Johnson Self-Leveling Rotary Laser System

[Darren Wright]

Well, the second time is a charm. I ordered this system last week and got a smaller than expected box on Friday with the correct shipping number. It turned out to be a portable toilet.

So I filled out the return form and Amazon said they didn't have anymore to ship me, on the return form, guessing this was probably due to the cost. So went on and found the same model from another seller on Amazon and ordered it from them. The toilet went back today.

The new level arrived and I was surprised by the size of the box. Which I had to pull out of the mail lady’s car.

A gallon bottle for scale, next to the case


Anyway, it should be a nice week, so hoping to try it out on the pond drainage ditch.

 

[Steve Southwood]

Those are very handy

 

[Darren Wright]

Yes it should be. I picked up some green flags to write on with a sharpie as I’m measuring and marking.

I would like to find a phone app, that perhaps captures the gps coordinates as I enter measurement data. It would be interesting to see that data mapped out in google or google earth.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Just put it into csv then transform into kml?

I'm not seeing an obvious csv importer.. but you could probably use something like appsheet to whip something up.

AppSheet - Apps on Google Play

The intelligent, no-code app platform for everyone.

play.google.com

It's a pretty simple xml format... I reckon you could have a csv type "x,y,dataset,comment" file and write a small perl/python/shell/whatever script to dump something "good enough" for most work...

KML Tutorial | Keyhole Markup Language | Google for Developers

developers.google.com

 

[Darren Wright]

Thanks Ryan, if I don’t find anything I do happen to have a Apple dev account.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Apple.. I don't know anything about (Unofficially speaking that is).

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

That's a great-looking kit. It should come in real handy around your place. I've shot a LOT of grade levels (old school style with an optical level and often with a steel tape "chain") and busted rod for many miles. Driven more than a few grade stakes, too.

 

[Ted Calver]

Is there anything in any of the many GPS trackers that would do what you want?

 

[Don Baer]

Thanks Ryan, if I don’t find anything I do happen to have a Apple dev account.

I dont do apple but there are a ton of apps for free in the android play store

 

[Darren Wright]

Tested out the level this morning and flagged elevations for drainage on the downhill side of the pond drain up to the culvert I installed. Looks like I did ok with eyeballing the spot for the culvert. My goal was to create a berm on the uphill side of the ditch to help direct the creek water when it makes it up this far.


I’ve got about 70’ more to dig, which will be in phases as water is sitting behind the dam and I’ll trench as far as I can without getting (too) stuck, then wait for things to dry out and hit it again, working a little further up each time. Eventually I should have the overflow running right into the ditch