paden cash, post: 378062, member: 20 wrote: Afterwards we'd set up the gun and see how we did.
So how well did you do?
$10 for a pair of bolt cutters at a second hand/flea market/pawn shop kinda place.
Use said bolt cutters to enter a properly stocked survey supply store unbeknownst to the proprietor under cover of darkness.
Spend the other $65 having a party with your rodwoman. ;-);-):whistle::whistle:
Bill93, post: 378072, member: 87 wrote: So how well did you do?
I can remember being smack dab on a few times. Most of the time we hade to "tweak" the pins a bit.
I can say that on flat ground it is very easy to correctly "two-tape" corners on a more or less square lot of less than 10,000 sq. ft. Interestingly, most of the error we ran into actually had to do with the fact that the existing pins had a minor amount of positional error that one wouldn't think would be that significant..in the neighborhood of .02' to .04'. But unless you know where that error exists your two tape job can get distorted rather quickly.
Holy Cow, post: 378074, member: 50 wrote: $10 for a pair of bolt cutters at a second hand/flea market/pawn shop kinda place.
Use said bolt cutters to enter a properly stocked survey supply store unbeknownst to the proprietor under cover of darkness.
Spend the other $65 having a party with your rodwoman. ;-);-):whistle::whistle:
Or use the other $65 for a phone call and a really sleazy lawyer....
100' tape, 25 or 33 foot tape measure, both in tenths and hundreds, a few nails, a hammer, a plumb bob. Might be able to pick up a used level at a pawn shop or online for your whole budget. You'd be able to turn really rough angles with that and shoot stadia for some rough distances.
An untuned Banjo...
(Sorry, TDD, I couldn't resist)
DDSM
Robert Hill, post: 378013, member: 378 wrote: Copy of the previous survey.
100 ft Tape with some nails for chasing pins
Compass for bearings and to locate iron corners from previous surveys. (Swipe near ground to see if needle moves)
Bush axe to cut, dig, and use as staff for compass.
Pencil paper and cheap trig calculator
Wait, is that an option? I had no idea that was possible!
peruse your local craigslist for a builders transit. they can sometimes be found pretty cheap.
Allen Wrench, post: 378254, member: 6172 wrote: Wait, is that an option? I had no idea that was possible!
The 'compass' as a magnetic locator was the basis of the AQUA LOCATOR.
(how was it done before Schonstedt?)
DDSM
You should have a compass on your smartphone. A 100' tape is about $25. Borrow a shovel from the neighbor. A stud-finder is a really low-cost locator. Now get out there and start surveying. Oh, and you'll need a sack with a dollar sign on it to haul in your earnings. Don't use a sock: it looks unprofessional.
It's interesting to read all these replies. And whether or not any of us are willing to admit it, good surveying is possible with crude or antiquated equipment. Will the results be considered precise with a high amount of accuracy? Probably not, at least compared to today's "standard".
Even though our equipment has changed drastically over the last fifty years, the theory and mechanics of putting a survey on the ground has not. We should all cling to our roots and at least test ourselves and our abilities by at least practicing in the field with archaic and rudimentary tool.
One fact you cannot deny:
A good survey with poor equipment will probably yield better results than a bad survey with good equipment.
Dan B. Robison, post: 378249, member: 34 wrote: An untuned Banjo...
(Sorry, TDD, I couldn't resist)DDSM
I read through the whole-damn thread to see if anyone did the banjo joke. You beat me to it.
Cary M, post: 377980, member: 11598 wrote: Good morning all,
I'm really excited to put what I'm reading in Surveying Fundamentals and Practices into, well, practice. My budget right now would just about cover the foam padding on a TS carry-case, so purchasing any of the equipment I'd most likely be actually using in the field is out of the question. What I'm really after is the most simple manual equipment (tape measure, plumb-bob for example) necessary to experiment with the basic principles of taking measurements in my back yard, local park etc. I want to see the theory (the practical and the math) in action.
I'm already getting field and Civil 3D experience during the summer, which is awesome; this is something for me to do in my spare time.
So two questions I suppose:
1. If you lost every single piece of your equipment, but you absolutely HAD to perform a property survey today to the best of your ability (let's assume it's not on completely level ground), and you had $75 - $100, what would you buy? I think I can safely assume a tape measureÛ? what else?
2. Here in the USA, should I get a tape measure in feet and inches, or tenths of a foot?
Look forward to hearing your ideas!
Thanks,
Cary
A Property survey. I don't think you could really do it. Some absolute things you need include the deedwork, a shovel and a metal detector. You could probably get an old dip-needle. It might be pretty damn hard to do anything if you don't have some of the property corners in place, to swing in the missing ones. In the US you would want tenths of a foot. I would want a calculator, I prefer a scientific calculator, but that might be pretty hard to get within budget. you could get sine-tables and hand-calculate things, but you better be good @ trig and distance-distance intersects. Of course getting a decent compass might be in order, but, again, getting it within budget might be an issue.
Cary, I'd suggest you call up several local surveyors. Ask to go along on a job and observe. Better yet, ask to be on call for any work suitable for a non-experienced rodman. Most likely you'll get a hit. It worked for me back in the day.
#1 thing to get is a current model HP-35 calculator.
#2 would be get a decent compass, I use a Cammenega that is undeclinated, if I were starting over I'd get a used Brunton Hand Transit (which is actually a compass). Might be $40-$80 on eBay. The geology students have to buy them for class and they never use them again after. And keep an eye out for a used builder's transit. Yard sales. Flea markets. Craigslist.
#3 would be an older handheld GPS with WAAS so you can calculate recon corners and walk to them, learn about DOPs etc.
Most of us have a pile of old gear gathering dust in the shed or deep in the garage. If you approached me with a sack of doughnuts, I probably could fix you up with a satisfactory beginners kit. In fact, I have kinda done this more than once when Brand X (or was it Y) had their truck broken into and needed to get back on the job. We help each other out when we need to and sometimes when we don't.
An exercise that you may want to take up this summer would be to research your parents deed, and follow it back through time generating a chain of title. Teach yourself how to research, where to find information, and learn how to read long-hand. Bonus, is that the courthouse is usually air-conditioned.
Dave Lindell, post: 377994, member: 55 wrote: I once did a boundary survey for a civil engineer who did his own topo. He had no clue how to do a boundary survey.
He mounted a 10-inch full circle plastic protractor horizontally on a camera tripod and used a 2-foot level as a sighting instrument.
He measured all of the distances to the "rod" with a steel tape. The "rod" was a box tape, graduated in inches.
He called the finish floor of the house zero elevation and located every integer foot contour.
The final product was impressive. Probably inaccurate, but impressive.
Haha!
Blindfold and darts
jdoswald, post: 378271, member: 8620 wrote: Cary, I'd suggest you call up several local surveyors. Ask to go along on a job and observe. Better yet, ask to be on call for any work suitable for a non-experienced rodman. Most likely you'll get a hit. It worked for me back in the day.
My thoughts exactly! Enthusium and a good attitude go a long way to compensate for lack of experience.
You can learn lots, with primitive survey gear. In fact, I don't think you'll understand retracement, without this experience.
Running a closed traverse, around 40 acres, and adjusting out your error of closure, then running a line across the middle, and checking it, is a phenomenal way to learn what least squares are good for.
This I believe is what's missing, when somebody rejects another surveyors pin, by 0.5'. They simply do not understand the history of how it got there.
N
