3D slipform kerbing at pace in Australia

“Set it right, pave it fast thats the survey edge behind modern 3D slipform kerbing in Australia”, according to Irish surveyor Adam Byrne of Survey Management Solutions. 

Peter Haddock met him on a house building site on a hot day in Queensland, where he was supporting Harris Slipforming. It has recently started using 3D machine control from Leica Geosystems dealer C.R.Kennedy on its Power Curber Companies 5700D machine.

Adam: “The team have done this whole section perfectly in under an hour, which is incredibly fast and more importantly super accurate.” 

Having previously surveyed the site, creating pre-set control points, before the crew arrived, adam setup two Leica Geosystems total stations and prisms to create a closed-loop control.

Adam: “We’ve put a 3D model and XML files together for the guys here, and my role today is to set up the two jiggers. The first drives the machine's accuracy, whilst the second acts as a live cross check.

“Together, this maintains the machine control throughout the day, and whenever these guys are running, I’m running behind them and checking that kerb.

“If there’s any variance, we go into the machine and change the offsets. The pegs have gone, there is nothing to knock out, and that's why the speed can be 50% faster.”

Peter added: “On a hot day with fatigue risks rising, fewer people working close to the machine makes it a lot safer. Especially when you can see the live data on the paver and survey tablet that Adam verifies in real time on the ground.”