I've used one of these for years, they are fantastic I bought the Bosch one from home depot years ago, they don't work as well in bright sunlight, you may have to tape a white piece of paper for the laser to reflect off of.

 

No idea how lasers really work or any experience with these. For outdoor use, does a stronger unit give better odds for working for a certain distance? For example, does a 135 foot rated unit have a stronger laser and better odds of making a 20’ measurement than a 65 foot unit making the same measurement?


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I have used them for years and they work great!!! I have the Leica and it will do 500 feet plus outdoors with very good accuracy, you can go a lot farther if you have a good target for the laser to shine on. Haven't tried the bosch but also have a chinese one and it will do a couple hundred feet no problem.

 

How about something like this.
https://www.amazon.com/TR-Industria...1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1544014316&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=rolling+measure+wheel&psc=1

 

These are great and we use them all the time at jobs for bidding and final measuring of concrete/ asphalt patches etc..., however a tenth of a foot is the usual accuracy +/-.1

 

I understand wanting to purchase a new tool, so I'm not trying to talk you out of a laser.

I had a need to measure between posts and doing it by myself. As you say, the tape measure is a poor choice. I used a thin steel fishing leader from the local hardware store and put a hook on one end and wound tape around the wire at the distance I needed. This wire was very flexible and wasn't about to stretch with me pulling on the taped end. I clamped a piece of steel to the post that was going to get the hooked end to be my unpaid helper. Worked out well.

Now for the whole truth. I wanted a laser, but given where I am, that meant a 3 week wait for the ship to bring it to me and I didn't want to wait that long.

 

Super magnet tape

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Stanley...om/p/Stanley-FATMAX-25-ft-x-1-1-4-in-Magnetic-Tape-Measure-FMHT33865L/203751294

 

There's no way that the magnet on a tape measure will hold a horizontal tape for the lengths the OP needs.

 

The family has been asking for Christmas gift ideas for me, so I added one of these to the list. I'm several weeks away from working on fence again, so timing should be about right. I'll check back after Christmas and report how things work.

 

Use 10' long 1/2'' conduit cut to size. Hold conduit against post and measure from conduit end to post with tape. As for the 20' to 30', the old time lufkin 50' roll up tape will work. Tie wrap the end to post and pull tight to next one. Isn't there a a phone app for measuring too ??? Not for me, the above is my go too.

 

We have a Leica laser that does a good job but it's an indoor model. Leica actually invented the type of laser distance measurement models we see today so I expect they are as good as any.

If you look at the fine print you'll see that 1/16" accuracy is actually +/- 1/16" (total of 1/8") and it's under ideal circumstances - short distances, low light levels and highly reflective target.
You could have an accuracy +/- an inch under non-ideal circumstances.

So if you want to use it outside, get a model made to work outside. Expect to pony up a couple of hundreds.

 

I don't know if this will really get to production. But the video looks like it could have lots of applications.

https://www.moasure.com

Todd

 

There's an app available, I haven't had a chance to play with it much yet, but I can question the accuracy, but I may have screwed up on the calibration steps, I'll redo it later and report back.

 

I've been building some pipe fence and I've had some issues measuring rail length to fit between posts. Its not bad when I have a helper, but damn near impossible to get right when working solo.

I've tried heavier tape measures with g

Most measurements would be between two posts, so measuring about 8 or 10 feet.

in the early early aughts, malrboro and cig companies setteled out w/ gov't litigation , for large $, and part of the sum, was given to the pubic schools to spend. so, seemed every public school in my area at the time was takin down there chain link, and replacing it w/ a so called wrought iron/ornamental iron fence. i was in need of work/$ at the time, bush hadnt done 911 yet, so economy was slow. i think myself to be better than fence weld, but it was good part prevailing wage. this fence co, was made up of a bunch of drug addicts, and a couple brains. i think i was a brain. anyway, simple answerr i came up w/, as a tape measure was pretty high tech for these fools. "i chopped up some pieces of light gueage quare tube for 8' centers (minus the dia of the post), and had them lay the piece of sq. tube on ground, and kick the post being cemented against the tube, and put a level on side of post. it worked well, not much could go wrong

 

I've seen guys that use 2 pieces of pipe for difficult angles on corners. They cut the saddles one on each pipe end, and use a sliding coupler to stretch the two pieces to length, then weld the coupler. Nobody gonna see most of my corner posts on any of my fences (and I don't give a ratz azz if they do), so I don't care what they look like, just wanna get them done so I can move onto other things. I hate fitting pipe cause I suck at it.

