California Surveyors Forums

This may be old news, but maybe it will help someone. The very first thing one must do for good reflectorless shots is to align the laser with the cross hairs. I use a Pentax and when I got it I checked the laser to crosshair alignment.

The laser was hitting about a 10th away from the crosshairs.

The alignment is a pretty simple procedure but you need two people to get it really tight.

Set up a target about 300 feet away in a condition or area where the person at the target can see where the laser beam is hitting. Dusk would be pretty good for this.

Using the laser alignment screws keep adjusting the beam until you get it dead center on the target, naturally you want to have the gun set up as close to 90° to the target as possible.

Once aligned, you will be able to shoot through a 1/2 inch opening to what you want to locate, such as a building face.

For pol shots along a building face you want the laser to have the smallest footprint as possible for a good return and distance.

I use any feature edge along the building face that is available, such as a window sill or utility vent edge where they meet the surface face of the building, like stucco.

For pol's along concrete walls, a good place for a shot that will produce a small footprint is where the block edge meets a vertical mortar joint. Make sure you are shooting the joint edge
That is farthest away from you.

I have attached a PDF to show what I am talking about, please forgive my isometrics. The text formatting seems to be a bit messed up but you get the idea.

Thanks
Never would have thought to check that. We don't have one but my son is considering getting one.

I like them, sometimes.

The laser has a bad habit of diffracting over certain survey items we use. PK nails, Mag nails and the worst one is a brass nail in a brass tag. Really hard to make out the beam being right over the point.

Anyway, to the tip:

I use a small patch of gray duct tape and press it firmly over the monument. The indent or nail outline show through the tape and there is no diffracting of the laser plummet.

Also, and this is in regards to a Pentax but is probably a standard for these types of stations, the plummet intensity can be adjusted to a maximum. Mine has a default of 5 but can be adjusted to an intensity of 10.

If you find your gun suddenly not being able to pick up a short range shot in reflectorless that problem can also be solved in the gun setup menus. I get into the menu screen and choose reflectorless range and adjust it to long range then turn the long message OFF, which will prompt that you are using a long range setting for each shot, really stupid feature and then choose the option to keep the settings permanent, then just exit the TS menu.

We used the non-prism feature in the rain. bad idea, the laser hit a rain drop and that put the power pole in the middle of the house. had to go back and relocate the p.pole on a clear day...
Drexyl

I will have to make a copy of your sketch or I will forget it.