Calibration and Repair for Surveying Equipment

The purpose of surveying — that is to gather accurate data on a specific land or site — will be defeated when you fail to calibrate your surveying equipment. instrument calibration services are vital because they make sure that your measuring devices are functioning properly. 

Why Calibrate

Surveyors use different instruments to collect data on distances. These include electronic distance measurement instruments, infrared wave instruments, lightwave instruments, and microwave instruments. Each has its own capabilities and prescribed maintenance regimens. 

Surveying equipment typically gets damaged because of misuse and mishandling. Other culprits include exposure to harsh elements (e.g., extreme weather conditions, humidity changes), vibrations, mechanical shock and electrical surges. Many surveyors also need repair of transits as their devices get damaged while going to or from work sites. 

If damages are not repaired, the surveying equipment can be the reason why your final measurements won’t meet your clients’ requirements. It’s not only costly to address, but it can also affect your reputation as a professional and/or as a business. 

Essential Tips

Here are practical tips on how you can maintain your tools.

Be diligent in calibrating your equipment. Subscribe to professional instrument calibration services that can return each device to the settings recommended by the manufacturer. Generally, calibration is needed every month depending upon the value of usage. Apart from calibration, you also have to clean your tools — regularly and adequately. When cleaning your devices, be proactive and inspect for any dents or cracks that need to be repaired immediately. 

Learn how to properly care for your surveying instruments. As stated, misuse and mishandling are common reasons why surveying devices drift to inaccuracy. This is why it’s imperative to read user manuals and educate yourself on how to handle these important devices. 

Invest in appropriate cases and storage solutions. When you require repair for optical tools like a transit, choose an instrument repair service that specializes in your brand. Additionally, you have to be extra cautious when transporting your instruments. Extreme climate conditions can also damage their functionality. Have a dedicated storage box and area for your surveying equipment. This will help prolong their lifespan and maintain their accuracy. 

Be mindful of your surveying site’s conditions. If the weather report says it’s likely to rain in the area where you’re performing a survey, you have to prepare accordingly. Bring a rain shield to prevent water from seeping into your device’s mechanical joints. 

Master testing procedures. No matter how technically knowledgeable you are in terms of using and protecting your instruments, nothing beats mastering standard procedures on-site. To avoid committing gross errors or damaging your device, regularly practice different testing procedures (e.g., checking the level, calibrating your total station and GPS receivers). 

Have your tools professionally serviced a company experienced in measuring instruments for land surveying. Experts recommend servicing your surveying tools every year. With the help of a reputable instrument service center that adheres to NIST traceable calibrations. This will help you prevent having costly errors in the future.

The Most Prominent Uses of the Custom Alignment Telescopes

A telescope has always been an important piece of equipment for many people across the globe. When the telescope got invented, scientists were afforded a better way of digging deep into the crux of this galaxy. Today, the telescope has evolved as an important piece of equipment because it helps in studying the movements of planets and also in knowing about the hidden secrets out there. Now, the use of a telescope is not limited to celestial discovery. A telescope is a prominent piece of equipment in the construction industry and has become a necessity for equipment alignment. With the inception of custom alignment telescopes, it is easier for researchers to study particle movements better. Here, we will walk you through a few prominent uses of this telescope:

1.   Uses in Laboratory

A custom alignment telescope is an important piece of equipment for the laboratory that is the perfect amalgamation of a number of things. This equipment is used for establishing a reference line of light, which is important in the lab. Additionally, this type of telescope also provides particle attributes such as collimation, autocollimation, and auto reflection. These modern alignment telescopes are made with precision and high-quality materials, that can be fine-tuned for zero tolerance. Furthermore, the optical system is infused for better accuracy to look at the objects.

2.   Leveling the Machine Bed

Look at the Warren Knight spherical alignment telescope and you will see the precision level easily. This manufacturer of precision alignment equipment has been making alignment telescopes since the 1950’s. The precision level is important because it plays a strong role in aligning telescopes. This is why they are optimized with the additional responsibility of sweeping a horizontal plane and carrying forward the precision with the built-in bubble. The reason why a custom alignment telescope is used here is that it helps in putting the scales at a neutral level. Therefore, the scale readings are then used to see the different positions to see if the platform is not in the right position. Again, all customizations can easily be made by communicating your specs with the manufacturer of precision alignment equipment.

