A few projects I have done recently

[CM1995]

Last weekend the Wife and I went to Charleston SC in order to celebrate her birthday. Charleston is a fantastic town and I highly recommend a trip there, it was our first visit.

Wonderful people, outstanding architecture, robust history and mouth watering food. We had a blast.

One of many row houses. Some of these date back to the 1700's.

Love that garage door!



Awesome front door.



These can be found around the old streets. They are not a bollard or something to tie your horse to in the old days rather a post to tie your boat too. Charleston was built on fill placed over the years in the harbor so ocean front property was a moving target it appears.



Not quite sure on this one but I found it interesting. I like how they not only matched the door below to the porch slope above but matched the transom as well.

 

[CM1995]

The largest general contractor we work for has a hotel project on the waterfront in Charleston. The PM on this project is one we worked with several years ago building a high end low rise condo project back in 2015.



Couple of pics of the houses and gardens

 

[CM1995]

Mob'd a 279D and our 305E to the BK that's about to become a Starbucks.

Loving my new truck. A little squat on the back end but it should be for the weight, around 15K mini, hammer and trailer.



Hammering some curbing and 6" concrete in the drive-thru. Tore the sections out with the 305 and carried them to be processed with the 279D with grapple bucket.



The little hammer hits surprisingly hard for its size. If you can get the concrete slabs and curb on a flat hard surface like this they will break very easily as the expanding force doesn't have the dirt backfill to absorb it. Concrete is great under compression and terrible under tension.



This was taped to the cooler inside the old BK. I don't know who Mrs. Paige is but I like her.

 

[CM1995]

So we received our first 3D model from Sitech and went "online" last Thursday.

It was not without its frustrations though. Setting up the base station and localizing the rover over the 3 control points was easy and loading the model into the data collector had a few hiccups but went fairly easy.

Loading the machine file proved a little more difficult. Got this error message a couple of times.



The problem was the normal Sitech trainer from our area was out due to his wife having a new baby so we were phoning it in literally with another tech that was on an airfield paving job at FT Benning in GA. So we were calling and texting back and forth until he told me we had to create the machine file in the data collector first, then load in the machine.

So after several trial and error hours we had the TSC5 data collector and D3 up and running. This is a game changer.

D3 cutting side walks at the private school dining hall. The dozer is too wide to cut the sidewalks on auto since the blade is wider that the walk so the sides of the blade want to dip or raise to catch the grade. This is where it still takes a real operator to cut grade, the system just eliminates the grade checker since you have an electronic one in the cab.



The dining hall is progressing somewhat. Interior rough in's are finishing up and drywall is going up.



The siding for the outside isn't even in the country yet and when it does get here it has to acclimate like HW flooring for 2 weeks inside the building before they install it which is going to take 3 months. There is a mock up of the proposed siding and it looks like old cement pallets..whatever we don't get paid to design it.

 

[savman]

Small World....I had Adam on my site Thursday doing my training. He had to run to Ft Benning first thing in the am to finish something with the paving, so he didn't get to my site until 11ish...so I only got a half day.

He got several calls, so if it was this past thurs (28th?) you were the guy he was talking too. Crazy.

I only bought a base and rover as I don't have a dozer yet....yet. But I'm super impressed with the capabilities so far.

Went with the Panasonic touch screen as I wanted the larger screen and the TSC7 was a good bit more money and my salesman and I came to the conclusion I wouldn't need the additional capability any time soon.

My training went super smooth. I had watched several videos on SiteWorks and tried to prepare as much as I had time for, so I could get all my questions out there while I had a trainer on site. Then after using the rover a couple days I have been practicing SiteWorks at home with new Work Orders just to get a feel for everything. CoGo functions especially because there are lots of icons and it helped to just play around with them in a sandbox so to speak.

If I could lay my hands on an ARO D3 I would have it + machine control tomorrow...as it stands I have a BOLO out for a machine.

At first I wasn't going to go with TBC......but after doing lots of research and talking with another small operator like myself I am going to get it soon. A fair amount of the work I do doesn't have plans, or if it doesn it's only a 2d .pdf, so I want the capability to make a topo and then build my own design and then build a model that I can load into a machine/rover and rock and roll. That's the plan anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Some of the simpler stuff I do could actually be built in Siteworks but it would really limit me and it's pretty clunky for stuff like that (so far as I can tell from my practice)....it would work for something super simple, or in a pinch in the field. Otherwise using TBC in the air-conditioner looks like it's going to be a better fit.

