Rotary lasers are awesome

[bdog]

I have had a Home Depot laser for many years. I used it for a lot of building projects and it worked great for that. Last week I picked up a more professional grade laser which has dual slope capabilities. I got it for grading purposes but am finding other uses for it.

We are currently building about a quarter mile of pipe fence. Now this wouldn稚 work if you had a lot of undulating terrain but where I am building the fence there are just continual linear slopes. On the long sides of the fence it drops about 4 over the 500 distance. We had all the 2-3/8 pipe posts every 8 set in the ground and needed to cut the saddles on the tops for the top rail.

Instead of running multiple string lines I simply measured the desired height on each end and marked the end posts. I then setup the laser and adjusted the slope on it until both marks were on target. I then simply walked to each post and made marks when on grade. The results were perfect and it was so much faster than using a string.

 

[kthompson]

Had tree family jobs needed grade on to plan the work then do the grading but found out had friend who had level before I bought a laser level. Did study them and even those with built in grade ability. To me impressive and not a person who does any professional grading or ditching.

I find the pipe fencing used in Texas interesting. Used a good bit where my baby sister lives about hour south of Austin. She talked like very common. Looks good and strong but what makes the cost reasonable there?

 

[bdog]

It is definitely not the cheapest way to fence and I wouldn’t use it around a large property. We have about 30 acres and have the pipe fence up along the road and around the house. The fence out back around the pastures is just traditional t post and wire. The pipe fence will probably outlast me but the appeal of it is probably mainly the look.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I have a Spectra GL 422 dual slope laser that I use for building football and soccer fields.

Which laser do you have?

 

[bdog]

It is a Geomax Zone 80DG. I believe Leica makes them.

I hope to get into doing some of that type of work.

 

[Tinhack]

Most of the pipe I've seen and purchased (at salvage yard) is what people around here call driller's pipe. It's threaded on one end and belled with internal thread on the other. They are meant to screw together and each is about 20' long. I'm not sure of the drilling use but it is strong and thick walled. It used to be plentiful around here and about $0.10/pound at the scrap yard. South Texas is a major water, gas and oil drilling area. The salvage yard I used to frequent always had a large supply of used "pipe".

 

[MechanicalGuy]

Just looked up the price. $2700.

And I've been hesitant about buying a $600 laser. Sheesh.

 

[3Ts]

If I remember right my single slope with tripod and grade rod was around $800.
A straight rotary level is $$, a single slope is $$$, and a dual slope is $$$$$$.

I'll add that rotary levels are very useful and easy and quick to set up. I put off buying one for the longest time and finally broke down and got a single slope since I do mostly drainage stuff around here. It's been very helpful, I'll pull it out to check any run that's over 10' long, less than that I have a 2x4 and bubble level.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I bought a Top Con. Can't say I have used it much. Goes like a thousand feet, maybe more. Good for establishing drop in larger areas. Scoping out a new tower site on the place and will use it to find the optimal spot.

Found everyone wanted big bucks for their used stuff (do you really want a used high precision laser?) so I found a great deal new at Tiger Supplies.

Whether you use/need it or not, it does look impressive set up on your job site! lol

 

[atitus74]

If you are in the market for a laser, take a look at this product before you buy one: ZIPLEVEL(R) PRO-2 High Precision Altimeter Replaces Rotary Lasers

I recently had some work done on my property and the contractor had one of these. The base price is less than $1000. Its amazing, and, it can be operated single handed. I was very impressed. The contractors swear by it.