3.   Extruder Alignment

Luckily, the use of a custom alignment telescope is also extended for measuring the alignment according to the gearbox housing. In order to fulfill this goal, the target is mounted in a way that it can be positioned on the critical line of the gearbox. So once the equipment has been positioned, it can easily be aligned with the box’s centerline. So, when the technicians have access to measurements of the centerline through the deviations, they can draw the components to bring everything back. In other words, the instrument operator can check the progress while the machine is being adjusted.

Luckily, an alignment telescope has emerged as popular piece of equipment because the uses are so diverse. Therefore several businesses have joined the bandwagon to purchase this alignment telescopes. No wonder, the alignment telescope and bubble inclinometers can lessen human errors and improve productivity at the work place.

Big Guns Need to Be Precise

Veteran gunners and sergeant E5 gunmen alike need to know the significance of boresighting — which is the process of adjusting a military firearm to align the optical sight and the bore or the central part of the barrel. Army boresights, for instance, are manufactured to make sure that the military’s ammunitions are accurate when deployed from the barrel of any large gun. 

The Boresighting Process

When using a military boresight or any other boresighting tool for big guns, safety is always a priority. Make sure that the firearm is unloaded before removing the bolt. When boresighting, you also have to have a steady, level surface where the gun will rest and a target that is at least one hundred yards away. It can be a mark on a training field target. The smaller the target is, the better. 

Next, you will have to move the gun and adjust the scope until the target is just below the crosshair. Then set to zero so you would not lose the scope adjustments you’ve made. Replace the bolt afterward. 

Big guns and army boresights can be optically aligned using different tools, including the more sophisticated magnetic boresighters. Unlike conventional tools that are inserted in the barrel, these boresighters can be simply attached to the muzzle. They are especially helpful when adjusting big guns after a transport, a drop, or hard use. 

Boresighitng devices today are also now attached with a laser to provide a more accurate, convenient, and cost-effective way of sighting a wide range of big guns. Most army boresights are used by simply inserting them into the muzzle; a laser dot emitted by the device will show exactly where your gun aims. 

With most army boresighting tools, you won’t need to fire a shot to check the accuracy of your ammunition. 

Why It Matters

In the field of battle, every shot counts. If your gun barrel is not properly aligned, the munition is not only wasted but it could also be the difference of life and death.

When gunners shoot, they would want to hit their targets as precisely as possible. While this is less of a problem in smaller guns, shooting accuracy can be compromised in bigger guns like army tanks and naval ship guns. 

However, the problem is, many big guns have inherent imperfections. And because of lack of accuracy, even the most veteran shooters can make off-center shots. To help you zero in on your target when they’re within your range, having a military boresighting expert in your platoon is essential. 

In sectors where the use of big guns is imperative (such as in warfare) performing a military boresight is needed to help them lock their targets precisely. This will also help prevent inaccurate shootings from inflicting harm on others and damaging unintended targets. 

Boresighting is required for all types of military guns and is a highly helpful adjustment technique that saves a lot of time and money when applied. If you want to check the accuracy of your big gun, you won’t have to fire and waste expensive military munitions again. Once you master this process, you can sight your optic in a very efficient and cost-effective manner.

Flight Instruments Used by Professional Aviators

Airplanes work with the help of an intricate system that we will call flight instruments. These devices, which allow professional aviators to safely sojourn through the clouds, use two main principles: rigidity in space or gyroscopic inertia (which provides stability while traveling on the air) and precession (which refers to the tilting prompted by external forces). 

As in most measuring devices, these flight instruments can be tweaked and customized depending on a particular aircraft’s needs. Here are some of the most common instruments used in the field of aviation. 

Altitude Indicator

This is one of the most common gyroscopic flight instruments. This indicator features a horizon bar representing the horizon and a miniature aircraft symbolizing the air vehicle. A gyroscope (which is a device composed of a wheel and axis) is also attached to the bar and relies on rigidity in space. It is the object in which the miniature aircraft rotates itself around. The position of the miniature aircraft indicates the orientation of the actual vehicle about the actual horizon. Altitude is displayed in meters or feet. Aviation experts regard this as one of the most critical instruments they use. 

