I have a 3 meter invar rod that needs to be sent to California to be calibrated. Unfortunately, the rod in the box is 124" long, UPS has a limit of 108". So that means it has to go as freight. Weighs 38 pounds. UPS and Fedex want around $900 each way to ship it. Anyone know of a better (cheaper) way? For $1800 I could almost pay someone to drive it there and back!
Or, alternatively, does anyone know of one (or a pair) of calibrated Trimble invar rods for rent?
Try shipping through Greyhound. I've seen several people use that method for car parts. Never used it myself but know some people who have shipped larger car parts this way.
Check with truck lines for LTL (less than truckload). It won't be as fast as UPS or Fedex but I'd think it would be around $100 each way. You would have to build a box for the rods. I got a 400 lb shipment from Virginia to Utah a couple years ago for about $200.
Check with:
They will crate it and ship it for you.
The Trimble factory service center is in Dayton Ohio, I'd check to see if they can do it. Closer than California so should be cheaper to ship.
The Leica office in Burlingame (800-462-8181) used to have a pair of invar rods for rent when Hans Haselbach owned it. It's worth a phone call.
Edit: I missed the apparent purpose of the post. It looks like you want to ship *your* rods to SLAC, not rent rods in CA. Sorry about that.
Have you contacted NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) about their calibration services? It was a service they offered at one time along with tape calibrations.
Laboratory is in a suburb of Washington.
Does Trimble actually do the calibration in house? A laser interferometer is the usual instrumentation to perform a calibration check. Not cheap. If they are contracting it out maybe you can save a few $$ by going direct.
Stanford University has a lab where this is done. Not so far from Trimble's headquarters. You might check there, maybe that's where Trimble sends rods.
I also have a recollection of Earl Dudley in Alabama offering this service at one time but there's no mention of it on their web site.
Most, if not all, Invar leveling rods sold today are made by NEDO in Germany no matter what brand name is on them. Each manufacturer has its own proprietary bar code so unfortunately one probably can't use a Leica rod with a Trimble (Zeiss) instrument and vice versa.
If you have the NEDO wood rod case that's probably satisfactory for shipping them. Be sure to secure the lid with some sort of strapping material. If not you'll need to build a wood shipping case. Be sure to insure them for their full value and take pictures of them in the case and of the case so you'll have evidence that any subsequent damage was in shipping. Calibration isn't cheap, don't know how you can add the value of that to the insurance. You might also check with the LTL carrier about special services i.e. hand carry the items through terminals, put on top in the trailer etc.
I use air cargo (have to be set up as a known shipper), far cheaper than FEDEx or UPS for shipping equipment, HOWEVER, due to the length you might be out of luck there too, wouldn't hurt to check though. It is usually a 24 hour trip anywhere in USA, at prices cheaper than ground shipping, one of those things that sounds too good to be true, but is!
Thank you for the tip on Craters and Freighters. I've been pondering how to ship an old family cedar chest to my daughter in Maine. This sounds like the best way.
> Calibration isn't cheap, don't know how you can add the value of that to the insurance.
Calibration at SLAC is free, though you have to work with their schedule. I had my DNA03 and 2m invar rod calibrated last year. Note that SLAC also requires your level, not just the rod(s), in order to perform the calibration.
I posted earlier from my phone, back in front of a PC, I just ran a quick est. on Alaska Airlines Cargo (by far the cheapest way I have found to move stuff).
Guessing a 12" x 12" x 125" box and 38 pounds from PHL to SFO would be $100 for general freight. My experience is that in most cases if you get this dropped at the cargo facility in the morning ( or the afternoon before) it will essentially be anyplace in the USA in 24-36 hours at the outside with general freight, basically the same as next day or 2nd day UPS/FEDEX for a fraction of the price, especially on larger items.
This is on a B737, if you had a leg on a regional aircraft (CRJ or Q400 on Alaska), I think the rod box would be too long, BUT doesn't seem to be an issue on the B737.
You pay a penalty for the length via dimensional weight as they charge for 93 pounds.
Alaska doesn't fly into Pittsburgh (or least they don't show they have cargo to there) so I picked Philadelphia.
Somebody would have to retrieve this from the Alaska cargo facility in SFO (or whatever airport you shipped to in CA) as this wouldn't be door to door, but does show how much less than your other quotes this option would be.
You DO have to be a known shipper, not just any Joe can walk in off the street and ship air cargo and it took a week or so to get this setup initially with a fee and a required site visit.
SHG
I was a known shipper on US Air, not sure if it expired since I haven't used it for years. In the early-mid 2000's, I used to always ship my gear air freight when flying to a job. Now, I usually am able to check it and do carry-on to get what I need.
But, I don't know how the rod would get from the airport to SLAC.
BTW, the $890 is for LTL service! Seems totally ridiculous to me.
In the past, I have done bluebook leveling and submitted it as Second order class II, which does not require calibration (or thermistors), but this time the client (different than my usual client) wants Second order class I.
I think SLAC is the only place to get it done now in the US.
> But, I don't know how the rod would get from the airport to SLAC.
There are lots of logistics companies around who can provide this service, but it's not cheap. I would guess a couple hundred bucks each way.
You might try posting a request on the CLSA forum -- there might be a survey outfit in the Stanford area that'd be willing to dispatch a truck and driver to handle the transfer as a favor, or perhaps a donation to the CLSA education fund. (I'd do it if I were close, but Palo Alto is a 2-hour drive each way for me.)
Did you check with Craters and Freighters?
How do these rods get shipped initially? Maybe check to see how your supplier receives them from the distributor or manufacturer.
SHG
I was wondering about that, Shelby, since they come from Germany.
You might check with someone like these guys for the dock to door part.
http://www.statlogistics.com/air-freight/services.aspx
SHG
shipping level rods-UPDATE
we found a company that will ship the rod (and the level) to CA for $250. Takes 4 days en route. Maybe I would have thought that was a lot before I got the ~$900 quote, now it seems quite reasonable.
Deployed Logistics is the company.
I had decided that I would wait until after the leveling is completed to get the calibration done, but it turns out that it is required BEFORE the leveling (according to NGS, not sure why that would be)
shipping level rods-UPDATE
John,
Glad to learn the up-date. A related question - I presume you have the Hi/Lo temperature observations covered for the precise leveling work. But, if you or anyone is interested, I have a set of tripod-mounted thermistors built to NGS specs that can be made available to someone needing same. A set like that is kinda expensive to build/sell but could easily be rented for specified period of time.
Apologies in advance if such information violates conditions of use of this bulletin board.
