That day I caught a 1/16th inch misalignment on a 40-foot steel beam saved the whole project

Got a call from the field crew in Denver last Tuesday saying my elevation marks were off by a quarter inch. Turned out the laser level I grabbed from the truck had taken a hit the day before and was slightly out of spec - double checked everything with a water level and caught it before we welded. Has anyone else had their gear drift like that or am I just the unlucky one?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena_rivera6311d ago

Abby's rag trick has saved more lunches than people want to admit, but I'd push back a little here. Catching it before welding is definitely good habits, but calling it luck isn't totally fair either... sometimes gear just gets knocked out of whack and you have to be paranoid about it. A water level cross-check worked for me, but I've had days where the sun was cooking everything and my digital stuff started acting weird anyway. @abby_palmer stuffed rags and all, I think we just need to accept that no cross-check is foolproof when the job site is trying to kill your tools.

wren8061mo ago

Called BS on calling that luck. You catching it before welding is just good habits. I've dropped a few digital levels and had them read fine on the ground but drift after sitting in the sun for an hour. Started taping a cheap torpedo level to the beam as a cross-check before every final mark. Saves my ass way more than I want to admit.

abby_palmer1mo ago

Does a shop rag stuffed under your belt loop count as a cross-check after the third drop in a row?