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Machine Control

jaclo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
108
Location
Midwest
I realize this is an old post

Chad, what kind of technical background do you need to be considered for your job?

Do you just do installation or do you do training/troubleshooting?
 

Chad@SitechTR

Active Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2013
Messages
39
Location
Memphis, Tn
I do installation, on site training with customers and troubleshooting. I worked for a contractor for quite a few years before starting this. We used machine control (Trimble Site Vision), so I had been around GPS for some time but I am still learning as I go. Luckily, I work with a guy that is pretty sharp and that is a big help. Sitech Trejas has a great training program from what I have heard
 

Dozerman550

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2015
Messages
6
Location
NJ
Hi Chad, I'm new to the forum and have a few questions for you. We do commercial, industrial & residential site work and I'm trying to get some knowledge about gps and dual grade lasers ( have never used either). We recently have done a couple of big fine grading jobs and was wondering which would have been a bigger asset to have in those situations. Most of the time we are on the smaller site projects but in this case we were fine grading 4 acres for blacktop trying to match 2 grades with single slope and some compound grades with no plans.
With gps do you always need a set of plans downloaded to the system or can u take a 3D machine to the site touch one point then touch another and it figures out the middle or would a dual slope laser be better in that situation?
 

jaclo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
108
Location
Midwest
Dozer

With the trimble rover you can basically go shoot the corners of your pad and the software will connect the points and create a perfect surface for you . We recently did a 120,000 sqft pad this way and it turned out awesome.

In laymens terms, you shoot the points, put the data on your card, put it in the machine, and start grading. My dad is 52 and the first time we ever did a pad like this it blew his mind at how much time we saved surveying and grading. Real game changing stuff.
 

Dozerman550

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2015
Messages
6
Location
NJ
Jaclo,
Thanks for your reply. So basically you have a data collector that gathers all the coordinates
 

Dozerman550

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2015
Messages
6
Location
NJ
Jaclo,
Thanks for your reply. So basically you have a data collector that gathers all the gps coordinates then transfers to a computer which makes the card that goes in the machine? What does that system cost? Can you do all that on the job?
 

jaclo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
108
Location
Midwest
Correct on the data collector. Literally walk around with a little computer and press a button on 4 spots.

You then insert a data card into the collector, copy the data to the card, put the card into a monitor mounted into the machine, load the job up on the machine monitor and proceed to make millions of dollars.

Cost? I'm not entirely up to date on that. Cover your *******.

Everything I have described was done on site.
 

Dozerman550

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2015
Messages
6
Location
NJ
That's pretty sweet!!!! I've been checking them out online since you told me about them. I would also have to get the machine unit because the Rover is not used in the machine correct?
 

jaclo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
108
Location
Midwest
Rover, base, plus outfitting the machine for it. The rover and base units are not the same as the machine mounted units. Like i said, mentally prepare yourself to spend money.
 

Chad@SitechTR

Active Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2013
Messages
39
Location
Memphis, Tn
You can do what was stated above, to an extent. If it is a basic layout, you can do it with the machine or rover. If it is a complex design, your best bet is going to be to get a model built of the proposed plans. What you can do with the machine is pretty basic stuff. A flat pad at an known elevation or a simple sloping plane with cross slopes. You can get a little more complex with the rover by shooting points and saving/exporting it as a surface, but if its off when you shoot it with the rover, the machine cannot correct it. When you have a model built, you are working off of a surface that is directly pulled from the cad files. Having known control points on the jobsite to calibrate to are a very important step that doesn't need to be overloked. It is an expensive setup, but there are rental options to look at. Hope some of this helps.
 

ETMF 58 White

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2011
Messages
184
Location
SEC West
I just picked up a job to build the approaches (ramps) to a new bridge. It's about 900 feet on one end and about 1800 feet on the other end. It will be a two lane road, and it looks like it will take about 50,000 yards of fill material hauled in and spread to plan specs. Wider at the bottom then coming up in 8 inch lifts to the main lanes and shoulder base course. It will then call for spreading and compacting the base gravel to within 1/2 inch of plans to get it ready for the paving contractor.

A mentor has advised me to rent a D6K and a GPS system to do this job. He said I can help spread with my JD700H, but let the automated D6K do the bulk of the work. I have worked this out with the Caterpillar rental people and they will rent me the equipment and build the model for me. The rental price is well within my budget for the job.

The only knot that I have in my stomach is that neither I nor my guys have experience doing this with the GPS. We have a laser system, but that is really not much help on the portions of this job that have the superelevation and things like that.

What will I need to do to get up to speed quickly once we start hauling material? Is there some training available for my finish dozer operator, or do I just let him figure it out on his own? He can finish grade by eye and with stakes about as good as anybody, and he is the right age (early 30s) to catch on quickly to new methods. But I hate to be paying rent on an expensive system and have trucks stacked up waiting on someone to learn how to spread via GPS machine control. I also hate to just pile 800 yards a day in there on him, spread it so it looks about right, and then have to re-do it to proper grade after hours.

Any pointers?
 

R.D.G013

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
255
Location
sunshine coast qld australia
Occupation
Heavy equipment operator/foreman for about 48yrs o
Have had a little experience on a D6 T with GPS and total machine control, makes life easier for sure, the one we have has a switch on the blade lever that controls the blade up down / left and right tilt once u get to with in about 50 mm of grade, operator still needs to know to push from and where to push to. Saves a lot of time grade checking etc, main thing is that the digital model is accurate as the GPS is only as good as the information thats put into it, have been on an 815 compactor lately that has GPS and areas of the fill show 6 mtrs of cut while 4 mtrs away its on grade, there is obviously a hiccup in the design. On another job with a grader with GPS cross fall for the road was 3% but the GPS had 41% cross fall in some places, some body on the design side of things had stuffed up big time , but over all a good time saver.
 
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