Unusual Equipment Ideas

I'm guessing surveyors have tried to come up with something ever since the manhole was invented.?ÿ I never had any ideas better than just keeping an old worn out level rod in the truck for "sh*t duty".?ÿ My guys would usually stop off at the car wash and hose it down after using.

I did have an unrelated idea that never got off the ground though..gummed edge tortillas..to keep them homemade burritos from unraveling.?ÿ They never took off.?ÿ Maybe I should try Shark Tank.

Clamp a 4-ft (or whatever) lath to the bottom of the rod to extend it ~3 ft, and throw away the lath after the job??ÿ It doesn't matter how long the lath is if you have it in place for both backsight and foresight.?ÿ Or if you are reading the value at the top of the m-hole instead of sighting a level, extend the rod even feet with the lath.

How about picking up a box of Veterinary exam gloves they use on cows? There shoulder length so should be long enough. Ask Mr. Cow

A lath kicker works about as good as anything.?ÿ ?ÿThat is if delegating doesn't work.?ÿ ?ÿ

@paden-cash

Yeah we only have One rod here that fits the pipe mil so it's loosely sanitized after each use. Takes way more time and really needs to be addressed better.

@BStrand

I used to walk 15 to 20 miles a day across the western range land. Hopping loose barbed wire fences can potentially kill you if you slip while scaling a tpost support(read up...colorado man bleeding to death of the same) so I rolled up a four foot piece of 3/16 leather I bought to "assist" in protection of my pants, legs, and the jewels whilst crossing.

Additionally I always ended up needing to cross multiple times meandering creeks I never saw until it was too late so also packed up 12 mil plastic sheets I could wrap up to knee deep, anything moving wasn't crossed and deeper the same. This was for geophysical collection. We weren't as tough as land surveying people.?ÿ

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Posted by: @bill93

Clamp a 4-ft (or whatever) lath to the bottom of the rod to extend it ~3 ft, and throw away the lath after the job??ÿ It doesn't matter how long the lath is if you have it in place for both backsight and foresight.?ÿ Or if you are reading the value at the top of the m-hole instead of sighting a level, extend the rod even feet with the lath.

Yup, that's what we?ÿ did, a disposable lath to keep the rod clean.?ÿ On nearly dry small diameter sewer lines we'd go bare and hose the bottom of the rod down at the end of the day.?ÿ One thing that bugged me about sewer topos was don't they have the asbuilts so know exactly what the situation is?

I'll risk thread drift here but the most interesting thing that happened to me when dipping sewers was a big job for an unincorporated town.?ÿ Near the end of the job we worked the trunk line in the highway to the treatment plant.?ÿ One of the last manholes was a monster above a 60" line.?ÿ It was stuck so we used our go-to technique of driving a pickax pick into the lift hole to pull?ÿ up with max tension while others bashed on the manhole with sledges.?ÿ Ka-boom! The manhole popped off, the pickax flipped up into the air and perfectly rattled into the raging sewer!?ÿ There was no way we could use a level rod to measure down 16' so we reported "no measurement" and they said we don't care that's a way overspec line with no laterals at that manhole and let us slide.?ÿ

At our next monthly meeting?ÿ the district rep at the pre coffee klatch after some chit-chat mentioned they found an undamaged pickax on the trash rack the following day which could only fit into the few 60" mains manholes so did I want it back.?ÿ Um, I winked and told him I knew nothing.?ÿ I was scared of liability as that pickax may have raged holes and busted joins on its wild ride.

@fairbanksls

OK, what's a "lath kicker'?

JA, PLS, SoCal

@jerry-attrick

General labourer, hired-hand, gunslinger, pinch hitter ...?

@richard-imrie

So you tape the FNG "kicker" to a rod and dip him into the manhole?

Then to a self serve car wash?

They tend to frown on that in California.

JA, PLS, SoCal

@jerry-attrick

?ÿA 4 ft. lath/guard stake duck taped to the rod at a 1 or 2 ft. boot.?ÿ?ÿ

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Here in the GREAT NW, my paper always comes in a thin plastic bag. I have a stockpile.

@bill93

Yeah, I've done this in the past and it works.?ÿ I thought a bag and a bungee tie or something would be a little quicker to setup.?ÿ Anyway, the lath is probably the best way to go.

@one-cup-o-joe

the blueprint shops (remember those?) always had plastic bags for rolled up plans

Use one of the tubes that come with your 36" plotter payer. Spray WD40 or any kitchen oil on it. A little tap on the MH rim before coming up would remove most residue.

The plastic wrap from for the paper would easily be punctured.

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My former boss at the big city where I worked came up with the idea of using a condom over the bottom of the rod.?ÿ I told him that if he could get city stores to supply them we would all use them.

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A dozen newspaper wrappers duct taped onto the rod sounds workable.?ÿ You don't need a sharp tip on the pole to start with.?ÿ Completely remove the tip first.

Nobody likes to go fishing for corn-eyed brown trout. A Leica disto and a 4' lath have ended our days of fishing for lunkers. ?????ÿ

@hi-staker How do you use those two things together?

@edwidy, Lay the lath across the manhole rim and use the underside of the lath as the reference elevation. Then place the Disto in angle mode and shoot the inverts and bottom of barrel measure downs. We have tested this method on both low and high flow manholes and have always matched within +/- 0.02' of a level rod. For high flow manholes, we'll shoot the top of pipe and then use the pipe diameter + thickness of pipe to get the invert.

All of this is done for crew safety and hygiene. Our days of physically placing anything into the stream of waste are gone.