 

[savman]

I'd be curious to hear what you think about the automatics on your dozer. I've never ran one, but my hope is that it not only allows a less experienced operator take over what I would normally do, but it would even speed up a seasoned operator with less passes, and of course eliminate the grade checker.

 

[CM1995]

It is indeed a small world. The pic of the file error above was taken Thursday at 9:40 our time so just before 11 eastern. I texted that pic to him and had a couple phone calls afterwards. Had to be on the phone with him while he was doing your training. Adam came by the private school early Friday morning to go over any questions we had. Once we had the D3 up and running we were off to the races. It's super simple to use.

We bought the D3 a little earlier than we needed it in spring of '21 because the dealer had one and we gambled on not being able to get one when we wanted to pull the trigger on the Trimble system.

I'd be curious to hear what you think about the automatics on your dozer. I've never ran one, but my hope is that it not only allows a less experienced operator take over what I would normally do, but it would even speed up a seasoned operator with less passes, and of course eliminate the grade checker.

The answer is yes. Now it still requires an operator to get a quality finished product but eliminating a grade checker is the best aspect of the technology. Mr Trimble shows up to work every day, doesn't have an old lady calling him 20 times a day and never has car trouble..

Couple of things we've figured out so far -

A fixed base station will be quicker and easier for our jobs as we stay in one place for a couple weeks at a time. We will starting a large parking lot project downtown in the next couple of weeks and he's going to come out to help us set up a fixed post for our base station and localize it. It shouldn't be difficult. I think we are going to use a metal post since we have many LF of 4" pipe at the yard we can cut and plant on site. My guys are good at metal fab so we'll make our own base plate.

The base station chews through batteries as you probably know. Going to pick up a small gel battery and solar trickle tender for the base station. With the factory supplied 12V gator clips it makes it simple.

We are getting pricing for TBC. Owner and wife wants to build our own models. At $1500 a pop on average it won't take too long to pay for it and the fact we are not beholden to someone else's timeframe. Looks like the construction module is $4-6K upfront with yearly maintenance fees. She already does our estimates with Insight and builds 3D models but it appears the Insight models are not going to integrate easily with Trimble's software. We are new to this and at our age learning something new can be frustrating however this has been somewhat painless process and we're all in from the office to the field.

Question - If you do your own designs how are you localizing the base and rover in the field? Do you control points or set your own?

 

[Landclearer]

Hi CM wish I knew you were in Charleston. You could have gotten the 5 cent tour of operation. Glad you enjoyed the trip anyway.

 

[CM1995]

Hi CM wish I knew you were in Charleston. You could have gotten the 5 cent tour of operation. Glad you enjoyed the trip anyway.

Man I thought about it but we were in and out so quick every minute was taken. Next visit when we can take more time I'll hit you up. The big B'day trip is a 10 cruise in Alaska at the end of August hence the short trip to Charleston.

I was wondering if any of the many clearing jobs along I-26 was one of yours.

 

[Landclearer]

Sounds good. Anytime your up this way let me know. The cruise to Alaska sounds nice.

No that’s not us on I26. I haven’t been up there so I’m not sure who it is.

 

[skyking1]

We went to Charleston in 07, thank you for the pictures.

 

[CM1995]

Sounds good. Anytime your up this way let me know. The cruise to Alaska sounds nice.

No that’s not us on I26. I haven’t been up there so I’m not sure who it is.

There were several sites in North Charleston in addition to the center clearing along I-26 that went for many miles.

We went to Charleston in 07, thank you for the pictures.

You're welcome Sky. It's a fantastic city very similar to New Orleans in age, architecture and food scene but without the stench of Bourbon Street.

 

[CM1995]

Winding down a little extended weekend in Demopolis along the TennTom/Black Warrior river lake system.

Campsite #49 is one of our favorites as it's right on the river. This is probably met-coal going down to Thyssenkrupp's steel plant in Mobile or other destinations.



Below the lock the ACE has a nice park you can drive down to. Sailboat waiting to go up river.



The little fella in the lock ready to head up river to the next one.



Wife and I love this spot. It's only a 2hr drive from home and a world away from work.

