A few projects I have done recently

[Landclearer]

The access road turned out great. That would have been a fun job to work on.

I feel for you on the new job. Got million dollar condos in the front and crack heads in the back. We did a clearing job and when they were putting in Const. Entrances they stole batteries out of everything they could. When we moved in we would park the excavators with the battery compartment swung up against trees so they could get into the compartment.

Pretty sad we gotta do stuff like that but not much you can do.

 

[CM1995]

Project coming up downtown we are going to build a metal post out of 1.5" angle and bolt it the concrete flume by the RR tracks. Weld the same angle to the bottom and red-head the post in for the base station. It'll be away from the building and the morons on manlifts and telehandlers.

LC we've had projects like that before where we parked the battery doors up against the dumpsters. One site out in the country back in 2014 they stole the batteries out of a 321, 533 and D5 including cutting the cables. Only found out after the fact from the sheriff deputy the area was well known as the meth cooking hot spot between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.

 

[Brad SEIN]

CM- Got my first Trimble base and rover in 2007. Started with Carlson Takeoff the same time to build models. Still have the original base and rover, have upgraded tablets and added another base and rover since. Have full control on 2 dozers and can set up indicate only on the pan. Use the bases daily on every project. I'm fortunate to have a young tech that started with me as a college intern that is really good with the models and converting files. Anymore its getting easier to get the DWG's from engineers to simplify the process. We use 2" pipe with a piece of 5'8's all thread welded to it for our permanent bases. Can thread receiver directly to it. My old base we carry a 12V battery with. The new one will run all day on a charge. The rover receiver's can use the batteries pretty hard depending on what your doing. Been lucky on the vandalism side with the receiver's. They don't always get removed depending on the jobsite (machine mounted ones).

We have always used Carlson for model building. We have to run everything thru Trimble Business Center to get to the machine controls and rovers. Even have a Leica setup on the little dozer and like the interface with the controller a little better. Its a little work to get the radios to talk to each other, but once you get the hang of the technology its not bad. If you have questions just reach out.

 

[CM1995]

Thanks for the info Brad, I appreciate it!

We are looking at TBC for integration purposes at the moment. Usually we can get the CAD files from the civil so we're planning on learning the process of model building ourselves. Fortunately a good friend of ours is a survey chief and model builder for a large excavation company in N AL that can help us when we run into a snag.

Currently using Insight for take-offs and 3D estimating models. They say it converts to Trimble but we have no researched that yet but is the first avenue before purchasing TBC.

Interesting our new base will not run all day on a single battery, it will go through 2 in 6-8 hours. We have a small 12v battery hooked to it. The rover is good for 6-8 hours but not the base.

The next machine to "make smart" will probably be our. 325FL or a new 325 Next Gen.

 

[savman]

I'd be real interested hear how a GPS excavator works out for your operation.

Would need to keep the faithful 321D for clearing as it's my understanding even the Next Gen's have IMU's externally mounted. Would get expensive quick if you start wiping them off I would imagine.

Now I don't do much clearing but you can bet the day after I sign a purchase order, or worse the day after 70k worth of doodads are installed, I'd land a clearing job I couldn't turn down.

 

[DGODGR]

All this talk about crack heads stealing expensive stuff. I used to work for a large, unionized, dry utility contractor in the Los Angeles area. One day, I was working on the new Lynnwood (this is very close to Watts/South Central) jail project (this was probably 30 years ago so not new anymore) and had somebody steal my munch box from the gang truck while we were working only a few feet away. I went hungry that day but I also figured that anyone who felt compelled to steel my lunchbox probably needed it ore than I did.

 

[Brad SEIN]

CM- TBC will convert files from pretty much anything as long as there's elevated line work. Not to get to deep in the tech side of it but you can work around about anything with a decent takeoff software. I am actually running a 12 year old version of TBC (back when the base version was free). My SITECH dealer tells me to just roll with it as we are only using it to transfer files. We have been getting a lot of push from the Case dealer to try a 3d excavator (Leica from the factory). We have a 2d setup from Trimble that we used on a mini and 200 sized machine.
I'm not totally sold that it will be that great with our pipework. We do a lot of street rehab projects and are always working around utilities. Production isn't always high and they seem to prefer the rovers for this anyhow with structures, valves, etc. Just need to get my head around the justification, I know it will pay but I'll also have to put it on 3 machines once everyone likes it!

 

[CM1995]

I'd be real interested hear how a GPS excavator works out for your operation.

Would need to keep the faithful 321D for clearing as it's my understanding even the Next Gen's have IMU's externally mounted. Would get expensive quick if you start wiping them off I would imagine.

Now I don't do much clearing but you can bet the day after I sign a purchase order, or worse the day after 70k worth of doodads are installed, I'd land a clearing job I couldn't turn down.

I can see it being a huge benefit for a trackhoe for us as the hoe is as much of an excavation machine as pipe layer. Being able to cut to rough grade with the hoe without a grade man would be a real benefit as it would free up the dozer for other tasks.

As far as clearing goes I wouldn't worry about them we are pretty good to our equipment even in clearing and demo situations. I am by far the roughest operator in our company..

