What Is Laser Grading
Laser Grading is a procedure used/service provided in order to provide a “final” grade or finish elevation for any surface that is required to be precise, whether the reason is to control water drainage and keep from “ponding”, to maintain the precise thickness of base, concrete or asphalt, or to save time and money in the preparation process.
Our Equipment
We utilize a Basic Equipment motor grader outfitted with a fully automatic machine control 2D Laser System along with the latest Leica Robotic Total Station fully automatic machine control 3D system.
- Our 2D laser control system is outfitted with fully proportional hydraulic valves and uses wide band 360 degree receivers, one receiver on each side of the blade to provide precise independent control for each side. The receivers pick up the signal from our Trimble Dual Slope rotating laser over 10 times per second and by signals made to and from the control box and through hydraulic valves automatically adjust the blade to the exact elevation desired. This allows accuracy of up to within a 1/4” for all types of surfaces, including but not limited to building slabs, horse arenas, tennis courts, single and dual sloped surfaces such as ball fields and truck dock pads and much, much more.
- Our Leica TPS 3D control system works through the same proportional valve system, but instead of receiving constant signals from a rotating laser, is tracked via 360 degree prism by a Robotic Total Station. A grading file is created with AutoCAD software on a laptop, downloaded to a touch screen computer on our motor grader and uses Bluetooth technology to constantly relay horizontal and vertical position of the blade from the total station to the on board computer. Using this information, the on board computer makes adjustment to the blade accordingly through the hydraulic valves to maintain the exact elevation and slope of the blade. This allows us to achieve a finish grade within as close as a 1/4”.
On Time
Laser grading enables us to take an area of up to 100,000 square feet in size, released at a rough grade elevation of within a few inches, and transform it to a finished product of within a 1/4” in a single day, saving our customers time in the production process.
On Budget
By maintaining the tightest tolerances possible in the grading industry, we can save our customers money with little to no materials waste. It also allows us to turn over a completed project that is as close as possible to the original design set by the engineers and per the plans.
Here is an interesting article on Laser Grading published in sports TURF• Magazine
Laser Grading: Know what you’re getting