For increased accuracy and repeatability of measurements I'd use a bipod on the pole with a calibrated 8' circular boubble and a nodal prism ( Leica mini with -17mm prism constant for Trimble instruments, Leica Circular prism (-34.4mm pc), or Seco nodal prisms ). A nodal prism would return the correct angle and distance measurement even if the prism is not "looking" straight at the instrument. The way it looks you're using a mini prism with a 0mm offset. If you used on the -30mm side, you'd be getting more consistent results. 0mm offset is the most sensitive to any readings that are not perpendicular to the instrument's line of sight, also the elevations would be off when shooting at steep angles. A nodal prism tilted toward the instrument would solve this problem. 360 prisms don't yield good elevations at steep angles. In over 25 years of doing layout work I tried many setups and the least accurate seemed to be the telescoping poles. I only use a 2 piece pole that I rarely extend. The new poles boubbles are never calibrated out of the box, so you have to do that yourself. I personally use the instrument to calibrate the boubble within 0.5mm runout.
Great video, man. I'm just starting to use a Trimble RTS773. I will use your tips. I wish I had the radio reciever, though. Pure tablet/RTS is not that great for big distances. Greetings from Guatemala!
Hello! Great job on the videos, very informative. I’m wondering how you bring your control up as you start to build up. Might be a good idea for a video. Thanks for your work.
Also I think he uses this particular prism because it can rotate up and down (useful when the TS is setup on ground floor and he is high up on the structure) plus it is small and has a useful tip on its back that can be used to point on vertical elements like when he used it to check the elevation on a point marked on a column
Awesome! Curious, control point 495, elev 101' 8 11/16". Where does that elevation height reference too? Is that control point 495 101' 8 11/16" above a surveyed benchmark at the ground level per NAV88 vertical datum? Or is it localized? I.e. above a 0 level of the building or ground or whatever? Thanks for the very informative video!
It's in reference to the control point he set his gun up on originally because it was at a known benchmark. The Elevations are set different on each job
what do you use for your prism constant .. when you switch of and on the Prism pole . seem like the best way to lay out vertical or check column offset .. :)
Wondering if you could give me some insight, I'm trying to create temporary points on a curb that curves in various spots, when I go to my layout tab and click the circle/arc button the line doesn't show the points it should, rather it tells me there's no logical radius inputted. How can I create points on a curved curb without having to create a bunch of intersecting lines to create a selectable point?
There are several ways to layout a radius curb or a curve. 1) you can choose 3 points on the arc; starting point on the arc, mid point and the end point 2) you can stake with the center point of the arc and the radius of the arc 3) you can stake out with radius of the arc, the starting and end point of the arc. I hope this helps