CM- TBC will convert files from pretty much anything as long as there's elevated line work. Not to get to deep in the tech side of it but you can work around about anything with a decent takeoff software. I am actually running a 12 year old version of TBC (back when the base version was free). My SITECH dealer tells me to just roll with it as we are only using it to transfer files. We have been getting a lot of push from the Case dealer to try a 3d excavator (Leica from the factory). We have a 2d setup from Trimble that we used on a mini and 200 sized machine.
I'm not totally sold that it will be that great with our pipework. We do a lot of street rehab projects and are always working around utilities. Production isn't always high and they seem to prefer the rovers for this anyhow with structures, valves, etc. Just need to get my head around the justification, I know it will pay but I'll also have to put it on 3 machines once everyone likes it!

Brad if you don't mind me asking what are you using for take-off and model building? If I could find an older version of TBC to just transfer files I'd run with it. We have become pretty proficient with Insight for 3D models. The $10K for TBC to make models and transfer files is a little salty on top of $100K worth of hardware.

 

[CM1995]

So the wife and I returned home yesterday from a 9 day Alaskan cruise out of Seattle. It was a bucket list trip for us and it more than met our expectations. We both had big birthdays this year so we decided to roll up both into one trip.

Took the Norwegian Spirit which is one of the oldest and smallest boats in the fleet however it was completed remodeled in 2020. It's a nice small boat with great staff.

We stayed at the Marriott on Alaskan way right across from pier 66 where the ship docks.



While better 1/2 was nesting in our room I was able to catch our luggage being loaded onto the boat. The luggage racks come out of the terminal and then lowered into an opening on the boat below the dock height.



This operator is damn good. I don't know what this was but they unloaded it from the ship and had another swap on a flatbed trailer they re-loaded. The tricky part was the spreader bar was basically up against the ship. The "rack" for lack of a better term was tapered so it would roll out of the ship. When they put the new one in they hooked winches to either side to pull in.

There was a flatbed truck not in the picture waiting with one of the racks with the black shrink wrapped packages on and a a set of the white canisters hanging on the side of the ship. Didn't know what the canisters were till I googled it and they are inflatable life boats. Don't know what the black shrink wrap packages were but the dock forklift wouldn't lift it.

When they got it on the ground they used chain hoists on the spreader bar to turn it "face" down on the dock.

Beautiful Seattle skyline in the background.



It was painful watching the steering wheel holders come and go bringing goods to the ship. One of many that couldn't back up, I just had to stop watching...

 

[CM1995]

First stop was Sitka Alaska after 1.5 days at sea. Norwegian's "new" port is a little ways out from the city. The weather was very nice that day.



Wife and I bid on an upgraded suite and got it. The boat was at 50% capacity so we knew we had a decent chance at a great discount. The room was one deck below the bridge and two rooms back. I could lean out the balcony and see the captain on the bridge when we were docking.

Coming into Sitka.



Snapped a couple of pics of a road widening job in Sitka. First shot caught my eye as they are using the same rover as we just purchased.



I really like this little knock out box. The ones we can get are 4x4 and about all a 308 wants to handle.

 

[CM1995]

Took a whale watching trip while in Sitka and we saw hump backs, sea otters and sea lions.

It never got old watching the whales.



What I didn't realize about sea otters is how far they travel out into the ocean. This island was out in the bay.



Juvenile sea lions taking a rest on a buoy. Our boat woke this one up when we went by.



Beautiful pic that didn't look real in person. There is a bald eagle family nest on the island. If you look close you can see one parent and the off-spring on the rocks. The juvenile eagle is all brownish black.

 

[skyking1]

Nice pics, glad you had a good time. We'll have to catch up next time
We had a great time on our Alaska cruise.

 

[CM1995]

Nice pics, glad you had a good time. We'll have to catch up next time
We had a great time on our Alaska cruise.

Thanks Sky. How was your trip over the pond?

 

[skyking1]

Fabulous. I got in a whole lot of train stuff, a narrowboat day trip, lots of card playing with friends.

 

[CM1995]

Awesome!

Wife and I really enjoyed Seattle for the short time we were there. Had 1 day before and after the cruise. Explored Pikes Market, road out to fisherman's bay for dinner and had lunch in Belltown. Next time if our schedules align I'd love to meet up.

 

[CM1995]

Headed up Tracy Arm to see a glacier.

The first "iceberg" I've ever seen.




The glacial silt colors the water this interesting blue-green hue.



Far away pic of this glacier, it was as close as the ship could get I guess. Captain rotated our ship 360 so everyone on board could have a view.



Another smaller ship next to us. Helps put the magnitude of the landscape into perspective.

 

[skyking1]

I went back and found my Tracy Arm pictures a couple of panoramics and a color enhanced shot of the glacier.

 

[CM1995]

Outstanding pics Sky! What a spectacular place it is.

 

[DMiller]

Wife would like to do a smaller AK cruise but then squirms at all the reports of sickness on board the boats. No win situation.

 

[Brad SEIN]

I can see it being a huge benefit for a trackhoe for us as the hoe is as much of an excavation machine as pipe layer. Being able to cut to rough grade with the hoe without a grade man would be a real benefit as it would free up the dozer for other tasks.

As far as clearing goes I wouldn't worry about them we are pretty good to our equipment even in clearing and demo situations. I am by far the roughest operator in our company..



Brad if you don't mind me asking what are you using for take-off and model building? If I could find an older version of TBC to just transfer files I'd run with it. We have become pretty proficient with Insight for 3D models. The $10K for TBC to make models and transfer files is a little salty on top of $100K worth of hardware.

I am using Carlson Takeoff for models and takeoff quantities. What files can Insight export? My old version of TBC can import quite a few file types and make the surface needed.