 

[skyking1]

what campground? that looks nice. We were in Savannah the weekend before Charleston. It is a different world for us.

 

[CM1995]

what campground? that looks nice. We were in Savannah the weekend before Charleston. It is a different world for us.

Foscue Creek in Demopolis, AL. It's on the west side of the state basically in the middle of nowhere. It's our favorite campground.

The website doesn't do it justice.

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232569

Wife and I will be out in your neck of the woods the latter part of August for our cruise. Staying in Seattle the night before and after we return. We are really looking forward to it.

 

[skyking1]

Very good. I won't be back in country till the 29th or we could have a cold beverage. Maybe on your return?

 

[savman]

re: own models localizing base and rover.....the short answer is I'm not sure, but I know it's possible. I could tell you my understanding of how it's supposed to work but that would probably just muddy the waters. I just got it Thursday but I had done a fair amount of research so I didn't have many Siteworks questions and was able to get the 15 minute answer from Adam on how he'd do it.

Also I spent some time talking with a guy I think out of Madison County (with SiTech) and he knew exactly what I wanted to do and had done it himself several times. He even did his own house down to digging the footings via GPS without any surveyor control or engineered plans. His name is Jeremy Black and I'll dm you his contact info. Real good guy. He can walk you through the workflow from TBC to moving dirt.

I will say check with him and make sure you're pricing all the TBC modules necessary to do that type of work. I priced a package that included takeoff capabilities as I don't have any estimating software whatsoever. It was a fair amount more than what you were quoted. My quote reads TBC Site Construction package, so who knows the differences in our quotes.

I want total control of my stack and have one less person's schedule to work around. Essentially same as you; plus I'll be using it for takeoffs.

We went with a fixed base on this job as we'll be here a few weeks; just used a PT 4x4 post.....simply ran out of time to fab up a pole. I am actually going to fab a few of them so I can leave them on-site for when I have to come back and finish grade. Like you, I'll be using scrap, so cost is negligible.

 

[CM1995]

Very good. I won't be back in country till the 29th or we could have a cold beverage. Maybe on your return?

We return to Seattle on Sept 2nd and fly out the next day. Staying at a hotel close to Pike's Market the wife reserved. If our schedules match up let's get together.

Where are you going Sky?

 

[CM1995]

re: own models localizing base and rover.....the short answer is I'm not sure, but I know it's possible. I could tell you my understanding of how it's supposed to work but that would probably just muddy the waters. I just got it Thursday but I had done a fair amount of research so I didn't have many Siteworks questions and was able to get the 15 minute answer from Adam on how he'd do it.

Also I spent some time talking with a guy I think out of Madison County (with SiTech) and he knew exactly what I wanted to do and had done it himself several times. He even did his own house down to digging the footings via GPS without any surveyor control or engineered plans. His name is Jeremy Black and I'll dm you his contact info. Real good guy. He can walk you through the workflow from TBC to moving dirt.

I will say check with him and make sure you're pricing all the TBC modules necessary to do that type of work. I priced a package that included takeoff capabilities as I don't have any estimating software whatsoever. It was a fair amount more than what you were quoted. My quote reads TBC Site Construction package, so who knows the differences in our quotes.

I want total control of my stack and have one less person's schedule to work around. Essentially same as you; plus I'll be using it for takeoffs.

We went with a fixed base on this job as we'll be here a few weeks; just used a PT 4x4 post.....simply ran out of time to fab up a pole. I am actually going to fab a few of them so I can leave them on-site for when I have to come back and finish grade. Like you, I'll be using scrap, so cost is negligible.

Very interesting. Eventually we plan on building a new house and I'd love to dial it in with GPS. Thanks for the contact.

 

[skyking1]

We return to Seattle on Sept 2nd and fly out the next day. Staying at a hotel close to Pike's Market the wife reserved. If our schedules match up let's get together.

Where are you going Sky?

The UK for 20 days. We are based out of our friend's home in Crewe, south of Manchester. We will be doing a day rental of a narrow boat on the Shropshire canal early in the trip.

https://www.canaljunction.com/hire_boats/shropshire_union.htm
Then we will spend a few nights south-ish near the Iron Bridge

That is the same canal system we are doing the day hire.

Then we'll head to North Yorkshire. We've been to see them before and got some time in Wales and Scotland on that trip.