Tips & Tricks for field technicians
Heyo! I've decided to give a presentation at the Wisconsin annual conference. Tips and tricks for field technicians. I find that a lot of the knowledge we all have as experienced folks, doesn't always get passed down to the next wave. Either because we assume they know or they're hearing it from someone else.
Can you share some advice for younger (or new) surveyors when it comes to field work? From simple to advanced. For example: Digging a plug when looking for a property corner. Not just a giant hole. Looking around for lines of occupation.
Things that would seem second nature to us, but a new person might not know.
Thanks in advance!
Kevin (PLS Wisconsin)
Look for old cut lines, old flagging. Surveyors leave a lot of different kinds of evidence.
Write it down when you change rod height doing topo, even if using a data collector. Going back will cost more...
If you change your routine, slow down, check more.
Practice situational awareness.
Have a partner if possible, especially if far from office or help, and look out for them.
Do your best to be impossible to misunderstand.
Since you're in Wisconsin; pack snow around the feet of the tripod during winter surveys.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. One leg up, two legs down on the slope. Take care of all of your equipment. Make good clean notes and sketches because getting asked questions a month later about a survey is the worst. Never be satisfied with where you're at. Keep on learning and improving your worth. Act professionally when speaking with clients.
Write it down when you change rod height doing topo, even if using a data collector.
I don't do that. But I do limit the number of rod heights I use to all the way down, all the way up, or 6.5 feet. Only very rarely and in very special circumstances do I use anything else when topo'ing. That way rod busts are, generally, apparent and fixable.
*6.5 feet gets it over my head so I'm not getting on line and breaking lock. (Admittedly, 6.00' would work for me with a hard hat on, but other guys at the company are taller, so 6.50' was arrived at as a setting workable for all.)
Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you and yours.
Bring the instrument in its box to the tripod. You should be taking no steps between removing the instrument from its box to affixing it to the tribrach or tripod. Keep a hand on the handle at all times until it is firmly screwed down. (I prefer a system where the tribrach is set up and levelled over the point and then the instrument is set in the tribrach, but that doesn't always work out with all instruments.)
Then close the box. Keep the inside pristine.
Never sand down tripod legs that are binding. They are binding because they have absorbed moisture and have swelled. Bring the binding legs into a well ventilated temperature controlled room for several days to dry out and they will slide freely again. If you sand them down they will be floppy to the point of unuseablity next summer when the weather is dry. If the finish has worn to the point that it isn't protecting the wood, use furniture wax to seal them up.
When screwing the rod onto a prism assembly or the GPS head - keep a firm grip on the gps head and turn the rod. If one has to be fumbled, I'd prefer it be the rod.
When tightening the tripod leg screws and hold down screw to the tribrach, or the knobs on the rod, use only your fingertips. That is tight enough. The threaded parts are aluminum and will not withstand demonstrations of your kung-fu grip.
Keep the threads on the threaded rod inside your bipod legs lubricated with anti-seize to keep them from, well, seizing up. These things are easily adjusted in the field - if things haven't been allowed to seize up - and, when necessary, maintained and repaired.
Learn how to check and adjust the bubble on your tribrachs and rods.
A topo shoe tip for you rod saves the pointed tip and makes certain topo point easier to tie.
If your instruments get even a drop of water on them, dry them thoroughly. As in out in the air in a well ventilated and temperature controlled room overnight. Do not ever leave them in the box wet.
To set a total station on level ground at a good height - close the legs together and make their length so that the tripod head is about chin high. Then when you set up the tripod and set the gun on it the telescope will be a comfortable eye level.
No matter how much you think having a good tripod is critical to precise work...you are underestimating it. Keep the tripod adjusted and well taken care of (and don't cheap out).
Learn and insist on being trained to keep the equipment adjusted. Then do it on the regular without being asked, and send an email to your party chief and the chief of parties each month with a record of what was done. Taking responsibility combined with good communication builds trust and that is the most valuable asset that a field crew can offer.
If you want to be the last guy let go in the slow times, it isn't about who was hired last. Hustle, watch, ask questions, and make yourself invaluable.
If you study on your own time, you will have intelligent questions to ask.
Embrace the little jobs. If you are told to keep the truck stocked or clean or the trashcan emptied, do it every time it is needed without being asked. See each task as an opportunity to demonstrate that you are the best one to be trusted when something needs to be done.
Read the manuals for your equipment. Whoever is in the right hand seat of the truck during a drive needs to be redeeming that time.
Don't be overly sensitive, but also don't be a door mat. If a person has no interest in training you, find someone who will.
Specific Tip:
Know safety and pay attention to safety briefs and lessons. Your #1 job is to come home safely to your family. There is precisely ONE PERSON responsible for your well being, and that is you. Do not outsource your safety to your party chief, your boss, your company, or anyone else. No matter how much you make it is not worth an injury or death.
When screwing the rod onto a prism assembly or the GPS head – keep a firm grip on the gps head and turn the rod. If one has to be fumbled, I’d prefer it be the rod.
One engineer said it this way: "The inexpensive item always gets screwed into or onto the expensive item."
