California Surveyors Forums

Anyone got a good supplier for 3/4" or similar brass tags? The ones we're seeing seem to be getting thinner and thinner...
Thanks all.

Too bad Uline doesn't sell 18ga for surveyors . . .

(probably not enough interest)

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S- ... 344346402c

We have ordered from different folks over the years. The stamping has occasionally been to small and to lightly embossed.

We currently order from the Anaheim office: https://www.alleninstruments.com/

You can ask for a custom setup. Most of our monuments and control points are custom stamped [we do not set naked mag nails].

I have attached an image of our most recent order for tie tags. We requested a larger stamp size.

DWoolley

I rarely use the small brass tags anymore, with some exceptions.

I have found these to work well in lieu of... https://www.berntsen.com/Surveying/Conc ... itemID/404

You can drill a hole in concrete or asphalt and use the plastic sleeve to keep them snug and I also quikrete them into 1" pipes. I was skeptical they would work in asphalt roads, but a few near me have lasted in asphalt roads for 5+ years.

khuerth wrote: Tue Feb 13, 2024 5:03 pm I rarely use the small brass tags anymore, with some exceptions.

I have found these to work well in lieu of... https://www.berntsen.com/Surveying/Conc ... itemID/404

You can drill a hole in concrete or asphalt and use the plastic sleeve to keep them snug and I also quikrete them into 1" pipes. I was skeptical they would work in asphalt roads, but a few near me have lasted in asphalt roads for 5+ years.

We have used those particular discs for pipe. I would also set them in concrete [although I haven't yet]. The discs shown are particularly useful for tangent over ties set in pipe because they are not pre-punched and give us 0.04' flexibility in setting the punch.

We would not use them in asphalt. They are not magnetic and few surveyors are willing to dig when there is no sound - as evidenced on a recent project in which the surveyor was paid for monument preservation and missed more than 15 monuments because there was no sound [cut spikes].

We order larger discs with magnets glued to the bottom for asphalt. We also order donut magnets, about the size of a dime, breaking them and putting pieces in the smaller hole or whole in deep set pipe etc.

DWoolley

I got mine through Lo Ink Specialties, and they are the best! Similar to the ones Dave has.
It is the surveyors responsibility to set points with your license visible and readable.
Another good tip is go to your Ace Hardware Store and buy the square shank concrete nails, as they have a smaller head too!!!
Been using these for the past 10+ years.

Those other companies, like Bernstien have become too cheap for good impressions and I will never buy caps or plugs from them again.
Last batch of plastic caps were only micro deep and for sure will not be readable, in the near future and they didn't even care.
Terrible customer service on top of poor products, so beware!!!

PLS7393 wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 9:54 am I got mine through Lo Ink Specialties, and they are the best!
...

+1 on LoInk as a supplier.

Also, an example of the ceramic magnets we use, go to Amazon and put in "ceramic refrigerator magnet" with a purchase price of $12 for 120. They are a little more than one-half inch in diameter. A magnet, even one-half of a magnet, is far, far louder than a 2" iron pipe on the locator.

Thankfully we do allow plastic plugs in Orange County.

DWoolley

My brother used to work at a Dairy supply store and I'd buy his magnets they use for cows and put one in a conc. mon (if no iron was placed).

When we set 3" (?) bronze mons set I place a 12" forming rod at the true position and under the bronze mon - then fill hole with conc and place the bronze mon in the conc.

+1 on LoInk

Crazy Phil - Sonoma

Thank you gentlemen,
very helpful. I will try Lo Ink or Allen.
Have a pleasant day and weekend all.

Monuments are my jam. I like them. I suspect I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about monuments. Monuments are one thing that separates a land surveyor from everyone else i.e. civil engineers, architects, unlicensed drone pilots, contractors, LiDAR folks, etc. Like many land surveyors, these folks do not want to set monuments.

We are currently revisiting a control network we did years ago. For these projects we set 2" aluminum discs with custom stamping. The monuments have magnets on the bottom [see photo] and Map Detail PDF.

Also, we created a template and paint the monument with lane stripping paint and add a glass reflective material on top of the paint [see photo]. On Amazon search "DOT AAHTO Reflective Glass" and "Traffic Paint" for more information.

DWoolley

1 1/2" mag nails are not durable monuments.

Like all land surveying offices, we have control points set around the office building used for testing. Approximately 18 months ago we set mag nails and washers for a drone target test in our parking lot. The parking lot is relatively low traffic compared to a street. Over the weekend I noted the nail and washer were completely popped out of the pavement. The washer appears to be scrapped on the edge below the "8".

Monuments should last longer than 18 months in a low traffic area - 1 1/2" mag nails set flush are not a durable monument. See the attached photo.

Mag nails set as monuments, minimally, should be recessed. The nail shown in the photo was flush.

DWoolley

I keep hoping someone will make an active ping monument. Something like a long nail that you can put inside the pipe that has two metals and allows for a small flow of electricity from temperature differences, like a thermostat. Have a capacitor and then a small radio signal burst out whenever sufficient charge is produced. You could set out two or three radio antennas in the morning and have them triangulate pings while you work.

Probably still easier to ring em up with a magnetic locator... Like the roman steam engine, a cool idea that never had the economic incentive to develop due to the ease and cheapness of the current method. https://foresightguide.com/50CE-a-steam ... ient-rome/

Mikey Mueller, PLS 9076
Sonoma County