Skip to main content

Silver Star marries a Topcon GPS system to a Power Curber 5700-C

In the US state of Oklahoma, Silver Star Construction has adopted 3D technology for site modelling and stringless machine control The company, based in the town of Moore, recently used a Topcon Millimeter GPS system mounted on one of their Power Curber 5700-Cs to put down nearly 5,500m of curb and gutter in a residential housing addition in south-west Oklahoma City. Once the dirt work and grading was completed, the concrete crew got to work by mounting the Topcon receivers on their 5700-C. The Topcon
January 19, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The precision of the curb placement can easily be seen from above
In the US state of Oklahoma, Silver Star Construction has adopted 3D technology for site modelling and stringless machine control

The company, based in the town of Moore, recently used a 342 Topcon Millimeter GPS system mounted on one of their Power Curber 5700-Cs to put down nearly 5,500m of curb and gutter in a residential housing addition in south-west Oklahoma City.

Once the dirt work and grading was completed, the concrete crew got to work by mounting the Topcon receivers on their 5700-C. The Topcon unit received the signal from the laser transmitter and set up the Topcon rover to check the vertical and horizontal position of the curb.
With a good concrete mix and steady delivery, the Silver Star crew was able to pour about 1,220m of curb and gutter per day without having to set and remove any stringline.

“It’s very hard for a crew that has set stringline their whole life to watch the machine just take off and follow the 3D guidance,” said Louis Cossey of Silver Star. “For a few times at first we set some stakes just to make ourselves feel better because it’s always been on grade. The advantages of stringless are overwhelming, such as cutting labour costs in half.”

Silver Star does their own 3D modelling to ensure that the model is in correct vertical and horizontal alignment for pouring curb.

“It’s a very basic system once you understand it. Anyone can learn it; it just takes a little time,” said Cossey. “3D is the future and we have several systems. If you’re going to compete in the construction world today, you need a control system. GPS is here to stay and it is constantly changing for the better.”

Over the past 30 years from its founding by one man and a dump truck, Silver Star has accumulated more than 400 machines, including graders and asphalt equipment, dozers, excavators, pavers and slipform machines.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Developments in concrete pavers boosts quality
    July 13, 2012
    The latest technology continues to improve the quality of concrete paving while contractors are also benefiting from more adaptable equipment - Mike Woof reports For many concrete paving applications, versatility is required rather than a high production rate. Leading paver manufacturers such as GOMACO, Power Curbers, Terex and Wirtgen all offer high mobility machines that can be adjusted to cope with an array of tasks. For a contractor, the advantage of these smaller pavers is that they can be configured q
  • Technology helps earth moving and paving
    August 18, 2014
    Located in Meeker, Colorado and serving the area for air transportation is Meeker Airport, a C-II general aviation airport. The FAA designation of C-II means the airport can accommodate aircraft with wingspan of less than 24m. Runway 3-21 at the Rio Blanco county-owned Meeker Airport had reached a point of wear and deterioration that required full reconstruction and upgrades to remain compliant with the FAA’s C-II requirements.
  • Major innovations are coming to market in concrete slipforming
    March 6, 2017
    Tough competition is being seen in the specialised market for concrete slipforming machines, with new partnerships and new technology coming to market - Mike Woof writes GOMACO is boosting the versatility of its Commander slipformer further with the development of the new Three-Track Commander IIIx variant. This has been configured to cope with much tighter radii than previous versions of the Commander III, allowing it to slipform a radius of just 610mm. This suits the machine to applications such as sli
  • Rapid adoption of GPS machine control
    February 10, 2012
    The high sophistication of GPS machine control systems has resulted in a fast pace of technological advancement. The three major players in the machine control sector, Leica Geosystems, Topcon and Trimble have all made major gains in recent years. The sophistication of the latest systems can combine satellite position data from the GPS and GLONASS networks with information from total stations to provide precise, high speed machine operation. Further more the firms have also prepared themselves for the intro