Making the Grade with GPS Technology
Ranger Excavating is using state-of-the-art technology to conduct site preparation work for a $63.2 million highway extension in Austin, Texas. President Mark McKenzie says his company purchased a Vermeer T1255 Terrain-Leveler, equipped with an automated global positioning system (GPS), to handle the rigid rock on the job.
McKenzie turned to the T1255, knowing a scraper couldn’t cut into the grade. McKenzie says the T1255 offered him several benefits: it produces quality material, consistently cuts through limestone and, with the GPS system, it provides accurate grade control.
“We chose the Vermeer model because of its impressive production abilities, the tilting-head function, its GPS compatibility, the warranty and the parts availability,” McKenzie says.
Terry Schnexnayder, of the Vermeer dealership in Austin, Texas said they delivered the T1255, outfitted with a global positioning system from GeoShack, on Dec. 3. The very next day, Ranger Excavating was hard at work with it on the State Highway (SH) 45 North 1 toll-road extension.
The Company
Ranger Excavating is an Austin-based, 19-year-old company of 200 employees that specializes in excavation and site preparation work.
The company utilizes a variety of methods, depending on the nature of the project. Among these methods are: rock ripping, hoe ramming, specialized “rock bucket” excavation, blasting and milling.
The Project
SH 45 North 1 is a new 13-mile toll road providing an east-west thoroughfare between Travis and Williamson counties. The Austin office of Watsonville, California-based Granite Construction Co. and Austin-headquartered J.D. Abrams LP are joint general contractors on the project, which consists of the construction of large excavations and embankments, retaining walls, eight bridges and a substantial drainage system, including multiple detention ponds.
The Granite/Abrams contract is for approximately 2.5 miles of SH 45 North from Parmer Lane west to the future SH 45 North/Loop 1 interchange. Construction will include a six-lane roadway, intermittent frontage roads and toll ramps.
Ranger Excavating was hired by Granite/Abrams to do the site preparation work, including clearing, roadway excavation, pond excavation, mass excavation and roadway embankment, as well as sub-base and retaining ponds installation.
The T1255 Terrain-Leveler offers a patent-pending tilting head, as well as the ability to integrate a GPS system. Similar models only allow users to raise and lower the cutting head. The tilting function offers a huge advantage because it can eliminate humps in the terrain in a single pass.
Another feature that made the T1255 ideal for Ranger Excavating is the ability to automatically cut rock into 4-inch and smaller stones. McKenzie says the stone can often be sold straight out of the ground. “They’re making money on both ends,” Schnexnayder adds.
The project is part of the first phase of the Central Texas Turnpike Project, which also includes the extension of Loop 1 and the northern 49 miles of SH 130. The entire turnpike project is scheduled for completion by summer 2006, when other sections of SH 45 North and Loop 1 are also scheduled to be complete.
The Machine
Vermeer took a proven rock trencher and added the Terrain-Leveler attachment to provide a 600 HP, 240,000 lb surface-mining machine with top-down cutting action for better efficiency and deeper tooth penetration. This exclusive cutting technique, powered by a large direct-drive hydrostatically controlled cutting drum that generates greater speed control, results in a controllable material size with less fines.
The units are designed to eliminate the need for primary crushers, large loaders, large mining haul trucks — and associated permits, in addition to rippers and vertical drills. One T1255 Terrain-Leveler can single-handedly perform site preparation and excavation, mine material, stabilize contaminated soil and remove roads.
Because the Terrain-Leveler drum is an attachment, the base T1255 (other models are available also) can be switched to a trencher with a cutting boom relatively easy. Some contractors have taken advantage of it to maximize versatility, particularly in sewer and water applications.
Mark Cooper, Vermeer Product Manager, says the tilting cutter drum with two-direction leveling was first installed on the T1255 in November 2001. The feature allows operators to level out any terrain, regardless of the grade.
Cooper says Vermeer hopes its industry-exclusive, patent-pending feature will “further distinguish Vermeer as the clear-cut leader in Terrain-Leveler manufacturing.”
“If an operator wants the grade to slope down and to the left, the T1255 cutting head can follow that plane exactly,” he says. “You couldn’t attempt some applications without the tilting head feature.”
The Technology
A GPS device can also be installed on the cutting head to monitor and even automatically control the grade. “With that GPS device attached, an operator can sit back and let the GPS device lead the cutting drum to follow a predefined contour,” he says.
Mark Purselley, an Austin-based Sales Manager and 3D Specialist for GeoShack, sold the GPS system for the Vermeer Terrain-Leveler to Ranger Excavating. GeoShack is an Austin-based company that provides advanced technology solutions for the construction, mining and survey industries.
Purselley says GPS machine-control technology has been on the market for nearly five years, but the automated function was only released within the last two years.
“This function gives the operator GPS information in the cab while automatically controlling the grade,” Purselley says. “It takes the digital terrain model or DPS of the proposed grade and compares the model of the proposed surface with real-time data indicating where the cutting head is at any given time. Then it adjusts accordingly to the desired, preprogrammed grade.”
GeoShack adapted the machine-control led GPS system, which can also be used on motor graders, dozers and excavators, and adapted it to the Vermeer Terrain-Leveler by inventing a different way of mounting the mast on the system.
McKenzie says the Vermeer T1255 has been central to their success on the job so far.
