Anyone have any creative ideas for anchoring tripod legs in the wind? Sandbags work as do stakes taped to the legs but wondering what fancy methods others use. I saw this thing called a tripod butler on amazon it attaches to all three legs and has a pouch of sort you can fill with rocks or other weights. Seemed interesting but never used one.
I made some PVC tubes once and was amazed at how much weight I had to add before they were really effective. That Butler idea sounds great, but, thinking back on what I saw using lead shot, .. it would be hard to find enough on-site dense material in a lot of areas. Unless you are packing it in, lead shot in a PVC tube with two big Velcro strips pop riveted on worked OK.
Heavy log chain.
I use heavy bricks when available. Big concrete ones 400X200² mm.
Often scrounged in suburban yards.
Bungee straps and if necessary I screw an anchor to the bitumen or in a crack in concrete.
Works very well.
Don't rely on just one strap, or else it acts as a tipping point and "over she goes".
When on concrete paving I always drill a very small 1/4" hole for the tips of legs to hold. Same in hotmix/ bitumen
That is probably the greatest saver of legs not blowing over I find.
Grass paddocks hold well-tramped legs firm. Never worry about soft moist dirt.
Sand a different situation.
Also just a heavy down weight hung like the proverbials can work, but I'm not sure I'd want to do instrument work and expect my backsight to be maintained.
> Heavy log chain.
we use chain as well, but we need to keep in mind the chain must be suspended, or the benefit of the weight just rests on the ground. so keep the chain off the feet, and on the tripod 'standards'
For GNSS work, I have seen guys suspend the heavy base battery with a wire a couple of inches above the ground. I am not sure how much stress it puts on the tripod, but it appears to work.
I took a pic of this tripod holding a sat dish last summer. I don't have any info on the bags though.
Tri-Peds
They work!!!
Great for concrete!!
I think right about $100
One of the best tools I have.
For out in the hills, rocks or drive a rebar, maybe a stake, alongside the leg and wrap with flagging, just about anything you can think of.
Quick and easy...Firmly set one leg directly into the wind, two downwind. Take a 3/8" x 16 ins. spike and drive it along side the upwind leg till about even with the foot step on the leg. Take duct tape and tape the tripod leg to the spike. Works up to 70 mph winds or what we term large poodle days.
Pablo B-)
I use a 10 lb. weight on each bipod leg. Cost me $10 for two and cut a slot in them.
I have a couple of pics, but I can't figure out how to insert them.
Geezer
Works up to 70 mph winds
Pablo, for you that's a calm day, what do you do when it's windy?
We have these. Bought them for a project where I had to setup on very nice hardwood floors. Great for slippery surfaces, and they are HEAVY.
We got them for the same reason, they work great!!
much better than I thought they would be
And they fit into a nice bag you throw in the truck when you need them.
I bought a set of these last year and I'm not sure that I like them. I think that because of the rubber pad on the bottom, they bounce around too much to use with a robot. My residuals on turned angles went way up. I was using them on pavement, mostly to avoid the feet sinking in in hot weather. I switched back to my Lo-Ink stabilizers with better results.
Although if the goal is to hold the tripod in place in windy conditions (when there will be some vibration anyway), they would work well.
We use sand bags filled about 1/2 full of pea gravel so we don't get sand all over the back of the truck. We leave our GPS on concrete structures for days at a time doing static observations with this setup and seldom have a problem. It has been suggested that we use motorcycle innertubes filled with sand but we have not found any used innertubes yet, and don't want to buy new ones and cut them up.
> I made some PVC tubes once and was amazed at how much weight I had to add before they were really effective. That Butler idea sounds great, but, thinking back on what I saw using lead shot, .. it would be hard to find enough on-site dense material in a lot of areas. Unless you are packing it in, lead shot in a PVC tube with two big Velcro strips pop riveted on worked OK.
Ditto on the PVC tubes. A former co-worker made me a set for my birthday one year (Thanks again Greg). Work rather well. They are about 16" long filled with sand and I would guess their weight at around 8#? Work rather well with the velcro straps too...
Matt
You are having a vibration problem with a robot? That happened to me with an older Trimble but they had a software or firmware fix for it as I recall, don't have that problem anymore.
ok, i figgurred it out
just plain old dumbell weights (10 lb. each) with a slot cut to fit nicely over bi-pod leg.
Geezer
:good:
:good: :good: :good:
