Surveying Tripods - Choosing the best Tripod for the job

Survey tripods - choosing the best tripods for the job

Stability of Tripods

The impact of tripods on the accuracy of measuring results is often underestimated. The degree of accuracy and precision can only be achieved with a combination of high-quality tripods and high-precision instruments.

Wood or Aluminium?

The most precise measuring results can be reached by using a wooden tripod. In comparison to aluminium tripods, wooden tripods feature a better damping behaviour and are less affected by temperature changes. For heavy-duty wooden tripods, the best brands use ash, a particularly hard-wearing wood with excellent material properties.

Geodesists prefer the use of wooden tripods because of the superior material properties, whereas aluminium tripods are mostly used on construction sites as they are light in weight and extremely hard-wearing.

Details that matter

Brass hinge pins are very robust and can withstand the surrounding load without any problems. The best tripods are equipped with brass hinge pins. Cheaper makes of tripods are usually equipped with dowels made of aluminium die casting or plastic which break under a small amount of stress.
Quick-clamping levers on quality tripods are made of a high-tech plastic or aluminium die casting whereby materials are selected which are extremely hard-wearing and unbreakable.
Cheaper makes of tripods are often produced with inferior materials which might look the same, but are of inferior quality and break very easily.
The hooks for plumb bobs on many of the best tripods can be moved sideways to allow work to be carried out with an optical plummet or a laser plummet.

Tightening Screws

Tripods are equipped with a 5/8" threaded retaining screw. The threads on all instruments and tripods are standardised.

Tripods with Elevating Heads

Tripods with elevating heads allow for easy adjustments of heights. Their advantages are clear to see especially in interior outfitting, for 1-metre-marks or in ceiling construction work.

Tripods with Elevating Heads with Indirect Gear

Where a tripod is equipped with an indirect crank drive, the crank drive affects the height-adjustable toothed column via an integrated induction gear. This allows the desired height to be set with great accuracy. An easy solution, particularly for heavy-duty rotating lasers.

Tripods with Elevating Heads with Direct Gear

The crank affects the height-adjustable toothed column directly for tripods equipped with a direct crank drive. A low cost solution, suitable for all rotating lasers.

Telescopic Tripods

Telescopic tripods can be used in the same applications as tripods with an elevating head. However, instead of a crank gear, these tripods are equipped with a telescopic column which can be placed manually at the desired height. A low cost alternative for lightweight cross line lasers.

Double Telescope

Many quality tripods with elevating heads feature a double telescopic section to allow a large range of operation, thus doing away with the awkward task of having to screw on a column extension.

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