I was wondering what brands of lasers and laser systems are good and if I should look at a slope laser to allow me to do fine grading? I know there is a Topcon dealer in my state.
I should clarify that I will use my laser for fine grading and establishing grades for excavations off of other benchmarks.
we prefer laser alignment products...now called leica i think. great dependable, bulletproof machines....by all means, get the one with the programmable slope if you think you'll use it
SpectraPrecision and Topcon are the two best in my opinion. I recently bought a Topcon RL-H2sa Dual Plane laser from Bunce Positioning in Stow,MA. I do laser grading so I needed the dual plane. There are much less expensive lasers on the market that will do a good job also
We use a couple of the David White lasers. Very happy with them.
We use David White also. About half the price of the Topcon. No complaints here.
We have a Laser Allignment brand too. Love it. Never any problems or complaints. Not a week goes by that I do not wish we had bought one to shoot grade however. Whatever brand you buy, make sure it will automatically shut off when knocked out of level.
Thanks for the replies. What kind of price tag should I expect to see attached to a dual slope laser? Examples of different brands welcome
My vote is for Topcon and Trimble. Topcon is going to be a little cheaper and will be fine for a dual slope laser, but I think Trimble leads the pack in GPS and on-machine laser grading systems, if you were headed in that direction.
David White for me..I'm reliably informed that the DW has exactly the same laser unit inside it as the Leica does. (from a laser repairer)
The Topcon Dual plane will be around $4995. Check out www.laserlevel.net
Thanks. I noticed that the the Topcon offers the RT-5S series as well with one model offering a 50 degree slope capability while the RL- H2Sa only offers slope capability of 10 degrees. I want to start a laser based grading and excavating company and I was wondering do I need the 50 degree capability or will the 10 degree capability of the RL-H2Sa provided me with more than I need? Thanks, Andrew
I have a Leica Rugby 100LR and would recommend this laser to anyone doing excavation work. This laser has a 2,500 ft working range and the housing is extremely durable.
Andrew I've never been in a situation where I needed more than 10%. The slope lasers are great for pipe work, just set the desired slope and the receiver one time and you are good to go. That is assuming you are going in a straight line. The reason I went with Topcon is that my laser box blade has all Topcon controls.
Thanks for the replies!
updated Q Im looking to purchase a Laser becan, I need dual slope, and for outside use. Any recomendations ? Any bad lasers to avoid? Any manufactures to avoid or other that excell? I have been recomended AGL lasers by a rep who sells machine controls that I will most likely buy but I would like a not so bias opinion Honestly he says he doens't care what brand, but he like AGL. Im more concerned on perfromance then brand names Thanks David
One of our subs just got a new Spectra and its OK...a little pernickty after using the Leica. I don't think you can go wrong with Trimble stuff although it costs a little more. I was watching machines work today on a new railway line and everything had trimble GPS hooked up with Topcon stuff. Having good weather resistance is very important in MHO. Our David White receiver fogs up if you get it the slightest but damp.
Speaking of lasers, a friend of mine told me to "make him an offer" for his Spectra Laserplane 500, receiver, tripod, and grade stick. Anybody got any idea what would be a fair price? Was saving my pennies for one with slope capability, but I have been borrowing this one whenever I need it, and it's been getting me by. Joe
What I have been looking for is a laser reciever that I mount to the stick on my excavator and blade on my dozer. My contractor supply house loaned me a Trimble CR600 today and this is my take so far. I mounted a piecs of flat steel to my dozer blade and the unit works great for that application. I tried the same thing on my stick of the excavator and spent alot of time making sure the stick was in the exact same configuration ever time to get a correct read. The bucket flat and stick 90 degrees to the ground. This took alot of time. Looking for better way. The trimble unit cost $700. The dealer had another unit for sale for $1300. Unit was red color, larger, L.E.D larger and the biggest diffrence was that it was able to tell you if the stick was at the same position ever time with L.E.D lights. I don't remember the name but question is the extra $600 worth it. I could not get him to loan me that one but it looks to be the answer. Has any one used this or owns one? If so does it work? How does it know that the stick is the same config every time? Any help would be great. My goal is to eliminate stick guy. The savings for this will be alot more than $600.
