Blade Pro on used motor grader

[ETMF 58 White]

I am looking at a used motor grader. I do not own one presently; when we need one we rent a neighboring contractor's older John Deere. I want a grader to save wear on my mid-size dozers spreading gravel and pioneering roads on farms and timber tracts. I am also thinking that it would be good to slick off dirt jobs and put the final grade on building pads if they are large enough pads.

One of my prospective graders for sale has the Spectra Blade Pro system installed. It only has the parts that stay with the grader, i.e. I didn't see the operator's interface or any masts or receivers or cables. Just some sensors on the circle and blade and a box that hooks into the machine's hydraulic system.

My question is, does this have any utility or value to me? I have never used automated grade control; I have a nice GL622 dual slope laser and an LR50 receiver that I put on either of my dozers or excavator and I just follow the lights.

What would be involved in making this older Blade Pro system operational? I realize that it is probably antiquated but it might give me a toe-hold into automated control so that as my business grows I could update equipment. We just finished a 35000 sq. ft. commercial project that involved multiple slopes and swales for the parking lot drainage and street entrances, but we really did most of that with grade stakes and lots of walking around with a rod in my hand. Very inefficient way to do it, but I just didn't know how to do it any better.

 

[ETMF 58 White]

Actually the operator's interface control box and the cables that go to it in the cab are included, I have now determined. So I suppose I would need to figure out what kind of masts and receivers I would need to make this thing work. I called the dealer that sold me my GL22 and he said something about sonic sensors wouldn't work with my transmitter or something like that; I really had no idea what he was talking about. He also said that he is an ag dealer for SpectraPrecision and not a construction dealer so he didn't know for certain how to make motor graders work. I bought my laser from them because that is the dealer that services this agricultural area and my dad had used them for rice farming lasers many years ago.

Any help here would be appreciated.

 

[Queenslander]

ETMF,
No help on BladePro, but we bought a grader that had Topcon system5 installed.
I had never used machine control before, but I did have an LSB110 indicator style receiver that was able to connect to the system, just missing the($500) cable.
I finished a large pad just using the lights on the receiver for elevation and the machine control for cross slope and was happy enough with the end result.
Decided to run over it again when the cable arrived and the difference was amazing, much less stressful as well.
Sounds like you don't need much to get it going.

 

[zhkent]

ETMF I have a blade pro on my Cat 16G.
That unit should be able to do cross slope as it is.
To test that hook up the interface, turn it on with the bottom left switch(that is halfway, setup is all the way). flip the middle switch to the right or left.
The 2 displays will probably read 0%. Raise up one side of the blade. The switches in the up and down levers have to be turned off (towards you) then turn them both on.
One side will go up or the other side will go down. (only one side will be turning on and off with the lever switch)
Flip the middle switch to changes sides and change lever/switch that activates it. Lever switch always has to be off and turned on, safety thing i suppose.
The side switches by the displays adjust percentage. the lower middle switch changes the cross slope from + to - or vice versa - it's for when you turn around if doing a slope.
To hook up a laser you need a cable from the box on the frame to the mast, a mast, a cable to the receiver, and a receiver. Have seen a mast and receiver on e-bay before.
The same cable from the box on the frame will hook directly to a sonic receiver which has the capability to run off of a curb or string line. Might have an extra around.
The mast also needs a mounting bracket. The sonics use a L shaped pipe, there should be part of the mounts on the blade for them. Heres the mount they used, although I have it on a scraper

 

[zhkent]

http://zhkent.com/videos/cornfieldstream.mpeg
video using it. middle switch to left, right lever controls cross slope, left lever turns on automatics from laser.

 

[ETMF 58 White]

Thanks for the replies. I have made a deal to buy it, so I suppose I will have to learn to use it.

An interesting note on the purchase is that I can get it delivered by a trucking company, using a broker, for somewhat less than $2 per mile. I can't go get it with my RGN that cheaply, I don't believe. I occasionally haul for some other guys around the state and even neighboring states, and don't have anyone complain about paying $350 to $500 to move an excavator 30 or 50 miles, or $900 to $1500 to move even a legal load 250 or 350 miles. The stepdeck guys using a freight broker who is quoting the gross rate at less than $2 per mile must love to drive a truck more than to eat and to buy the kids new shoes is all that I can figure.

 

[ETMF 58 White]

I got my new (used) Champion Series V delivered. It is too wet here to try it out, but it appears that the BladePro does just what zhkent says it will do. I was able to turn the box on and the cross-slope was preset at 2% on both sides. The toggle switches on the blade lift control levers turn it to Automatic or Manual, and the middle upper switch will change the slope from side to side. I drove around the equipment yard (which is very level, I thought) with the blade a few inches off the ground. On Automatic mode, the yellow arrows flashed up or down and the green light was on most of the time, and I could see the blade raising and lowering ever so slightly as I drove, I think.

I suppose the cross slope is 2% as you can see in the attached photo. But why does the other side of the display read "I+1.00"? What does that mean? When I switch the middle toggle, the displays swap sides.

Obviously I don't have a manual for this thing, so I can't read any instructions.

 

[zhkent]

Glad it works. With the way it is in the picture the toggle switch on the left with the up and down arrow will adjust you percentage
of cross slope. Until you plug in a receiver the other number doesn't matter. I "think" that number is a 1' offset from where a receiver was set.
Here's the why. You can run a sonic receiver off a string line, dirt grade, top of curb.
Let's say a string line starts over an existing curb, you could set your moldboard on the curb, set up a sonic 2' above it and zero the sonic out on the stringline.
The sonic will now carry that side of the blade at that height, and the cross slope will carry the other. Then you can adjust down as needed to sub or rock grade.
(in this example you could only go down <2' or you'd be to close to stringline.)
One more example cutting a shoulder to depth beside asphalt. You could hang the sonic past the end of the blade, set blade on asphalt, zero it out, put cut in, then the sonic can run off of existing asphalt to cut the exact depth you need.
The reset button zero's out the sonic receiver.
With a laser the switch on the right with the up and down arrow will move the mast up or down. My mast has 4' of travel.
There are a few more features in set up, calibrating and offsets.