“The T1255 is playing a critical role in helping us excavate the roadways and ponds,” McKenzie says. “We need to excavate really rigid rock and provide quality fill material for the embankment. The material the T1255 churns out meets our demanding specifications and then some.”
McKenzie turned to the T1255, knowing a scraper couldn’t cut into the grade. McKenzie says the T1255 offered him several benefits: it produces quality material, consistently cuts through limestone and, with the GPS system, it provides accurate grade control.
“We chose the Vermeer model because of its impressive production abilities, the tilting-head function, its GPS compatibility, the warranty and the parts availability,” McKenzie says.
Terry Schnexnayder, of the Vermeer dealership in Austin, Texas said they delivered the T1255, outfitted with a global positioning system from GeoShack, on Dec. 3. The very next day, Ranger Excavating was hard at work with it on the State Highway (SH) 45 North 1 toll-road extension.
The Company
Ranger Excavating is an Austin-based, 19-year-old company of 200 employees that specializes in excavation and site preparation work.
The company utilizes a variety of methods, depending on the nature of the project. Among these methods are: rock ripping, hoe ramming, specialized “rock bucket” excavation, blasting and milling.
The Project
SH 45 North 1 is a new 13-mile toll road providing an east-west thoroughfare between Travis and Williamson counties. The Austin office of Watsonville, California-based Granite Construction Co. and Austin-headquartered J.D. Abrams LP are joint general contractors on the project, which consists of the construction of large excavations and embankments, retaining walls, eight bridges and a substantial drainage system, including multiple detention ponds.
The Granite/Abrams contract is for approximately 2.5 miles of SH 45 North from Parmer Lane west to the future SH 45 North/Loop 1 interchange. Construction will include a six-lane roadway, intermittent frontage roads and toll ramps.
Ranger Excavating was hired by Granite/Abrams to do the site preparation work, including clearing, roadway excavation, pond excavation, mass excavation and roadway embankment, as well as sub-base and retaining ponds installation.
The T1255 Terrain-Leveler offers a patent-pending tilting head, as well as the ability to integrate a GPS system. Similar models only allow users to raise and lower the cutting head. The tilting function offers a huge advantage because it can eliminate humps in the terrain in a single pass.
Another feature that made the T1255 ideal for Ranger Excavating is the ability to automatically cut rock into 4-inch and smaller stones. McKenzie says the stone can often be sold straight out of the ground. “They’re making money on both ends,” Schnexnayder adds.
The project is part of the first phase of the Central Texas Turnpike Project, which also includes the extension of Loop 1 and the northern 49 miles of SH 130. The entire turnpike project is scheduled for completion by summer 2006, when other sections of SH 45 North and Loop 1 are also scheduled to be complete.
The Machine
Vermeer took a proven rock trencher and added the Terrain-Leveler attachment to provide a 600 HP, 240,000 lb surface-mining machine with top-down cutting action for better efficiency and deeper tooth penetration. This exclusive cutting technique, powered by a large direct-drive hydrostatically controlled cutting drum that generates greater speed control, results in a controllable material size with less fines.
The units are designed to eliminate the need for primary crushers, large loaders, large mining haul trucks — and associated permits, in addition to rippers and vertical drills. One T1255 Terrain-Leveler can single-handedly perform site preparation and excavation, mine material, stabilize contaminated soil and remove roads.
Because the Terrain-Leveler drum is an attachment, the base T1255 (other models are available also) can be switched to a trencher with a cutting boom relatively easy. Some contractors have taken advantage of it to maximize versatility, particularly in sewer and water applications.
Mark Cooper, Vermeer Product Manager, says the tilting cutter drum with two-direction leveling was first installed on the T1255 in November 2001. The feature allows operators to level out any terrain, regardless of the grade.
Cooper says Vermeer hopes its industry-exclusive, patent-pending feature will “further distinguish Vermeer as the clear-cut leader in Terrain-Leveler manufacturing.”
“If an operator wants the grade to slope down and to the left, the T1255 cutting head can follow that plane exactly,” he says. “You couldn’t attempt some applications without the tilting head feature.”
The Technology
A GPS device can also be installed on the cutting head to monitor and even automatically control the grade. “With that GPS device attached, an operator can sit back and let the GPS device lead the cutting drum to follow a predefined contour,” he says.
Mark Purselley, an Austin-based Sales Manager and 3D Specialist for GeoShack, sold the GPS system for the Vermeer Terrain-Leveler to Ranger Excavating. GeoShack is an Austin-based company that provides advanced technology solutions for the construction, mining and survey industries.
Purselley says GPS machine-control technology has been on the market for nearly five years, but the automated function was only released within the last two years.
“This function gives the operator GPS information in the cab while automatically controlling the grade,” Purselley says. “It takes the digital terrain model or DPS of the proposed grade and compares the model of the proposed surface with real-time data indicating where the cutting head is at any given time. Then it adjusts accordingly to the desired, preprogrammed grade.”
GeoShack adapted the machine-control led GPS system, which can also be used on motor graders, dozers and excavators, and adapted it to the Vermeer Terrain-Leveler by inventing a different way of mounting the mast on the system.
McKenzie says the Vermeer T1255 has been central to their success on the job so far.
“The T1255 is playing a critical role in helping us excavate the roadways and ponds,” McKenzie says. “We need to excavate really rigid rock and provide quality fill material for the embankment. The material the T1255 churns out meets our demanding specifications and then some.”
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