction for a dollar. No one else wanted one that was missing the first 10 inches. Having those two inches was convenient for holding just ahead of the 1 foot mark. It was no problem to remember to subtract one foot from whatever reading you had.
The only tape I have in my truck is a broken tape [emoji23]
I use the cut chain. Not too often now. When the chain would break, I would use my mending kit to mend it.
Whenever I've mended the tape, we put a patch over it with a butt connection so the length stayed the same we never riveted them although I have seen rivet kits to rivet them. We solder patch them.
Nate The Surveyor, post: 417124, member: 291 wrote: Whenever I've mended the tape, we put a patch over it with a butt connection so the length stayed the same we never riveted them although I have seen rivet kits to rivet them. We solder patch them.
Although it has been a few years since I repaired a chain ( and I've never personally riveted a repair), I remember the Lufkin Hi-Way types to be difficult to repair with the simple crimp clamp. On older (and thinner) babbit chains one could hammer the break flat, place the on the sleeve correctly and then smite the clamp smartly to produce a tight repair. I've even used a cold chisel to crimp both sides of the clamp.
A repaired Lufkin chain would eventually slip out of the clamp. At times causing one or more 'operators' to fall on their butts. Maybe I was just doing it wrong. But it's history now. 😉
Nate The Surveyor, post: 417124, member: 291 wrote: Whenever I've mended the tape, we put a patch over it with a butt connection so the length stayed the same we never riveted them although I have seen rivet kits to rivet them. We solder patch them.
Here too. The rear chainman always carried a tape kit and in rough wooded terrain; we might break a tape every two weeks or so. Fixed them in the field by pounding the kink straight (or doing nothing if the break was caused by an errant machete), crimping on the butt connector, then melting the solder with either a cigarette lighter or a small fire (winter).
This was 100 foot chains using the plumb bob-chaining pin-hand level/clinometer technique so any mending errors were insignificant compared to other error sources (Forest Service logging road surveys). Angle measurement was either a Jacob's Staff compass or Gurley mountain transit, so it wasn't so hot either. But the road got built, in spite of many feet of error in the preliminary and construction surveys. As an example of how loose this work is, the (contract) builder sometimes diverged from the slope staked alignment by dozens of feet (or more) when discovering unrippable rock, exposing springs, etc. No change orders involved. The scope of work for such surveys was fast, cheap, buildable, and not too much grade or curvature that a logging truck would have trouble.
I kind of miss those days, ten day campouts with four days off all season long, grouse or trout supplementing dinner, no niggling over 0.02', pincushions or onerous local agency rules, no nosy neighbors. Some major fun destroying FS 4WD rigs on gnarly approach roads. But I think time has painted it rosier than it really was, really hard dangerous work; had two coworkers die on the job (fell off a log river crossing and was drowned, hit by a 'copter rotor blade while hot refuelling) and many injuries, some debilitating. My reminiscences now are I'm lucky I suffered nothing major except a chainsaw injury, and can cherish my youth as somehow a pioneer in the wilderness.
The reason for cut versus add chains:
One is for the surveyor, designed by surveyors.
One is for the engineer, designed in the office, by an engineer, without field testing the design.
Um... Ya know what injuneers use fer birf coontrol?
Their personalies.... Jes sayin... Carry on!
🙂
If you have a fine cut chain, calibrate it and keep in the office.
If you a cut chain for field work, go buy an add chain. You'll save a lot of money.
When I started out as a repair tech we used to repair a lot of broken tapes... make clean cuts, put in a section with matching graduations, and rivet. I don't think they lost much accuracy... at least, from one repair. We had one customer who would repair the same tapes over and over. At some point you have to buy a new one.