Directional Gyro

As its name implies, this instrument is used to indicate direction. In this device, a gyro is aligned with a magnetic compass, allowing it to provide a more stable heading indication. The rotor of the gyro spins in a vertical plane and stays aligned with the direction set by the aviator. Its face also features a small, fixed silhouette of an airplane — the nose of which indicates the direction to which the aircraft is heading. 

Inclinometer

In the world of aviation, an inclinometer is a precise measuring device determining the angles of slope and tilt with respect to gravity. It measures the so-called yaw, which refers to an air vehicle nose’s side-by-side movement. An inclinometer for aviation facilities and aircraft is different than an inclinometer used by building contractors. To adjust the position of the incline, a professional aviator needs to step on a rudder pedal. To know which rudder pedal to step on, the aviator must check which side of the tube the indicator ball is located. The pressure on the ruder will prompt the indicator ball to return to the center. 

Turn Coordinators

One of the most fundamental flight instruments used by professional aviators is the turn coordinator, which also features a miniature airplane silhouette. The tips of the symbol’s wings indicate the level flight and the rate that the air vehicle turns. It is often canted at 30 degrees. Movements about the vertical axis signal that the aircraft is departing from a straight-and-level flight. 

Aviation instruments have come a long way from the original models used in the 1950’s and 1960’s, which we consider the early years of air travel. Since these early days, aircraft designers tried many custom designs for alignment tools and instrumentation. One inclinometer manufacturer in Philadelphia was instrumental in developing consoles for the US military and set the standard for what is used today.

Tools Used by Meteorologist to Predict Weather

Weathermen and women have been trying to predict the weather for years using various tools and instruments at their disposal. Mother nature does not disclose her secrets easily. In some corners of the earth, meteorologists are still relying on weather balloons and pibal theodolites to track their movements but in most of the developed world the tools used are much more advanced. Below are some of the tools employed for the task of weather prediction.

Doppler radar

When it comes to severe storms, meteorologists use a doppler radar. This radar tracking system is able to gather velocity data of various kinds of storms, any airborne particles, and even how the thunderstorm clouds rotate, as well as the strength and direction of the wind. 

Disdrometers

A disdrometer is an example of an optical alignment instrument used by meteorologists. This instrument uses light to measure droplet sizes of precipitation from a distance. It measures the size distribution and the velocity of hydrometeors in the meteorological parlance, most commonly known as raindrops. 

Radiosondes

A meteorological radiosonde helps predict weather by acquiring upper-air data and sending this data to a ground-based receiver. Radiosondes are tied to weather balloons and are released twice a day in 92 locations around the United States. Its trip usually lasts about two hours and during that time, it collects data like wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, relative humidity, and temperature. Meteorologists then use this to predict the weather in the coming days with the help of data modelling. 

Satellite data

Weather satellites are loaded with custom optical equipment used by scientists to analyze our weather. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service operates about three kinds of weather satellites. This includes deep space satellites, geostationary satellites, and polar orbiting satellites. 

Supercomputers

The NOAA also uses the Weather and Climate Operational Supercomputer System (WCOSS), which is mainly responsible for modern forecasting. It has a 5.78 petaflop computing capacity, which is enough processing power to conduct quadrillions of calculations every second. NOAA’s supercomputers are so powerful that they can process data six million times more than your average computer at home. 

Automated surface-observing systems

Automated surface-observing systems are tasked to monitor the Earth’s surface for varying weather conditions. In the United States alone, there are over 900 locations that can record surface visibility, temperature, precipitation, and other sky conditions. 

Advanced weather information processing system

Another tool used by the NOAA is the advanced weather information processing system. This is a computer processing system that has the ability to combine the data from all these different tools and turn them into a graphical interface so that scientists and meteorologists are better able to analyze the data gathered. Because of this, weather forecasts become more and more accurate. 

All of these tools are important, and each serves its own purpose. Scientists and meteorologists have once found digital theodolites for sale and attached a radiosondes instrument to a weather balloon for their primary source of data gathering. These one second theodolites are highly accurate but limited in the data they can capture. Today meteorologists rely heavily on a manufacturer of precision alignment equipment that can handle custom designs for measuring equipment. Warren Knight Industries has been doing that work for over 90 years.custom designs for measuring equipment