We are finally getting some of that much needed moisture, I dont mind getting wet but have tried different attempts to keep the robot dry. A couple are setting up a tent style canopy (lot of work), umbrella flagged tight to a prism pole with bi pods to stabilize and put it real close to gun and tripod pod (works okay, more stuff to carry and factor in the wind it can get western), man holding the umbrella (not efficient at all), I cut a hole in one of the rain covers provided with the gun ( worked but in driving rain water would still go thru cut out. So I am invisioning something like a bucket or large diameter pvc pipe with cut outs for the robot to see thru. The base would need to be flat and would set on top of the tripod, then the gun would set down and fasten. Set up the gun, then place the upper section over top and fasten. Any thoughts?
For me Rain protection consists of a Springfield XDS 45acp and a North American Arms pocket revolver
I luv me North American Arms pocket revolver, Randy
In the Pacific NW we work in the rain all the time. We take no special precautions to keep the equipment dry while in use, but we carefully dry it as soon as we get back to the office. Towel it off religiously and leave it out of the box in a dry, heated, well ventilated place over night. Dry the box in the same way, too.
One other thing - if it is ever opened for service the seals need to be replaced. The seals are frangible - one time use. It won't be waterproof if a service tech puts it back together without new seals.
Norman Oklahoma, post: 337907, member: 9981 wrote: In the Pacific NW we work in the rain all the time. We take no special precautions to keep the equipment dry while in use, but we carefully dry it as soon as we get back to the office. Towel it off religiously and leave it out of the box in a dry, heated, well ventilated place over night. Dry the box in the same way, too.
One other thing - if it is ever opened for service the seals need to be replaced. The seals are frangible - one time use. It won't be waterproof if a service tech puts it back together without new seals.
Thanks Norman, this particular robot is about 10 years old and I dont think it is water tight anymore. I have been sketchy on using them in the rain since I had an EDM go out one day and it happened to be raining, I dont know if the rain contributed or was just coincidence.
I use a 8'x8' popup tent. Yes, it is cumbersome to drag around, set up and tear down. I've had three jobs that were deadline critical, took one on Thursday afternoon for a Friday closing at a premium price, and was worth working in the rain. None of them would've been possible to complete without covering my robot. I destroyed the bag a long time ago, so it gets tied with bungie cords. I drive 4 rebar at the corners and wrap said bungies around the leg and rebar to secure.
Maybe a big golf umbrella, then. Attach it somehow to a tripod (not the instrument tripod, rain usually comes with wind).
Use your google-fu to search 'tripod umbrella'. Photographer use them to keep their not-so water proof but very expensive camera equipment dry. I'm sure using a heavy enough tripod and some minor modifications you could make something work. We just suck it up and work through whatever nature throws at us with the exception of high wind and diligently air dry everything before the case lid gets shut. After seeing a tad bit of condensation in my R8 unit we took David Livingston's advice and secured some shower caps and they work great keeping everything dry.
I have used one of those patio table umbrella's. Plenty of cover. Just drive a stake in the ground, pull it and put the umbrella in the hole. I use large heavy trash bags to cover my backpack when moving from point to point. Just cut slots for the backpack straps. For me I use a poncho. Everything stays surprisingly dry, including me.
We purchased an NGS umbrella. They are designed to provide shade. They stake down nicely and keep things dry. I am certain you can still get them from any decent supplier...
Drive an aluminum u channel post just down to the barbs so it'll easily pull up. Use Velcro straps (Ace or TruValue should have them) to strap golf umbrella to the post.
Thanks, lots of good idea's.
Great idea! Seems so obvious now, but it's never occurred to me in all my time working in the rain and/or screwing around with umbrellas.
Does anyone find that their distance measurements are affected by shooting through the rain? Probably not a big issue for construction staking, but I'm just wondering since the humidity is essentially 100% and there are water droplets passing through the beam while shooting a distance.
I've been to the calibration baseline on rainy days. Slow time in January is when I'm most likely to get there, and it's always rainy then. No noticeable difference in results.
skwyd, post: 337974, member: 6874 wrote: Does anyone find that their distance measurements are affected by shooting through the rain? Probably not a big issue for construction staking, but I'm just wondering since the humidity is essentially 100% and there are water droplets passing through the beam while shooting a distance.
Not rain, but fog on longer shots has given me grief. Particularly over cooling water bodies this time of year. Early morning being the worst time as things are cooling off and water is giving up it's latent heat resulting in fog. This time of year we also sometimes get a rain that is more of a mist that can scatter the EDM beam. Larger water droplets don't seem to have the same effect.
Norman Oklahoma, post: 337907, member: 9981 wrote: In the Pacific NW we work in the rain all the time. We take no special precautions to keep the equipment dry while in use, but we carefully dry it as soon as we get back to the office. Towel it off religiously and leave it out of the box in a dry, heated, well ventilated place over night. Dry the box in the same way, too.
One other thing - if it is ever opened for service the seals need to be replaced. The seals are frangible - one time use. It won't be waterproof if a service tech puts it back together without new seals.
Norman:
When I was working for a firm in Lake Oswego surveying "P" lines for roadways around a planned golf course developement in Gresham, the circle drum in the Wild T-16 completely fogged over where you couldn't read any angles at all. Didn't affect the Wild top mount distance meter, just the theodolite. This was the week of Thanksgiving 1989 and the instrument got to set in the dry room over the long weekend. Of course, when the late fall and winter rains start, if you don't work in the rain, then you don't work. Rain suits and rubber boots.
skwyd, post: 337974, member: 6874 wrote: Does anyone find that their distance measurements are affected by shooting through the rain? Probably not a big issue for construction staking, but I'm just wondering since the humidity is essentially 100% and there are water droplets passing through the beam while shooting a distance.
Water droplets on the reflector empirically do seem to have an effect.
D
Fog and water do affect the ability to get a distance measurement. But if you get one at all it will be a good one. At least as good as one on a dry day.
IN my experience moisture on the back of the prism will turn it into a black hole.
I must be related to the Wicked Witch of the West because the likelihood of me getting too wet while surveying is slim to none.
It has happened, but rarely since that day I got the total station soaked and the repair bill far exceeded the gross income from the job we were doing. Once is once too many for that school of hard knocks kind of education.
