I was told that in the old days the proper on-tripod carry for any instrument was under the arm, instrument ahead of you so you could watch it. On the shoulder it is too vulnerable to obstacles.
With more delicate total stations, the big concern is the strain on the bearings and shafts that occurs if they are cantilevered at the base, so if moved on the tripod they have to remain upright, and moved only if they can be treated gently.
I can get a quicker and more solid setup with the instrument coming out of the box. I don't need to be so careful when pressing the legs in and can get the top plate more level and centered than I can with the gun on it. Once the tripod is set up it is quick work to get the gun plumbed over the point and leveled. For me I save no time with the gun being moved on the tripod. I often work in rough and steep country with loose rocks, loose shale, logs and tree roots to navigate over with both hands usually hanging on to something and a field book tucked into an arm pit, sometimes use the tripod with the legs extended as a walking stick, heavy but solid.
jud
:good: :good: :good: :good: :good:
😉
NO.
box or backpack or the very least the handle on top of the instrument.
essentially we pay $30k for cheap junk that isn't well made enough to be carried on a tripod over the shoulder.
Yes, I carry levels over the shoulder, eyepiece down so the pendulum will seat.
Since the SET 4, carrying over the shoulder is a big NO.
I have been requiring that the instrument be carried in case for years.
Have a backpack and to be without it is a "send to the house and wait for your next job offense".
:-X
Wiggling in
> No. I might leave it on the tripod if wiggling in on a line,
May be the next question on this post should be how many have ever "wiggled in".
Have not heard that term in 5+ years and have not done it in 10. The data collector has taken all the fun/skill out of this job. 🙂
Scott
My motto is........ If you want to pay for it like I did, do it your way.
Randy
Over the shoulder for short distances, box it for longer or more treacherous hikes.
I see no issue with placing the gun over the shoulder for short hikes (<200'), Especially for flat, easy walking surfaces.
As you can see in the many responses..they are all reasonably valid..short distances, long distances, flat terrain, rough terrain, metropolitan, forest... etc.... my opinion..competence..and when "over-the-shoulder" is employed...NEVER like that of a riffle, there is the safe "over-the-shoulder" method that will keep the instrument quite vertical.
We bought our Topcon 302 when they first came out. That makes it about 18 or so years old. It's always in top adjustment when we take it to the CBL and the reason is that we take extreme care with our tools. It's boxed between setups, always, and no matter the distance.
The box holds the other essentials such as the thermometer, barometer, and lens rag so it needs to be with the gun anyway. This time of year we can easily go from 70 in the morning to 110 in the afternoon.
We do mostly urban work with vehicle access to the majority of points so it generally travels in the box and in the truck between setups. It's very hard to get anything new budgeted in our division so making things work forever and a day is important.
For me this issue is all about proper techniques and procedures. Maybe it's because I came from the day of correcting temp and sag on a chain and all the other host of checks to get the best quality measurements from my equipment. But because we have fancy digital equipment that can read out to 10 decimal places does not mean that our lack of care should diminish.
And one other note is that I release all the motions when moving the gun from the tripod to the box. There are many delicate moving parts inside and having anything locked can cause damage when tilting the gun to place it in the box.
One other thing I do is to open the box in the van on the way to the job to let the gun begin to warm to the outside temps. Often from the office to the field there may be a fairly significant temperature. But even then the first set up gets some time to aclimate to the outside ambient temps. This is not wasted as there are always many things to do on any job. Flag stakes, prepare notebooks and yes, sharpen the machete.
Mark
That's funny. No in fact, that's the rover to the 5700, and I keep it fairly upright, but what the picture doesn't show, is that I was having to cut through the duck weed with one had, and hold the gps with other. 🙂
FWIW, we check our range poles with the GPS to make sure they aren't bending (5700 at least) due to the extra weight out on the end.
Good ribbing though. I like that. 🙂
:good:
If they ever perfect cloning; I vote that we make a lot more Derals....:-)
Cheers :beer: and have a safe and happy 4TH
Radar
Our engineers only think of surveying as "incidental" to their "high priority" engineering work.
Given that hurry to get the surveying "out of the way" they'll
do this frequently with both motions locked "So it don't flop around".
So, I'm pretty much constantly adjusting the instrument.
To be fair, not all engineers would do this, but, it sure told me pretty much
everything I needed to know about the ones I do work with.......
I say no, box it between set ups, period.... just my nickles worth (2 cents don't
go as far as it used to)....
Mark
LOL....Glad you took it in the spirit it was meant.
I still use a Set 4. Best darned instrument ever made. Short walks, I will carry it upright. 95% of the time, it goes in the box and that heavy SOB gets carried along with the legs. We usually try to keep the setups close to vehicle accesibility to save some energy. I had one of the newer "plastic" instruments. It sits on the shelf while the Set 4 goes out to each job.
Thanks Radar. That's how everyone was back then. Nothing special, it's just how you were trained back in the days of larger crews. Tail, then head chain-notekeeper, instrument man and then party chief. You learned each job completely before you could promote to the next position.
It's amazing to me how much care we gave each tiny detail back then to rid ourselves of blunders and to reduce any systematic errors. I really don't feel my 302 is any better than any of my T-2's in my hands.
Kinda my pet peeve to see those that don't even bother with PPM's on their gun. "Well, we are just doing a lot survey". Not the way I was trained I guess. Every survey got done the same way procedure wise.
And it doesn't just apply to surveyors but also GIS folks. I see workers with the unit held at waist level, leaning over it to shield the sun from the screen and taking shots that they think are very accurate. They have no idea sometime what the DOP's mean on their screen. And the funny ones are those with the unit on a back pack when they walk up to a point and then enter the data and take the shot while the antenna is a foot or so off the point to begin with.
We called all this basic methodology back when I started and dinasours roamed the earth.