Well then just lure him into range, and squash him with the bucket! Oh.... you meant you just don't want to have to pay a guy to hold the stick in the first place. Never mind... :bouncegri
Nice digger, I am Irish so they wouldn't let me join the MOB. But if I could, well thats another story:thumbsup Wonder if they would miss the stick guy? Oh by the way the $1300 unit is made by Apache.
One sold on eBay August 30 for $476. There's also a Spectra-Precision LL500 laser level that sold for $456.01 on August 23. Not sure that's exactly the same thing. If you want to see what people are paying for stuff on eBay, just search eBay for "Spectra 500." Don't forget to check the box next to "Complete Listings." (You have to register to get access to complete listings) L
There are a couple different apache models. http://www.laser-grade.com/bullseye.htm http://www.apache-laser.com/product/product.htm The 5 model has plumb and tilt sensing. The 6 has a plumb sensor but no tilt sensing but it is supposed to be able to know the right depth even if it is not plumb within a range of something like 30 degrees. I'm not really sure how that works because the length of the stick will make the difference. The tilt sensing only has a few readings but I would think it would be helpfull to make sure the slope across the blade on the dozer was right the first time. The more expensive systems that trimlbe make use 2 recievers, one in the center of the blade and one near the outside to make sure the slope accross the blade is right. The 5 and 6 recievers can also be used with the cb26 control box that apache makes to automate the dozer. I have never used any of them but I have been looking into the recievers and some of the cheaper automation systems and I would probably get the apache stuff unless the trimble reciever is the same price at the local place that sells them. I think Apache actually manufactures the reciever for trimble. If you look on trimble's web site they are now selling the same models, and Apache says that they manufacture stuff for other companies.
I bought a laser today and tried it out on my excavator. The unit is a Leica Depthmaster MC200. In my opion this is cheating! Very easy to use, read, make sure bucket is 90 degrees to ground and very fast. Every couple of feet I checked grade with dipper stick and move on. Great tool wish I had one a long time ago. Did not need a guy holding stick and after I was done checked it with my grade stick mounted reciever and good with in 1/2 ". Better than if I had an employee in the trench with stick trying to look busy. :Banghead
Hi, My Name is Katy and I work for a company that specializes in selling new and reconditioned construction equipment, such as lasers, levels, survey and GPS equipment. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions. Thanks, Katy
We have our old Spectra Precision L600 and a CST-Berger LM800 dual slope. I bought the CST when our Spectra had to go in the shop and then had to wait awhile for parts. The shop loaned me a Leica Rugby 100LR to use while I decided if I wanted to but another laser or wait for mine. The Leica was nice but really didn't do anything our Spectra couldn't do. So I researched on the internet and didn't want to spend a fortune. I ended up getting the CST and this laser is great and I can use it for all kinds of things, since I do a lot of different things from excavation to building houses to interior trim and cabinet work on the houses we build. This is a dual slope laser and has a verticle plumb beam. I bought the package kit which comes with the laser, detector, tripod, rod, remote control, interior V-mount so you can hang it on the wall, targets, glasses, and case. Specs are almost the same as our Spectra or the Leica. 1/16" at 100', 2,000 ft range same as our Spectra, short 500' from the Leica. And I like the fact that I can mount it on its side on the tripod to do vertical or as I used it to shoot a straight line for 800' of fence. I bought the CST at Engineers Supply for $1,012 in July. They are now selling the LM800pkg for $977. I have also checked the CST against the Leica and our Spectra. They were all dead on to each other at 1,000 ft. Forgot to add link to laser at Engineers Supply. http://www.engineersupply.com/Cst-Berger-Lasermark-Electronic-Self-Leveling-Dual-Slope-Rotary-Laser-Complete-Package-57-Lm800pkg.aspx
any of you looking for a pipe laser, we have a topcon tp-L3 in very good condition. pm me if interested. $1200.00