 

We got a bunch of fence coming up, and I have to look into what size pipe to use for couplers. I've never looked real close at the jobs I've seen done with the couplers. Probably have to use some sorta structural to fit OD on the oilfield pipe, dunno……..but I'll figure it out Or I'll beg Bob to come up North to help me

 

3 1/2 9.30 lb per fits over 2 7/8 , 2 7/8 6.50 lb per ft fits over 2 3/8 or if you want it to look nice put 2 3/8 inside 2 7/8 for a sleeve instead of a coupler

 

KEWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 1/2 sch40 seems like it might work too. http://products.anssteel.com/item/steel-pipes/sch-40-bare-black-standard-steel-pipe/un-2-1-2-5793

Both good alternatives for morons like me, who really can't work with pipe

Thanks for finding the info :waving:

 

I know I am resurrecting an old thread, but thought I would come back with updates

I bought one of the Bosch laser measurement tools. I think it was 135' model. Over short runs, the laser dot is visible in bright sunlight. It appears to be very accurate based on what I have cut so far. The issue is that a 2 3/8 wide pipe at 10' away is kind of a small target. I can "walk" the dot from a close point on the ground onto the post, but its not as fast as I think it should be.

I came up with a much more low-tech solution. I sleeved a piece of 1/2" EMT inside a piece of 3/4" EMT. I drilled a hole about 4" in from the end of the 3/4" piece and tacked on a nut. I telescope the inner tube out until both ends of the assembly are touching a post. A thumb screw through the nut locks the two tubes and then I can take an easy measurement of the extended tube with a tape measure. Much faster than the laser. Since I started with 10' sticks, I cut them at 6' and made two gauges. The smaller made from the 4' drop will measure from 4' to about 7'. The longer will measure from 6' up to about 11'.

 

Nice solution, thanks for sharing.

 

As a grade checker I used most of the time an 8' 'phillie' rod.

http://www.surveysupplyinc.com/crain-CR-rods/

Extend the inner section all the way & its an 8' rod.
They dont show in the ads but on the back side as you extend the inner section, what shows at top of outer section is the exact length of the rod from 'top to bottom' or 'end to end' horizontal. Just extend sections till one touches one post & other end touches next post. Read the number, , , ,

Make sense?

[edit: I have/had the eight footer & two 25 footers, one 10ths & one metric. Used them (25'rs) just for elevations]

 

Cool, very low tech solution. I thinking of suggesting something similar...basically a story pole or story stick. The beauty of this is that you don't have to measure! LOL

Just take a measurement, lock the EMT, and take that to your layout and mark the piece.

I've used everything from Hilti (first model I used looked like a brick), Leica, Bosch, and recently my boss got me a DeWalt: https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-165-ft-Laser-Distance-Measurer-with-Color-Screen-DW0165/306619009

They are all hard to read in direct sunlight. Maybe a green laser would be better? The old Hilti had an optical view that had to held a 90 degrees, but that's the one that actually worked. It was like $600 at that time! Probably not practical for your case anyways.

Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest.

 

Red reflective tape helps outdoors. I think it's called DOT3 from automotive or trailer accessories store. Red tint laser glasses also help see the red dot better.

I have the hilti. It was about $400 fifteen years ago and I still use it. Mostly for square footage take offs. It's fast when measuring floor to deck height especially when the deck is over twenty feet. It's saved me time but mostly indoors. Look for the red reflective tape. It will save time. It's almost as fast as the speed of light.

 

Red reflective tape helps outdoors. I think it's called DOT3 from automotive or trailer accessories store. Red tint laser glasses also help see the red dot better...

I'd suggest using white reflective tape so that you can keep using it when you switch to a green laser. The only difference between the red and the white is that the red has a tint coating on it. Good DOT tape is what you want. DOT C2 is the normal 2" wide conspicuity tape with prismatic reflectors. C3 is 3" wide, you get the idea.

 

Back in the old days when I did laser machinery alignment, the company included a red card to use for finding the laser while doing parts of the setup. It seemed funny that the red laser light showed up on the red card, but it did and very well. Some colors just absorbed the light and it was invisible and others amplified it.

 

its pretty hitech so some folks have trouble using it but... zip tie around post ya hook tape tip under the zip tie... for cheap skates ya can just use a piece of solid core electric wire around post but... I prefer the zip tie personally.. I know its like throwin money away versus the reusable wire

I've also used a tiny lil earth magnet (ya can buy a whole tube of em at harbor freight for $1.99 )with a sheet metal tab glued to it.. make the tab so it fits your tape hook nice and tite, when not needed leave it stup to the side of your welder