Laser Scanner

[steveXMJUG]

Hi all-

I have a fairly large, at least to me, aluminum handrail job.   

It consists of several ramps that have 4 switch backs, and lots of sections that are sloped.

I can do the layout with a Hilti line laser, tape measure, and several hours of my time.

The customer is wanting all the handrail on the ramps to be continuous, both the inside and outside rail.

I am playing with the idea of renting a Tremble X7 laser scanner and trying that.   It is supposed to have an accuracy of 2-4 MM in 80 meters.

Is it as easy as they are telling me, or is it a waste of time and money ( neither of which I have an excess of)

how does the point cloud work in Advanced Steel?

anyone have any guidance ?

Thanks

Steve  

[steveXMJUG]

Hi all-

I have a fairly large, at least to me, aluminum handrail job.   

It consists of several ramps that have 4 switch backs, and lots of sections that are sloped.

I can do the layout with a Hilti line laser, tape measure, and several hours of my time.

The customer is wanting all the handrail on the ramps to be continuous, both the inside and outside rail.

I am playing with the idea of renting a Tremble X7 laser scanner and trying that.   It is supposed to have an accuracy of 2-4 MM in 80 meters.

Is it as easy as they are telling me, or is it a waste of time and money ( neither of which I have an excess of)

how does the point cloud work in Advanced Steel?

anyone have any guidance ?

Thanks

Steve  

[tommyQD7G6]

We have an X7 and use it quite a bit to measure handrails. The device itself is very easy to use and accurate. 

Getting useful data into AS and manipulating it is a bit of a learning curve but we have found it worth it. We use Recap to strip down and clean the point cloud before bringing it into advance steel.

I'd say you probably won't save tons of time your first project with it but you will have piece of mind that the measurements are accurate. Once you know how to use it and work with the data you will wonder how to worked without it. Give it a shot!

[tommyQD7G6]

We have an X7 and use it quite a bit to measure handrails. The device itself is very easy to use and accurate. 

Getting useful data into AS and manipulating it is a bit of a learning curve but we have found it worth it. We use Recap to strip down and clean the point cloud before bringing it into advance steel.

I'd say you probably won't save tons of time your first project with it but you will have piece of mind that the measurements are accurate. Once you know how to use it and work with the data you will wonder how to worked without it. Give it a shot!

[steveXMJUG]

I bought a JD2 rotary pipe plasma that is great.  

So now, my bottle neck is me and accurately measuring the job site.

thanks 

steve

[steveXMJUG]

I bought a JD2 rotary pipe plasma that is great.  

So now, my bottle neck is me and accurately measuring the job site.

thanks 

steve

[Tomislav.Golubovic]

When you insert the Recap file in to AutoCAD, you'll be able to extract, faces and centrelines. If you want real reverse engineering of it, there's two products I can think of, and have used. One is Faro As-Built, which apparently works for Structures, but not sure on what the output would be. The other is Edgewise Clearedge. It apparently works for Revit so you could export from Revit to AS if you wanted to. Faro works inside of AutoCAD, Edgewise is its own application. Make of that what you will. They obviously cost a bit of coin, but with it being automated, it could save you time if you want to reverse model what's been put on site.

[Tomislav.Golubovic]

When you insert the Recap file in to AutoCAD, you'll be able to extract, faces and centrelines. If you want real reverse engineering of it, there's two products I can think of, and have used. One is Faro As-Built, which apparently works for Structures, but not sure on what the output would be. The other is Edgewise Clearedge. It apparently works for Revit so you could export from Revit to AS if you wanted to. Faro works inside of AutoCAD, Edgewise is its own application. Make of that what you will. They obviously cost a bit of coin, but with it being automated, it could save you time if you want to reverse model what's been put on site.

[markhubrich]

I've been using the BLK360 for a few years now. Here's my comparison. Knowing what you know now, and your current digital workflow, would you go back to the 2D paper and pencil to create your drawings? Why? Your current methods are much easier, faster, more accurate, etc. Sitting there at a drawing board wouldn't be much fun, since you know a better way.

Remember receiving field dimensions all scratched out on your erection drawings? For many of you that was just the other day, sorry to hear that. For some of us that was few years or so ago. With a point cloud you have every dimension, and then some. It has to be a structured RCP to be useful in Advance Steel. Faro AsBuilt is the only addon worth a "insert S word because we're not adults or anything" that I'm aware of. I don't use it though. I've been trying to obtain a trial but not getting a response. It's the only addon that can detect steel shapes in the cloud and align a shape with it, accurately, then you can turn it from solid to actual steel AS member to work with.  Other than that one feature which would be nice, it isn't necessary. 

Point cloud is an investment. The ROI is:

Save time on site field measuring

Increase Accuracy

Impress your friends

Greatly reduce human error (can you read the chicken scratch on the F.Dims, or Bob can't read a tape)

Makes you look smarter

The best one of all, Once you get your workflow worked out, everything simply fits! That's my favorite one. All the time you save defending yourself because we all know the detailer is the first one to get blame for issues LOL. You come out victorious every single job!

I would not be a nice person to be around if suddenly I was stripped of my point clouds and left with the PM's messy bleeding red pen crap again. Point clouds are cutting edge and if you're not using you're missing out. 

Devs are not putting enough effort into this tech though and it's progression into new functions falls short of my expectations.

I could probably write a little paperback book about this topic. 

@markhubrich - this post has been edited due to Community Rules & Etiquette violation.

[markhubrich]

I've been using the BLK360 for a few years now. Here's my comparison. Knowing what you know now, and your current digital workflow, would you go back to the 2D paper and pencil to create your drawings? Why? Your current methods are much easier, faster, more accurate, etc. Sitting there at a drawing board wouldn't be much fun, since you know a better way.

Remember receiving field dimensions all scratched out on your erection drawings? For many of you that was just the other day, sorry to hear that. For some of us that was few years or so ago. With a point cloud you have every dimension, and then some. It has to be a structured RCP to be useful in Advance Steel. Faro AsBuilt is the only addon worth a "insert S word because we're not adults or anything" that I'm aware of. I don't use it though. I've been trying to obtain a trial but not getting a response. It's the only addon that can detect steel shapes in the cloud and align a shape with it, accurately, then you can turn it from solid to actual steel AS member to work with.  Other than that one feature which would be nice, it isn't necessary. 

Point cloud is an investment. The ROI is:

Save time on site field measuring

Increase Accuracy

Impress your friends

Greatly reduce human error (can you read the chicken scratch on the F.Dims, or Bob can't read a tape)

Makes you look smarter

The best one of all, Once you get your workflow worked out, everything simply fits! That's my favorite one. All the time you save defending yourself because we all know the detailer is the first one to get blame for issues LOL. You come out victorious every single job!

I would not be a nice person to be around if suddenly I was stripped of my point clouds and left with the PM's messy bleeding red pen crap again. Point clouds are cutting edge and if you're not using you're missing out. 

Devs are not putting enough effort into this tech though and it's progression into new functions falls short of my expectations.

I could probably write a little paperback book about this topic. 

@markhubrich - this post has been edited due to Community Rules & Etiquette violation.